MLB Baseball
2011-04-25 - Chicago White Sox at New York Yankees
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: MLB Baseball
Monday 25 April 2011 - First Pitch 7:05pm ET
12:05am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The New York Yankees (12-6) sit on top of the American League East mainly thanks to a strong opening at Yankees Stadium. They will look to continue their recent dominance of the struggling Chicago White Sox (8-14) in the first of a 4 game series.
One thing going for the Yankees is their hot bats and they have now won 7 of their last 9 games while averaging 6.6 runs per game during that run. With 18 home runs also being hit in that time, the pressure on the pitching rotation is decreased with them all getting strong run support.
The two hottest batters are Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano. Granderson has 5 home runs from his last 7 games and has a 8 game hitting streak to protect against the White Sox, the team he has struggled most with in his career.
Cano improved his own hitting streak to 13 in the last game with Baltimore and this does not bode well for Chicago.
AJ Burnett will be sent to the mound for New York and will hope to continue his good run in April for the Yankees. Burnett is 3-0 with a 4.37 ERA to open this season, although he has struggled against the White Sox, losing his last 2 starts against them while giving up 16 runs from 8 innings pitched.
Chicago will counter Burnett with Phil Humber. He is 1-2 to start the season with a 4.42 ERA and is looking to avoid his 3rd defeat in a row. Humber gave up 4 runs in just under 6 innings pitched in his last outing, a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay, but he has not been helped by the White Sox batters who have given him 4 runs in 3 starts.
Generally, Chicago have been struggling, losing 10 of their last 11 overall and 6 of their last 7 road games. They have failed to trouble the scoreboard in 20 innings and were swept in Detroit over the weekend by 21 runs to 3.
Head to Head
New York have won 13 of the last 16 games between the teams in the Bronx.
The White Sox are just 2-10 in the last 12 meetings overall.
New York are 3-3 in Game 1's so far this season, but the win over Baltimore now makes them 1-3 when coming in off a win.
Chicago are 2-5 in Game 1's, going 1-3 when following a loss.
Other Interesting Notes
New York are 7-2 in their last 9 starts where AJ Burnett is pitching against a team with a losing record.
The Yankees are 97-40 in their last 137 games at home as the favourite.
Chicago are 1-5 in their last 6 games as the road underdog.
They are 1-8 in their last 9 games against a right handed pitcher.
Prediction
This looks like a slight mismatch at this time with the Yankees really feeling their in-bats while the White Sox have struggled to put runs on the board.
My biggest concern is that the White Sox have had plenty of success against AJ Burnett in recent games, but they are going to need to score at least 4 runs to keep this close and this may be beyond them judging by recent efforts.
The straight up New York win is plenty short considering the Chicago success against Burnett, but if the Yankees win, they are likely to do it with a 2 run advantage and so the Run Line is the better option here.
The Pick :
New York Yankees 7-2 Chicago White Sox
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back the New York Yankees - 1.5 @ 2.0 Bodog (2 UNITS)Follow me on Twitter- the direct link is below
