Yankees, Blue Jays open key series with weekday matinee
Baseball Betting Lines
07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees will try to start a new winning streak this afternoon, when they play the first of four straight games versus the American League East-rival Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx.
New York had a seven-game winning streak come to an end with Thursday's 8-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners in the finale of a three-game series at the new Yankee Stadium. Prized free agent acquisition CC Sabathia was pounded for six runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings of work to absorb the loss. He also walked three and struck out eight batters.
"It was frustrating because we scored four runs," said Sabathia. "It should be enough to get the win, but I just wasn't on today. My delivery was just one of those days where I couldn't get the ball down. It was off the plate and put me in some tough counts."
Hideki Matsui belted a two-run homer and drove in three runs, while Robinson Cano had three hits and scored twice for the Yankees, who are now three games off Boston's lead in the AL East. Nick Swisher drove in the other run in defeat, which put the Yankees two games ahead of Tampa Bay for the AL Wild Card lead. Texas is third at 2 1/2 games behind New York.
Former Blue Jay A.J. Burnett gets the call for the Yankees Friday and will try for a measure of revenge against his one-time employer. Burnett faced Toronto for the first time since joining the Yankees on May 12 at Rogers Centre, where he allowed five runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings of a 5-1 setback.
Burnett, who pitched for Toronto from 2006-2008, is 1-1 with a 3.24 earned run average in two lifetime starts against the Jays. He has won four of his last six outings overall, including a 5-0 win over the Mets his last time out on Saturday. The righty tossed seven shutout innings and allowed three walks with 10 strikeouts to improve to 6-4 in 15 starts this season, while lowering his ERA from 4.24 to 3.93.
The Jays will open a 10-game road trip against the Yankees, Rays and Orioles today and ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-0 victory versus Tampa Bay Wednesday at Rogers Centre. Starting pitcher Ricky Romero won his sixth game of the season with eight shutout innings of four-hit ball, striking out eight batters and walking only one.
"It helps a lot when everyone is on your side and everyone on your team is backing you up," Romero said. "It's not a one-man show out there. It's nine guys trying to grind it out and trying to get a win."
Adam Lind, Scott Rolen and Rod Barajas all helped Romero out with solo homers and Marco Scutaro doubled in a run for Toronto, which won for the second time in its last seven tries and sits seven games off the pace in the AL East. The Jays are also four games behind the Yankees in the Wild Card race.
Toronto will send Brian Tallet to the hill on Friday, and he is 5-5 with a 4.47 earned run average in 19 games (15 starts) this season. He fell to 1-2 over his last four trips to the hill and most recently dropped a 5-4 decision to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. Tallet surrendered five runs -- four earned -- and eight hits in six innings of work versus the Phils.
The left-hander out of LSU took on the Yankees in a 3-2 loss on May 14, but did not factor in the outcome after yielding a pair of runs and four hits in six innings. In 21 career games (1 start) against New York, spanning 34 1/3 innings, Tallet is 1-0 with a 2.88 ERA.
The Yankees won two of three matchups in Toronto from May 12-14 and have won four of the six most recent meetings between the teams.
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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.