New York Yankees AT Seattle Mariners
May 27, 2011 at 10:10 PM EST
Opening Moneyline: EVEN
Current Moneyline: SEA -111, NYY -100
Opening Total: 7
Current Total: 7
SP: NYY- A.J. Burnett, SEA- M. Piñeda
To say Michael Piñeda is on the fast track to winning rookie of the year might be an understatement. He’s now thrown 14 consecutive scoreless innings and boasts a 6-2 record with a 2.16 ERA. In his last two victories, he’s thrown two 7 inning games and struck out a total of 16 batters. he only gave up 2 hits in the 4-0 victory over San Diego on Saturday.
Things might change for him against the Yankees, however, as the Yankees lead the majors in home runs with 75. Still, Piñeda has given up only 3 homers all year and leads the AL in strikeouts per 9 innings with 9.41.
“I’m excited for pitching (against) the Yankees,” Piñeda said.
He has surprised everyone, including Mariners manager Eric Wedge. “I don’t think anybody can really understand what somebody is going to do when it’s their first go around in the big leagues,” Wedge said. “We knew he was capable of doing what he is doing right now but you never, ever assume or expect that.”
It’s not just Piñeda who is hot. The Mariners have won 7 of their last 8 games, although quite unlike the Yankees, the Mariners do it without hitting homers. They are last in the majors with only 27 home runs on the year. It’s been mostly extremely good pitching that has the Mariners surging and looking like contenders in a year no one expected them to do much of anything. “
“Their pitching is very, very good. I do know that,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “I tuned into a game about a week ago, and Justin Smoak had had a pretty good year from what I saw a week ago, and Ichiro is always going to be Ichiro.”
Ichiro Suzuki hit .381 against the Yankees last season, though he is hitting a career low .281 and is attempting to avoid a three game hitless streak…for the first time since 2007. He is, however, 8 of 18 against A.J. Burnett. Burnett has struggled on the road, too, with a 5.82 ERA over his last 10 road starts, though his ERA is significantly better against the Seattle Mariners (3.83). Burnett struggled last season, going 10-15 with a 5.26 ERA, significantly worse than the low 4.00 ERA he had over the two prior seasons. He’s back on track this year with a 4.02 ERA, much the same as he pitched in 2008 and 2009. His PECOTA projection was not as optimistic at 4.52, but that may be because he was so bad last season…
Last season, the Yankees went 6-4 against Seattle, but three of the four losses came at the hand of “King Felix” Hernandez, who will start tomorrow.
Some betting trends:
The Yankees are 4-1 SU over their last 5 games and the total has gone OVER in all 5 of the Yankees last 5 games. The total has also gone OVER in 4 of their last 6 on the road, while the Yankees are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games on the road. The Yankees are 6-2 SU in their last 8 games against the Mariners and the total has gone UNDER in 6 of their last 9 against Seattle. It has also gone UNDER in 4 of the last 5 games at Seattle, while the Yankees are 4-2 SU in their last 6 on the road at Seattle.
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of the Mariners’ last 9 games and they are 7-1 SU in their last 8 games. The total has gone UNDER in 6 of the Mariners’ last 8 games at home and it has also gone UNDER in 6 of their last 9 against the Yankees. Seattle is 2-6 SU in their last 8 against New York and Seattle is 2-4 SU in their last 6 at home against the Yankees. The total has gone UNDER in 4 of the last 5 games at home against New York.
Given Piñeda’s dominance this year, it’s hard to bet against Seattle. The betting opened with even odds, however, and the Yankees have been very hot at the plate.
