MLB odds: Rays-Yankees

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

Sports Betting at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook

Now that it’s past July 4, you are allowed to call any series in baseball a “key series,” and that appears to be the case for the New York Yankees tonight when they open a two-game set in the Bronx against the team with the best record in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays lead the third-place Bombers by 8.5 games in the in the AL East, so you’d think a sweep would almost be necessary for New York. A sweep by Tampa Bay and you can almost kiss those Yankee division hopes goodbye.

“They've been on fire," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "They don't ever seem to lose at home, so obviously, those two games are very important, and I believe we have [eight] games left with them, so these are the two most important games we're playing all year."

The Yankees are 5-5 against the Rays but have been outscored 45-34. After these two games, the Yankees won't play Tampa Bay again until the teams square off six times in the first two weeks of September.

The Yankees won’t have Johnny Damon tonight or for a while, as he was placed on the DL for the first time in his career, but they have gotten a boost from Brett Gardner, who will start in left field in Damon’s absence. Gardner is the fastest player on the Yankees, with a strong arm and the ability to work deep at-bats. His 10th-inning single beat Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon on Sunday night.

At least New York is coming in off a high, winning the final two games of that four-game series against the Red Sox, but the Yanks face Tampa’s ace in Scott Kazmir (7-3, 2.63 ERA).

 

Despite a 3-3 record against the Yankees, Kazmir has compiled a 2.68 ERA in 10 appearances. He's 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA spanning 18 innings in his last three starts against New York, which he limited to three hits in six shutout innings of a 5-2 win May 15.

Kazmir called the coming two-game series "very important."

"It's a weird series," Kazmir said. "We've got two games over there. So if we win both of those it's going to be huge for us going into the break to beat them two in a row."

New York starts fellow lefty Andy Pettitte (9-6, 4.22 ERA), who is 14-4 with a 3.84 ERA lifetime against Tampa Bay but has lost three of his last four starts against them.

The WagerWeb.com money line for this game has Tampa Bay at -113 and New York at -107.