South Side Sox head North – Chicago at Toronto

BetOnline MLB betting odds: Blue Jays -130, White Sox +110, Total 8.5

It’s a duel of southpaws north of the border on Friday, as John Danks (2-2, 3.41 ERA) of the White Sox takes on Brett Cecil (1-0, 0.64 ERA) of the Blue Jays.

Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* CHI has lost eight of its last 11 games

* CHI has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total

* CHI has lost six of its last seven road games

* TOR has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total

* TOR has won eight of its last 12 games

* TOR has won seven of its last ten home games

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD online betting trends:

* TOR has won 10 of the last 12 meetings

* Five of the last six meetings have gone OVER the total

* Ten of the last 15 meetings have gone UNDER the total

* TOR has won the last six meetings as the home team’

* The last five meetings in Toronto have gone UNDER the total

The Toronto bats were quieted by C.C. Sabathia of the Yankees on Thursday, dropping a 3-2 decision at home when Hideki Matsui hit a round-tripper in the eighth inning. The Jays lost two out of three to the Yanks, but they still manage to hold on to first place in the AL East, a game ahead of the Boston Red Sox.

Chicago was shut out 4-0 by the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday, and that is part of a big problem for Ozzie Guillen’s team, which has not generated much offense this season. They are 13th in the AL, averaging just 4.1 runs per game. The White Sox, who are still struggling to get to the .500 mark, are in fourth position in the AL Central, but in that tightly-bunched group they are only two games in back of first-place Detroit. So everything is still very much within reach for them.

Offense has not been much of a problem for Toronto thus far. The Blue Jays lead the league with a .288 average, and their 46 home runs rank them behind only the Rangers, Yankees and Brewers. The White Sox have lost eight of their last 11 and have played five of their last seven games under the total.

It has been either feast or famine for John Danks this season. In his first three starts of the season he was brilliant, giving up just two runs in 19 innings. He then took a steep turn downward, surrendering ten earned runs to the Mariners and Rangers over 9-1/3 frames. Last time out he regained form in a big way, holding Texas to one run over six innings, striking out ten and walking just one. The White Sox have scored a grand total of 17 runs in his six starts.

Brett Cecil has been absolutely sizzling for the Blue Jays in two major league starts. The 38th overall pick in the 2007 draft, Cecil held Cleveland to a single earned run in six innings in his first start on May 5, then blanked Oakland over eight innings, allowing just five hits on May 10. Interestingly, Cecil had an 0-3 record and 8.31 ERA in the minors before he was called up to the big club.

Considering Chicago’s struggles with hitting (and we think they’re capable eventually of snapping out of it), we’re looking "under’ in the BetOnline American League baseball betting odds, and we’re looking forward to what Cecil does next.

JAY’S PLAY: UNDER 8.5 (-115) **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)