The Slide Continues – NY Yankees at Baltimore Orioles

BetOnline MLB betting odds: Yankees -165, Orioles +145, Total 9.5

Southpaw star C.C. Sabathia (1-3, 4.85 ERA) will be on the hill for the Yankees, while Jeremy Guthrie (2-2, 5.05 ERA), a right-hander, is the starter for the Orioles.

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

* BALT has lost seven of its last ten games

* BALT has played four of its last six games UNDER the total

* BALT has lost five of its last eight home games

* NY has lost its last five games

* NY has played six of its last nine games OVER the total

* NY has lost four of its last six road games

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD online betting trends:

* NY has won eight of the last ten meetings

* Eight of the last 12 meetings have gone OVER the total

* NY has won five of the last seven meetings as the road team

It was another tough loss for the Yankees on Thursday night. The Bronx Bombers gave up six home runs to the Tampa Bay Rays, including a pair by Evan Longoria, and Mariano Rivera took a rare loss as New York lost its fifth straight game 8-6 at Yankee Stadium. The good news, if there indeed is any, is that the Yankees are still just 5.5 games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay crept closer to the .500 mark, as did the Orioles, who, despite giving up 14 hits to the Twins, scored a run in the eighth inning to prevail 5-4. Things were a little hairy for Brad Bergesen who gave up 12 base runners in six innings, but the bullpen only allowed one run in the last three innings.

So the Yankees have now been swept in short series by both the Rays and Red Sox, and they will hope for better luck with the O’s, who along with the Yanks, are the two most generous teams in the AL, surrendering 6.1 and 6.3 runs per game respectively.

C.C. Sabathia obviously hopes to reduce those numbers, and there will be a little "revenge" angle. Sabathia made a weak start against Baltimore on Opening Day, allowing six runs in 4-1/3 innings as the Yanks got ripped 10-5. He did not face the Orioles last year, but from 2005-2007 he pitched against them four times and allowed just five runs in 31-2/3 innings. Over his last three starts, he has simply been subpar. He allowed four runs in 6-2/3 innings against the Angels last time out, and in his last three outings he’s had a 6.21 ERA, which is not they are paying him mega-millions for.

Jeremy Guthrie may be the Orioles’ #1 starter, but he is hardly an ace. Guthrie was Baltimore’s Opening Day pitcher as Sabathia got lit up, and he got out of the gate with two very solid starts. Lately, however, he’s been about as mediocre as Sabathia, and the Orioles have lost the last four times he’s taken the mound. Last time represented something of an improvement, as he went a full eight innings against the Blue Jays, giving up four runs on six hits.

The bottom line here is that the way Sabathia has performed in the early going, there is no way he justifies being this kind of a favorite, especially on the road. With a Yankee lineup that is not all that imposing right now and not to mention this team has lost five games in a row, we’re going with the O’s, the +145 underdog in the BetOnline American League baseball betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY: BALTIMORE (+145) ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)