Twins Big Bats will light up the Short Porch in Right

Minnesota Twins (18-17) at New York Yankees (17-17)

BetOnline MLB betting odds: Yankees -130, Twins +110, Total 10.5

Southpaw Francisco Liriano (2-4, 5.75 ERA) will be the starting pitcher for the Twins, while the Yankees counter with right-hander Phil Hughes (1-2, 8.48 ERA).

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

* MINN has won five of its last six games

* MINN has played four of its last six games OVER the total

* MINN has lost four of its last five road games

* MINN has played six of its last seven road games UNDER the total

* NY has won four of its last six games

* NY has lost its last five home games

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD MLB betting trends:

* NY has won four of the last six meetings

* NY has won seven of the last eight meetings as the home team

The Twins are on a bit of a roll, having just swept the Detroit Tigers on the heels of taking two of three from the Seattle Mariners. Minnesota has pulled into a second-place tie with the Kansas City Royals in the American League Central, just percentage points behind the Tigers.

New York won its second straight game over the Blue Jays on Thursday, behind a game-winning homer by Hideki Matsui. C.C. Sabathia picked up a win with a good performance on the mound, and Mariano Rivera chalked up his seventh save. The Yankees are 4.5 games in back of Toronto in the AL East.

The Yankees are just 6-7 at the new ballpark, and that is a far cry from the 64% of home games they have won over the previous eight seasons. So far 47 homers have been hit in the 13 games the place has hosted, and the home club has lost the last five. Maybe the new digs will be inviting for Alex Rodriguez, who will be making his debut in the new stadium tonight.

I’ll bet you one guy who can’t wait to see what awaits him in the Bronx is left-handed hitting Joe Mauer. The American League batting champ in two of the last three seasons has come back from an injury to hit .455 in 12 games, with 14 RBI’s and four homers. The right field wall, where the vast majority of the homers have flown out, looms as a potential pad to his stats.

The Yankees have their own red-hot hitter. He’s Johnny Damon, who has had 17 hits and 14 RBI’s in his last nine games.

Francisco Liriano looked like he might be getting a handle on things when he turned in solid back-to-back efforts against Tampa Bay and Detroit, giving up a total of four earned runs and 11 hits in 14 innings. He got reached in his last outing against Seattle, however, surrendering five runs in five innings. It was only an offensive barrage by Minnesota that got him the 9-6 win.

Phil Hughes looked like a welcome addition to the New York rotation when he blanked the Tigers on two hits over six innings in his first start back from the minors. He was absolutely lit up in his last start, though, as the Baltimore Orioles batted around for eight runs in an inning and two-thirds.

With all of this offense going on in the Bronx, it’s hard not to take a long, hard look at the "over" in the BetOnline American League sports betting odds, especially with Hughes’ WHIP ratio at 2.14 right now. Remember, there has been an average of almost 13 runs a game scored there, and no indication that there will be a dip in the near future.

JAY’S PLAY: OVER 10.5 (-110) ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)