Yankees @ Twins Preview
The New York Yankees are slipping. Meanwhile, their opponents today, The Minnesota Twins, perhaps never-were all season. Both teams now find themselves in fourth place in their divisions looking for a resurgence to get them back in the running for a post-season run, which is not out of the realm of possibility considering we still have a whole second-half of baseball.
The Yankees are coming off a disheartening sweep by their division rivals the Baltimore Orioles. On top of those three straight losses, the Yanks find themselves 6.5 games back from the Boston Red Sox and on a five-game losing streak. In fact, tho whole month of June has been rough for the Yankees, who have a losing 11-16 record on the month. Also, in June they ranked last in runs scored, and their pitching staff ranked 26th in ERA. Just last week we were talking about the three-way race between the Orioles, Red Sox and the Yankees and now New York finds themselves over taken by the Tampa Bay Rays and in fourth place in the division.
On paper, the Twins should be the team that the Yanks break their losing-streak against. The Twins have a .462 win percentage and are 4-6 on their last ten. They are not a “hot” team to say the least. Perhaps the most favorable stat for the Yankees as they begin this four-game series is they have not dropped a series to the Twins in 11 years. On top of that, the Yanks will kick off the series with a starting pitcher who is undefeated in his last seven starts against the Twins.
Yanks starter Andy Pettitte is not going to make headlines for his pitching, but the 41-year-old veteran has proven he is consistent on the mound. He is only 2-6 on his last 10 games,but he has had four straight quality starts. Pettitte has a 4.22 ERA but it is a bit deceiving as he is still getting some big time strikeout numbers, but is allowing more hits than we have seen in previous seasons.
The Twins will be starting Scott Diamond. Diamond has struggled playing deep into games. In his last start, for example, Diamond pitched well through four innings, allowing only two hits. Then in the fifth he gave up three runs on five hits and allowed a home run amongst those runs scored. Diamond has not had a quality start since Jun 2. He has gone 1-3 on his last four starts.
Taking a look at the money lines at my favorite betting site, Bovada, we see that the Yankees are the favorites to win with a money line at -110. The Twins money line is set at EVEN.
