Thursday night baseball and we will see the New York Yankees travel west to take on the Oakland A's in game 1 of their 4 game series. The game is scheduled for a 10:05 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on YES (New York) and CSCA (Oakland) . Currently the odds have New York favored at -115, while Oakland is dogs of +105. The total for the game sits at 8 runs.
Free Analysis: The New York Yankees have surged to a sizable lead in the AL East as their offense continues to click. Their dominance of the Oakland Athletics on the road in recent years should give them every reason to believe they'll keep rolling this weekend. New York seeks its 10th straight victory in Oakland in the opener of a four-game series Thursday night. The Yankees (57-34) have been winning lately regardless of venue to take control of the division, picking up their ninth win in 11 games with a rain-shortened 6-0 victory over Toronto on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep. Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer in a four-run first inning for New York, which outscored the Blue Jays 18-4 in the series. The Yankees are hitting .303 with 21 home runs in their last 11 games, scoring at least five runs in each of the last 10. Teixeira, who has six homers and 19 RBIs in 13 July games, went 8 for 14 with three homers and eight RBIs against the A's in May. New York will send Freddy Garcia to the mound tonight. Garcia (4-2, 5.25 ERA) will be making his fourth straight start after pitching exclusively out of the bullpen in May and June. He's filling in for Andy Pettitte (broken leg) in the rotation. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA over his last three outings, but he gave up three runs, walked five and threw 98 pitches in five innings of Saturday's 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Garcia is 4-3 with a 4.14 ERA in 10 lifetime starts in Oakland, allowing three runs in seven innings of a 10-3 victory in his last outing there May 31, 2011. He'll face an A's team that has won 10 of 12, beating Texas 4-3 on Wednesday. Josh Reddick hit a game-tying two-run double in the seventh inning before Brandon Hicks led off the ninth with his first major league homer. Oakland (47-44) leads the majors with nine walk-off wins. Oakland CF Coco Crisp returned after a three-game absence due to a sore shoulder to go 1-for-3 on Wednesday, but he has struggled versus Garcia, going 5-for-28 in his career. The A's will turn to A.J. Griffin on Thursday as they shift their focus to ending their home skid against the Yankees. Griffin (1-0, 2.63) picked up his first major league victory after allowing three runs in six innings of a 6-3 win at Minnesota on Friday. The rookie has pitched six innings in each of his four starts, with opponents hitting .195 against him. The A's have won both of the right-hander's home starts as part of a 7-2 stretch at O.co Coliseum.
Free Pick: I really like the OVER in this one. The Yanks offense has been on fire lately as they have scored 5 or more runs in each of their last 10 games and they have hit 21 HR's in their last 11 games. Now Oakland isn't really a HR park, but the Yanks have really scored well here, averaging 5.7 rpg during their 9 game winning streak here. A.J. Griffin has pitched really well for the A's, But I feel he is due for a fall and the Yanks are just the right team to give it to him. Freddy Garcia has a 5.40 ERA in 4 road starts this year and thanks to the Yanks averaging 7.3 rpg on the road for him his road starts have averaged 11.8 rpg. Freddy has faced the A's just 3 times since 2005 and he has a 6.28 ERA in those starts. The A's offense has been decent over the last 10 games, putting up 4.2 rpg over that stretch and they should do some damage vs Garcia tonight. This game may hit double digits.
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