The Oakland Athletics will look for a series win tonight as the New York Yankees return to the Overstock.com Coliseum after last night series opening loss. This evening’s game two clash is scheduled to get underway at 10:05pm ET. MLB Free Picks and Odds at Sportsbook.ag have the Athletics listed as a -123 moneyline favorite and the Over/Under set at 7.5 runs. New York is drawing +113 odds ($100 wins $113) to even the series at one game apiece. 

 

New York sent staff ace C.C. Sabathia to the hill last night, helping earn it a -113 road favorite line, but Oakland liked what the big man had to offer. The A’s battered Sabathia for eight hits and six earned runs over six innings while their oversized hurler, Bartolo Colon, held the Yankees to three hits and no runs in the same number of innings. The result was 6-4 win for the home team.

 

The Yanks will look to rebound tonight as the enigmatic Phil Hughes gets the call from Skipper Joe Girardi. Hughes, who is 3-1 with a 4.12 ERA in nine career appearances (six starts) against Oakland, had watched the Yankees lose four consecutive starts between May 15^th and June 1^st as he allowed a total of 15 earned runs in 18 innings of work; however, that miserable run came to an end in his last outing.

 

Hughes turned in his second best performance of the season in Seattle last Thursday, limiting the Mariners to three hits and no runs over seven innings in a 6-1 New York win.

 

Oakland, a winner in four of its last five meetings with the Yankees, hands the ball to 24 year old right hander Dan Straily tonight. Straily owns a lackluster 4.67 ERA; however, his WHIP is a solid 1.13 and batters are hitting just .226 off of him in his nine starts.

 

Straily is coming off an unimpressive performance against the White Sox in Chicago, one in which he allowed six hits and four earned runs over seven innings, but Oakland still managed to get a 5-4 win. Prior to that outing, Straily had given up just 12 hits and two earned runs in his three most recent starts (19 innings pitched).

 

Notable Trends: The A’s are 7-1 in their last eight games as a home favorite with a total between 7.5 and 8 runs.

 

 

New York Yankees +1.5 (-190), Over 7.5 (-110), +113 (Moneyline)

Oakland Athletics -1.5 (+165), Under 7.5 (-110), -123 (Moneyline)

 

Vegas Runner, Bryan Leonard at host Steve Fezzik discuss the current MLB replay system, with ideas on how to tweak it.