New York (42-36) vs Baltimore (43-36)
By virtue of the Yankees loss and the Orioles’ win on Thursday night New York find themselves a half game back of the O’s heading into the weekend. Worse yet, there seems to be too much focus off the field on players that are not contributing to the team at all – I wonder who that could be.
Friday June 28
Oriole Park and Camden Yards – Baltimore, MD
7:05PM
Probable Starters:
NYY: David Phelps (R)
BAL: T.J. McFarland (L)
Moneyline: No ML currently listed
O/U: No O/U currently listed
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New York
This is just the third series between these teams this season. Thus far it has been an even split with the home teams taking 2 out of 3 respectively. Both of these teams are flawed but the Yankees probably have the better upside with players ultimately coming back from injury that can make a difference.
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In a perfect world David Phelps would be operating out of the bullpen not the rotation.
He doesn’t always work deep into games but you can’t be too hard on Phelps given that the Yankees are 7-3 in his 10 starts this season – that includes 3-0 against teams from the A.L. East (he has wins against every team but the Orioles).
Phelps is helping to keep this team competitive and should be able to deliver another performance that gives the Yankees a chance to win in the series opener.
Baltimore
Baltimore closed out their home series with Cleveland with a win before welcoming the Yankees to town. The Orioles play well at home and are enjoying a nice run at Camden Yards of 12-5. Baltimore took as long as possible before announcing who would start this contest and that is rarely a good sign. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
What is a good sign is how 1B Chris Davis has been slamming the ball. Thought to be a one month wonder he has extended that to at least a first half wonder. He leads the Majors with 28 homers, 6 ahead of Miguel Cabrera who he is chasing for the RBI lead.
The Orioles are tabbing lefty T.J McFarland to start the opener of this series against New York. McFarland has been active for Baltimore pitching in long relief and the results have been mixed.
This is his first start and the biggest reach for a team that has been grasping for quality starting pitching all season long. It is not a lot to go on but McFarland does have one outing against the Yankees consisting of 2 shutout innings with 3 strikeouts.
He got hammered in his last outing against Toronto and has been everywhere in between all season long.
Baltimore is doing a great job competing without any very reliable starting pitching but this is going to be too much of a stretch.
For one McFarland is unlikely to work deep into the game taxing a bullpen that is already being asked to do a lot. They might be able to outslug the Yankees but I think on Friday night it will be the other way around.
O/U Pick:
Score Prediction: New York 8 – Baltimore 3
