Delayed and interrupted by Hurricane Irene throughout the weekend in Baltimore, the Orioles and New York Yankees will wrap up their series at Camden Yards on Monday (7:05 PM ET).
The rescheduling of one of Saturday's games canceled by Hurricane Irene served to stir up some of bad blood between the clubs. The Yankees reportedly requested a
doubleheader be played Friday in advance of the hurricane, a request that was
turned down by the Orioles because of the short notice and the loss of revenue
from holding a Friday afternoon game, according to the team's MLB.com website.
Baltimore manager Buck
Showalter, who held the same position with the Yankees from 1992-95, called New York's request
"disrespectful" after the Orioles were planning a special ceremony
for Friday's game to honor Mike Flanagan. The former pitcher, broadcaster and front office exec was found dead at
his home last Wednesday, with the death ruled a suicide.
The two clubs will now return to Baltimore on September 8 to play the makeup
game from Saturday. That date was one of
just two remaining days off for New
York the rest of the regular season schedule.
The Series So Far
Baltimore let the bats do the talking in Friday's series
opener, taking a 12-5 win as +160 MLB odds dogs behind three home runs and casting
more doubt on Yankees hurler AJ Burnett's ability to remain in the
rotation. The Orioles then let rookie
lefty Zach Britton shoulder the load in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader,
a 2-0 win that came with Baltimore +155 on the MLB betting board.
New York
earned a split in the twinbill with an 8-3 victory in Game 2 as decided -210
chalk. It was just the second triumph
for the Yanks in their last six games and ended a 6-game winning run for the
Orioles.
The Yankees improved to 10-3 this season vs. Baltimore with Sunday
night's win, and gave the pinstriped squad its 43rd win in this series over the
last 56 games. Eight of the 13 games
this year have gone OVER.
Monday's Starting
Pitchers & MLB Odds
The weekend storm and rainouts left Showalter and New York skipper Joe
Girardi constantly shuffling their starting pitchers. Monday's matchup has the Yankees going with
Freddy Garcia (10-7, 3.16) against Baltimore's
Alfredo Simon (4-6, 4.30). The
uncertainty regarding starting pitchers for this game have caused sportsbooks to post odds slowly, but you can bet that Garcia and the Yanks will carry a heavy number in
excess of -200 into the matchup.
Simon will be making his 10th start of the season after
initially working out of the O's bullpen following his call-up in May. He's
coming off a dandy outing in Oakland
last Tuesday, working eight innings and allowing just three hits and a run
while striking out a season-high eight batters.
This will be his first appearance of 2011 against New York, his only career start vs. the Yankees coming in
April 2009 in Baltimore.
Simon took the loss in that game (5 IP, 4 ER).
Garcia comes off the DL for this start, just his second trip
to the mound this month after cutting his right index finger. He got in four innings during a rehab start
last Monday and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, allowing two runs. Garcia has
beaten the Orioles twice this season, including six innings of shutout baseball
here in Baltimore
on April 24 as -130 road chalk.
Taking
a Chance: Huge chalk can be tough to get excited about,
but given the Yankees' dominance in this series it's hard to play against
Garcia and
New York. Take the Yanks on the MLB money line.