Just going with 2 previews today, although one could argue the Yanks\/Sox\u00a0game is such a rivalry it\u00a0is worth 2 games.\u00a0 One could also argue that\u00a0the Royals\/Orioles game is worth 0 games so I guess it evens out in the end.<\/p>\n
Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles<\/strong><\/p>\n Kansas City moved its record to 2-4 in rubber games this year, with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Kaufmann Stadium.\u00a0 Royals OF Jose Guillen is starting to turn things around, after hitting .127 in his previous 18 games, by producing a run-scoring single in the pivotal fourth inning.\u00a0 The team now heads to Baltimore, as the Royals split the season series 4-4 versus the Orioles last year, including two victories at Camden Yards.<\/p>\n Royals SP Kyle Davies is set to make the start on Monday, bringing in a 2-2 record and 5.22 ERA.\u00a0 This will be his fourth career start against the Orioles, going 1-1 with a 79.4 ERA.\u00a0 In his only outing at Camden Yards on 7\/3\/08, the right-hander allowed seven runs on eight hits in just over four innings.\u00a0 He is a career 17-22 pitcher on the road with a 5.15 ERA in 55 career games (53 starts).\u00a0<\/p>\n Baltimore continues its current homestand after struggling offensively in a 5-1 defeat to the Cleveland Indians on Sunday.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a very up-and-down year for the Orioles, compiling a 10-10 record in their last 20 games.\u00a0 The bullpen\u2019s late-inning woes continued, giving up two runs in the eighth inning, moving their season total to 23 runs given up in the eighth inning or later this season.\u00a0 Fans are hoping that a series against the AL Central will wake up the team, as they\u2019ve notched an even 3-3 record against the division this season (6-15 vs. East, 3-7 vs. West).<\/p>\n Orioles SP Brad Bergesen is perceived to be back on track, tossing 7.2 innings of one-run ball against the Mariners last Wednesday.\u00a0 Since returning back from a stint at Triple-A Norfolk, he has produced a 2.33 ERA in his last three starts.\u00a0 In 15 career starts at Camden Yards, Bergesen is 9-2 with a 3.53 ERA, with nine of his 15 home starts being labeled a quality one.\u00a0\u00a0 Baltimore has outscored its opponent 19-11 over his last three starts, with two of those coming at Camden.<\/p>\n It will be very hard to back the Royals as a road underdog in this contest, with the team dropping seven out of their last eight games in this situation (-539).\u00a0 Kansas City is also 58-121 in its last 179 games against the AL East, but picked up a small profit in the eight game series against the Orioles in 2009 (+235).<\/p>\n One angle that\u2019s going for Baltimore is the fact they have not lost three straight home games since getting swept by Toronto and Tampa Bay from 4\/9-4\/14\/10.\u00a0 Bergesen also seems to pitch well at home against lesser competition, with the Orioles going 7-0 in his last seven starts against a team with a losing record.<\/p>\n Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees<\/strong><\/p>\n Boston flies into New York on a losing streak, after dropping the last two games of the current road trip against the Detroit Tigers, a team that has the best home record in the American League.\u00a0 The Red Sox continue to be matched up with top-flight teams on its current schedule, playing its 15th<\/sup> game against a team with a .600 or better win percentage.\u00a0 The team is now 3-11 in those contests after Sunday\u2019s 5-1 loss.\u00a0 The bullpen has been worked heavily in recent days, which showed with closer Jonathan Papelbon getting seven outs on Saturday for his longest outing in over three years.\u00a0 From a series standpoint with the Yankees, Boston can produce a winning record (20-22) against New York since 2008 with a sweep.<\/p>\n Red Sox SP Daisuke Matsuzaka is currently 2-1 with a 6.35 ERA in three starts this season.\u00a0 He is set to make his season debut against the Bronx Bombers, last facing them at Yankee Stadium in September 2009.\u00a0 The Japanese import is 3-3 with a 5.49 ERA in seven career starts against the Yankees, but has won only one of his three starts in New York (4\/27\/07).\u00a0 Scoring has been a familiar theme in games with Matsuzaka involved, with teams combining for 45 runs in his three starts already this season.<\/p>\n New York will look to bounce back after failing to shut the door on the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, dropping the final game of a three-game set, 6-3, at Yankee Stadium.\u00a0 Still, the Yankees have won all five of their series at the Stadium this season.\u00a0 The team has certainly taken care of business against the division in the season\u2019s first six weeks, posting an 11-4 mark.\u00a0 Offensively, the team has had little trouble again in facing right-handed starters, going 16-7 in 23 such games and 73-48 when adding in 2009\u2019s win total.\u00a0 The season series against Boston has already included six games thus far, with the Yankees going 4-2 and outscoring the Red Sox by 14 runs total (43-29).<\/p>\n Yankees SP Phil Hughes definitely shook off the nerves of pitching in the sport\u2019s biggest rivalry, picking up a 10-3 victory at Fenway Park on 5\/7.\u00a0 The right-hander tossed seven effective innings in that game, allowing just two runs and scattering seven hits.\u00a0 Manager Joe Girardi has to be very pleased in placing Phil Hughes in the starting rotation after winning the job during spring training, especially with the young starter posting a 5-0 record and 1.38 ERA in his first five starts.\u00a0\u00a0 The Yankees have outscored opponents 18-5 in his two starts at home, as he\u2019s gone 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA.<\/p>\n Bettors supporting the Yankees on Monday night should take serious consideration in playing the run-line.\u00a0 New York has won all 12 games at home by two or more runs and all four of their victories against Boston this season have come by the same margin.\u00a0 In fact, the last one-run ball game between these two clubs came back on 6\/11\/09, a span of 16 games.<\/p>\n Support for the underdog certainly has its voice, when factoring in the Red Sox\u2019 13-6 in Matsuzaka\u2019s last 19 starts against the division.\u00a0 That enthusiasm must be tempered with the team dropping three of his last four games against the division the last two years (-295).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just going with 2 previews today, although one could argue the Yanks\/Sox\u00a0game is such a rivalry it\u00a0is worth 2 games.\u00a0 One could also argue that\u00a0the Royals\/Orioles game is worth 0 games so I guess it evens out in the end. Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles Kansas City moved its record to 2-4 in rubber […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[172,1115,1500,137,1481,1470],"class_list":["post-3345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-daisuke-matsuzaka","tag-phil-hughes","tag-red-sox","tag-royals","tag-yankees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3345"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3366,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3345\/revisions\/3366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}