I think the Yankees are in for a disappointing West Coast road trip

I like the A's again.  Chris Bassitt is another unheralded A's starting pitcher who has pitched well at home recently.

July 13th vs. the White Sox - 6 innings and 0 earned runs

July 30th vs. the Brewers - 6 innings and 0 earned runs

August 17th - 6 innings and 3 earned runs

Those were all A's wins. On the other side is Madison Bumgarner.  He hasn't been very good on the road lately.

July 28th at San Diego - 7 innings and 4 earned runs

August 3rd at Colorado - 5 innings and 5 earned runs

August 18th at Arizona - 6 innings and 4 earned runs

Bumgarner defeated the A's just 11 days ago, going 7 strong innings with no walks and 9 strikeouts in a 7-1 win.  This reminds me of last season when just 8 days after pitching well at home against the A's in a 3-2 win, Bumgarner fared poorly in the rematch at RingCentral Coliseum, lasting just 4 innings, walking 6 batters and allowing 3 earned runs in a 4-3 Giants loss.

I mentioned much earlier in this thread that the A's have been winning at home following a day off.  Here's what the A's have done lately in that role.

July 2nd - defeated the Twins 8-6

July 12th - defeated the White Sox 5-1

July 16th - defeated the Mariners 9-2

July 30th - defeated the Brewers 3-2 in 10 innings

August 3rd - defeated the Cardinals 8-3

August 20th - defeated the Yankees 6-2

Because the Rays have been beating up on the Tigers and Orioles this week, the A's are still a half game behind them for the second wild card spot despite having won 7 of their last 8 games. The Giants, meanwhile, are no longer in contention for a playoff spot following a 3-game sweep at Wrigley Field that currently has them 6 games behind the Cubs for the second wild card spot. The Giants had been making some noise for awhile there, going from 35-47 on June 29th to 63-61 just one week ago, but now they're done.

Any feels today?

I like the Yankees tonight. I may be biased after what I went through yesterday, confidently betting the Dodgers -1.5 while eschewing any action on the moneyline (whoops). I began sensing trouble in the first inning of that game after watching both Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger strike out swinging against the washed up C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia went on to strike out a total of seven Dodgers, six of them with swings and misses for strike three.  Was this competence on the part of the 39-year old pitcher, or ineptitude on the part of the home team?  I think it was the latter.  I'm not giving Sabathia credit for submitting a performance that was better than expected.  He allowed only 2 runs because these Dodgers are ice cold at the plate. 

I mentioned it in another thread yesterday as I watched the game unfold that it seemed to me that the Dodger hitters may have picked up bad habits on Wednesday and Thursday while facing a bunch of Blue Jays no names.  The Dodgers clobbered the Jays 16-3 in Tuesday night's opener, and after that laugher, I suspect the Dodgers quit taking their opponent seriously and that showed in a never ending slew of lazy at-bats.  I think those bad habits the Dodger hitters may have picked up has carried over into this series. If you didn't see yesterday's game, believe me when I tell you that few of the Dodgers were able to make solid contact off of anybody.  Chad Green was trusted to pitch two innings and looked like he belonged in the All-Star Game.  He retired all six hitters he faced and struck out four of them. 

Last Tuesday I wrote extensively about how bad Yankees starter Domingo German has been on the road this season, and it's true.  His ERA on the road is 5.82 but it hasn't been made into a big deal because the Yankees have scored enough runs to win 9 of his 12 road starts anyway.  Tonight I'm going the other way and backing German.  I think that for him at least, tonight is going to be a different story, and this tweet by ESPN's Marly Rivera is the reason why...

"Domingo German will be on the mound for the Yankees this Sunday Night Baseball against the Dodgers.  German will be sporting his nickname "Sunday", which is the translation of his first name, Domingo.  German told me it's always been his dream to pitch at Dodger Stadium, and is particularly excited to do it against one of the pitchers he's always idolized, Clayton Kershaw."

So this guy's not just gonna be up for this game, he's gonna be SKY HIGH for this one.  Doesn't sound to me like a pitcher who's about to sink his team, not at all.  Again, I may be overreacting to yesterday's latest lame offensive effort by the vaunted Dodgers, but + 155 sounds good to me and -1.5 +240 sounds even better.

I rhink you should study the ump in the first game.  He is not exactly fond of home teams and he was 4-1 with Bum.  Look him up

Everybody has a bias during a game and can blame the umpire either way. But the umpires strike zones usually are pretty accurate and considerably more accurate than the at home couch analyst who has money on one team.

Here is the fansgraphs strike/balls called by the ump in game 1:

https://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2019-08-23&team=Dodgers&dh=0&season=2019

Some calls were extremely close and I dont think the ump should immediately be fired over missing a few close calls both ways in the game.

the link above was to fangraphs(dot)com search for the game.

Well, both great pitchers give up Dingers to the 1st batters. 

And Sanchez showing how shitty he is as a defensive catcher.  The big stage rattling everyone and nerves are jumping early for both teams

GL Mr. Bator

Yanks ML+160 on my radar

Quote Originally Posted by BallingLikeNE:

This flip flopping back and forth is not a good sign lol going to sit this one out. Either way good luck Mr. B 

Flip flopping?  When did I say I liked the Dodgers?    

In your opening monologue you said that the Yankees were in “deep doo-doo”, that Sabathia’s fat butt was in for an ass-whooping, and that Domingo was a fraud.

I think that’s why BallingLikeNE was under the  impression you liked the Dodgers. 

Trust in the masterbator!

THIS. thank you Bator, you make this forum fun.

That couldn't have gone any better. Domingo German not only fulfilled his dream of pitching in Dodger Stadium, he enjoyed the advantage of facing an ice cold Dodgers lineup.  Then the rested and ready Big Four of the New York bullpen (beyond rested and ready in Kahnle and Chapman's case) brought it home with absolute ease.  I declared this game over at the end of the 6th inning.  Trust me, I said it out loud, lol.

The triumphant Yankees are on to Seattle.....where they'll drop 2 out of 3.   

I was with ya all 3 games on A's with no sweat except maybe a lil on the second game, but this next one you just mentioned would prolly require another set of ...

Can't wait though! 

Thanks B!!