Carmona, Indians open road series in the Bronx

Baseball Betting Lines

05/28/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time Fausto Carmona stepped on the mound at new Yankee Stadium, the Indians' offense erupted in a record-tying performance. Given how Cleveland's offense struggled in its last game, the club hopes its hurler can serve as a good-luck charm again tonight.

Carmona and the Indians hope to get hot tonight when they embark on a 10-game road trip this evening with the opener of a four-game series versus hosting New York.

Cleveland and New York meet for the first time this season tonight and though the Yankees won five of eight matchups last year, their first series ever at their new ballpark in 2009 featured a contest that Indians fans won't soon forget.

The two clubs went on to split the four-game series, the first ever at new Yankee Stadium, but the Indians left their impression on the fresh building with a 22-4 drubbing in the series' third game. Carmona started and allowed a two-run homer by Mark Teixeira in the first inning, but Cleveland answered with a franchise-record-tying 14-run second inning.

Backed with plenty of support, Carmona picked up his first-ever victory over the Yankees after giving up four runs on six hits over six innings. Lifetime versus New York, the right-hander is 1-2 with a 5.17 earned run average in eight games, five of those starts.

Carmona's 2010 season is off to a solid start, but he is coming off his second loss of the season, a six-inning effort versus the Reds on Saturday in which he allowed five runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and two walks. Though Carmona fell to 4-2 on the season with a 3.45 ERA, he did pitch at least six innings for the eighth time in nine starts this year.

The 26-year-old enters the Bronx for the second time with a 3-0 mark and 2.16 ERA in four road starts this year. He'll also work alongside an offense that struggled for much of Wednesday's 5-4 setback to Chicago, Cleveland's eighth defeat in its last 10 games.

The Indians managed just Jhonny Peralta's run-scoring sac fly in the fourth inning through the game's first eight innings despite White Sox starter Mark Buehrle being ejected in the third inning for arguing a second balk call. Cleveland managed to make things close in the ninth inning off Bobby Jenks thanks to Travis Hafner's pinch-hit bases-loaded walk and former Yankee Shelley Duncan's pinch-hit two-run single with no outs.

However, after a Trevor Crowe sac bunt and an intentional walk to Shin-Soo Choo to load the bases, Austin Kearns struck out swinging and Russell Branyan flied out to end the game.

"We put up a fight at the end but we continue to be inconsistent with our situational hitting early in the game," said Cleveland manager Manny Acta. "That hurts us and then we have to play catch up at the end."

New York's Phil Hughes will try to have Cleveland playing from behind again tonight when he makes the start.

Hughes has begun to cool off since his red-hot start, as he has gone 0-1 over his last two starts with nine runs allowed after beginning the season 5-0 with a 1.38 ERA in six starts. The right-hander yielded five runs in a no-decision against Boston on May 17 before suffering the loss against the Mets on Saturday after allowing four runs on a season-high eight hits over 5 2/3 innings.

"I was off today," said Hughes after the loss to the Mets lifted his season ERA to 2.72. "It seems like the last couple of starts I get a quick two outs and then can't put the inning away."

The 23-year-old is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA lifetime versus the Indians in two starts.

New York has lost six of its last nine, but was in line to record a sweep of its three-game set with Minnesota on Thursday. However, starter Javier Vazquez allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings and 112 pitches and the Yankees lost, 8-2.

"We won two games, I don't want to overlook that. We beat a very good Minnesota team two out of three," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi.

While Girardi is glad his team won the series, Thursday's loss, which featured two RBI from Robinson Cano, dropped New York 4 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the American League East.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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