Seattle at New York

What's up with the AL East? Boston and New York are struggling while the perennial bottom-dwellers are looking down on them. New York has lost six of their last eight games and tonight must face Erik Bedard who has owned them (lifetime 1.64 ERA vs. the Yanks). Overall Bedard is undefeated with a 2.04 ERA and is coming off a gem vs. Oakland in which he gave up just two hits in over six frames. To make matters worse for the home team, they will be without A-Rod and Posada. Sure, New York has Wang on the mound, but his team is averaging just 4.3 runs per game this season and only 3.3 per game vs. southpaws! Seattle's offense hasn't been very good either but one stat of note is that they average just 4.7 strikeouts per game. Why is this of note? New York is already 1-8 this season vs. teams that strikeout less than six times per game. Over the past two seasons, the Yankees are 9-18 vs. starting pitchers with an ERA of 3.20 or better. With Bedard sporting a 9-2 mark the past two seasons as a dog of +100 to +150, we like the Mariners here.