Well, here goes nothing. A loser tonight and we’re in the red on a season total for the first time in a long, long time – early 2015? It feels like we’re tossing darts these days, but we’re not going to toss. There’s a great pitching matchup in New York, where Madison Bumgarner takes the ball trying to halt a five-game losing streak against Masahiro Tanaka.
Free Pick
I’m going to go Bum here. It isn’t much more than a gut play at this point. Both starters should be usually dominant, but it’s this sort of spot where the Giants thrive – a scrappy team that is built to win pitching
duels.
The Yankees will probably need to use the long ball to win this one. They strike out too much and won’t likely string together successive hits often enough to get to Bumgarner. After giving up two gopher balls the last time out and having the extra sense of urgency to stop this losing streak, Bumgarner should be just a little more diligent this time around. This is a spot where he just nearly always steps up. It’s no coincidence.
Meanwhile, I’m looking for San Francisco go just scrap against Masa-San. Yanks have won his last six starts despite his ERA actually going up nearly a quarter of a run in that span. Sit back and enjoy this one. Should be a really great matchup between two competitive pitchers. We’re playing it for a unit.
Free Pick: Giants -110
YTD: 18-18-1 +0.17
2015: 31-25-5 +1.09
2014: 45-28-3 +9.02
bumgarner • giants • new york • san francisco • tanaka • yankees