Hard to imagine Justin Verlander with a bad track record anywhere. But the reigning AL MVP has some unfinished business to take care of against the New York Yankees tonight.
Verlander will go for his first win in Yankee Stadium in five years Friday as the Detroit Tigers open a weekend series in the Bronx. Verlander is riding a two-game winning streak and beat the Yankees in his most recent meeting – Game 3 of the ALCS. He struck out 11 hitters over eight good innings to pace the Tigers to a 5-4 win, and eventually the series victory.
But that was in Detroit and Verlander hasn’t found much success at Yankee Stadium. Since 2007, he’s 0-2 with a 4.76 ERA in four starts.
Verlander has won two in a row this year, though, after dominating the Texas Rangers with eight strikeouts over six innings.
“I thought he was outstanding (Saturday),” manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s a championship team, and it is a championship team that’s hot, but he did a tremendous job.”
Verlander will match up against New York’s Ivan Nova, who has an even more impressive streak going himself. The righty has won 15 consecutive regular season decisions after beating the Boston Red Sox 6-2 last week.
”He’s a monster. I don’t know when people are going to realize that he’s a fantastic young pitcher,” New York’s Alex Rodriguez told the Associated Press. ”All he knows how to do is win.”
He’s 3-0 to start the year thanks to 20 runs of support by the American League’s highest-scoring team. Shortstop Derek Jeter has had a renaissance this year, batting .420 with four home runs. He’s 11 for his last 17 with a 15-game hitting streak – longest since 2009.
“He’s amazing,” Rodriguez told the team’s website. “You see him in batting practice, and the ball’s jumping off his bat to all fields. When you go 10-15 rows up in batting practice to all fields, that’s pretty impressive. I think whatever he was doing in the second half (last year), he’s just building on this year.”
Jeter is favored by Bovada’s MLB Player Props to get another hit tonight.
The Tigers have been looking for that kind of offense. With one of the AL’s scariest lineups, they were swept by the Seattle Mariners Thursday and finished on a 1-6 homestand.
Still, Verlander can turn things around in a hurry, allowing an opponent batting average of just .171 for the year.
That’s why Bovada is favoring the Tigers by 1 1/2 runs and a -130 moneyline.