[cpprcppr]

Game: Philadelphia at New York Yankees (8:00 PM Eastern)
Pick: 3 units on New York Yankees -170 (moneyline) (risk 3 to win 1.8)

The Philadelphia Phillies begin their quest to repeat as baseball's World Champions against the NY Yankees at the Stadium in game one. The Phillies will wheel out Cliff Lee, who has come up big since they acquired him from the Indians, but he will face off against a pitcher that is at the top of his game right now in CC Sabathia. Sabathia has been impossible to beat and aside from a season ending tuneup against Tampa Bay, the Yankees are now 14-0 in his last 14 starts and the last 13 have all been quality starts. Sabathia, discounting the meaningless finale against Tampa Bay, has pitched to an 0.74 ERA in his last five starts with opposing hitters batting .165. Lee has been tough in the post-season, but the Yankees lineup has a way of making a starter throw a lot of pitches and making an early exit because of pitch counts. The Yanks have the advantage here in many ways. They have been lights out at home where they have not only gone 5-0 in the playoffs, they have won their last 13 here vs teams with a winning record with the last loss occurring over two months ago. They have the starting pitching edge here, as well as the better pen and closer for game one. I'm going with the Yankees here.

Game: Philadelphia at New York Yankees (8:05 PM Eastern)
Pick: 2 units on Game Total OVER 7.5 -110 (risk 2 to win 1.8)

The Yankees have played Nine post-season games and have yet to be held under four runs. They have scored 23 in their last three and have averaged 5.3 runs a game. The playoffs are supposed to take away the long ball with the strong pitching, but that hasn't slowed the Bombers who have slugged 14 in the nine games. The Phillies have been similar as they have plated four runs or more in eight of their nine games and have averaged over six runs a game. That makes for two teams that have each reached the four run mark in 17 out of 18 possibilities. The Phillies have matched the Yankees home run total of 14, so combined they have 28 HR's in 18 games and the Stadium has allowed more HR's than any park in baseball. The last 14 starts Sabathia has made with a total of 7-8.5 has seen 11 of the 14 go OVER. The Phillies have also played to an 18-6-2 OVER mark in their last 26. I like this one to go OVER the total.