MLB gambling favors New York on Friday as they host the Baltimore Orioles in a game that can be seen on ESPN. The Yankees are getting everything set as they open the regular season on Sunday against the Red Sox. New York is the favorite in baseball gambling to defend their World Series title. MLB gambling fans that cheer on New York will not see Joba Chamberlain as part of the starting rotation. The hard throwing right-handed has been sent back to the bullpen where the Yankees hope he can take over the setup role again in front of Mariano Rivera. New York gave the fifth starting spot in the rotation to Phil Hughes. Chamberlain will now have to adjust to the setup role again after being a starter much of last year and this spring.
“It was good. I threw too many pitches in the bullpen, but that’s probably the biggest adjustment,” Chamberlain said. “As far as routine, it was great, just trying to find out how many pitches you need down there.” New York has really had their troubles knowing what to do with Chamberlain. He was a great setup man for Rivera a couple of years ago but the Yankees wanted him to be a starter. Now they are going back to using Chamberlain in the bullpen. “He went back to eighth inning mode [in 2009], where you can lock in on what you need to do for one inning — three hitters, four hitters,” manager Joe Girardi said. “You don’t have to think about going through a lineup three or four times. I thought he did it very quickly. It was almost like, ‘I’ve done this, I know how to do this, I’m going to do it.'”
New York is a stronger team in MLB gambling when Chamberlain is a dominant setup man. It can shorten the game to six innings. Chamberlain might go two innings with Rivera handling the ninth. “I think it’s something that you can look at,” Girardi said. “A lot of that would depend on the group as a whole, and how they’re doing, and how he’s doing. Mo did it very well in ’96; probably as good as it’s ever been done. Because [Chamberlain] is stretched out, he has the ability to do that.”
Baltimore is using the last part of the Spring Training baseball gambling season to get second baseman Brian Roberts ready for the season. He has missed most of the spring with a back injury. Even though he has had little time to get ready he still might be in the starting lineup on April 6th as the Orioles face Tampa Bay.