BetUS MLB betting odds: Tigers -115, White Sox -105, Total 10
 
Jeremy Bonderman makes his first start of the season for the Tigers, while the White Sox counter with fellow right-hander Jose Contreras (0-5, 8.19 ERA), who will be looking for his first win of the year in this one.
 
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
(Through Sunday's games; please check results of Game 1 of the doubleheader)
 
* DET has lost four of its last six games
* DET has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total
* CHI has lost five of its last six games
* CHI has played six of its last seven games UNDER the total
* CHI has lost five of its last six home games
* CHI has played eight of its last nine home games UNDER the total
 
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD sports betting trends:
 
* CHI has won five of the last six meetings
* CHI has won the last four meetings as the home team
 
 
Detroit got a grand slam from cult favorite Clete Thomas in Sunday as they beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-6. Thomas had come into the game as a pinch runner for the ailing Miguel Cabrera, who has had a hamstring problem of late and was removed by manager Jim Leyland after three at-bats. Cabrera might not play today.
 
The Tigers went into the doubleheader leading the AL Central by 3.5 games over the Minnesota Twins (leading by five in the loss column). the White Sox were 4.5 in back of Detroit, sitting in third place. The Tigers are averaging a little over five runs a game, but before Sunday's nine-run "outburst" they had tallied only 24 runs over the previous nine games. It's a good thing for them that they are allowing only 4.4 runs a game.
 
Jeremy Bonderman lost 19 games as a rookie, but he had his best major league season the year the Tigers last won the pennant (2006), going 14-8 with a 4.08 ERA. He followed that with an 11-9 season, then compiled a 3-4 mark in 12 starts in the 2008 season before he underwent thoracic surgery to remove a blood clot and also had a rib taken out. It turns out that the blood wasn't circulating correctly in his right shoulder. The effect of this procedure is that Bonderman has not started a game since, and has not broken 90 mph on the radar gun in his minor league rehab starts. Leyland will have to make some decisions based on Bonderman's performance, namely, whether to keep Dontrelle Willis in the rotation.
 
Jose Contreras has been a disaster for the White Sox. He's really had only one good outing this season, and in his last two outings he has failed to finish the fourth inning, giving up ten runs in seven innings total. He's struck out only one more batter than he's walked, and Chicago has lost every one of his starts. They have scored only 17 runs (2.8 per game) in those starts.
 
If there's good news, it's that Contreras volunteered to go to Triple-A Charlotte and regroup. His results were impressive, as he compiled a 3-1 record with a 2.70 ERA, and manager Ozzie Guillen swears he has a new outlook. He'll give him every opportunity to go six or seven innings here. After this start, Guillen will also have a decision to make about his rotation.
 
We know there's some upside with Contreras, who can be very hard to hit when his split-finger fastball is working. With Bonderman, we can't rely on anything from him, because clearly there is a change in his approach to pitching, necessitated by his surgery. We're going to move with the White Sox, the -105 underdog in the BetUS American League baseball betting odds, in a small recommendation.
 
JAY'S PLAY:  CHI. WHITE SOX (-105) *
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)