MLB Baseball Betting Odds
New York Mets (33-30) at Baltimore Orioles (28-37)
Thursday, June 18
 
BetUS MLB betting odds: Pick'em (-110 each way), Total 10.5
 
Right-handers go at it tonight, as Livan Hernandez of the Mets (5-1, 4.34 ERA) squares off against Jason Berken (1-3, 7.33 ERA) of the Orioles.
 
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
 
* NY has lost five of its last seven games
* NY has lost eight of its last 12 road games
* BALT has lost nine of its last 13 games
 
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD sports betting trends:
 
* BALT has won four of the last six meetings
 
Wednesday provided a real disappointment for the Mets, as Pedro Feliciano, who had held left-handed hitters to a .125 average previously, gave up a two-run homer to Aubrey Huff in the seventh inning, as Baltimore won by a 6-4 score. It was Huff's first extra base hit in 16 games. Meanwhile, David Wright's hitting streak came to an end. The National League's leading batter (.365) had hit safely in eleven straight contests. Matt Wieters, the highly-touted rookie catcher for the Orioles, hit his first major league homer off Tim Redding. The Mets are three games in back of the Philadelphia Phillies, who have lost two games in a row, in the National League East. The Orioles are twelve games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League East.
 
Livan Hernandez did not have a good outing last Friday as the Mets opened the Subway Series against the Yankees, giving up six runs in 5-1/3 innings. It did come on the heels of four starts in which Hernandez had done a pretty good job. If there is a piece of discouraging news, it is that Livan has walked five and struck out five in his last two starts. Hernandez, who is with his fifth team in the last four seasons, last faced the Orioles when he was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, giving up four runs and nine hits in four innings back in 2007.
 
Unlike Hernandez, Jason Berken's value in the major leagues is largely unknown. That is why observers should have concern over the Clemson alum's last two substandard outings, after he began his Baltimore career allowing three runs in his first two starts. On June 6, the Oakland Athletics, who don't hit against many pitchers, lit him up for nine runs in just 3-1/3 innings, and he did not recover well the last time he took the mound, surrendering four runs on eight hits before leaving with one out in the fifth inning against Atlanta. In his first two big league starts, Berken had a WHIP ratio of 1.33. In his last two, that figure has ballooned to 2.48.
 
In this pick'em situation, we would rather go with the more experienced pitcher, as well as the better team, with the superior bullpen. That's the Mets and Livan Hernandez, as we lay -110 in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.
 
JAY'S PLAY:  N.Y. METS (-110) ***
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)