This East meets West battle continues Friday evening from the Coliseum where the Yankees are once again favored on the MLB odds board. Let's call it a consensus -130 price tag on New York, and the same 7.5 run total we were up against Thursday is back for the second game, a slight lean to the OVER at some shops listed on the SBRodds screen. 
The clubs just fell short of that number in Game 1, a 4-3 Oakland victory that snapped a 9-game home skid against the Yanks. The A's certainly had chances to tack another run or three on the board early, but failed to do so though we can't bemoan that now and instead must move on to finding a winner in tonight's battle. 
Ivan NovaDespite the loss, there were some good signs for the Yankees who maintained a 9-game bulge atop the AL East heading into the weekend. It's the largest lead in any division, and New Yorkremains on a solid clip with nine dubyas in the last dozen games. 
The Yankees also scored three times to extend their streak of 3+ runs in their last 43 games. At issue tonight is the fact three runs haven't been enough to win any of Nova's last five starts with his ERA at an even 5.00 for July and New York emerging victorious just once in his last four trips to the mound.
Ah, but the Yankees have been money behind the lanky Dominican when he takes his turn away from the Bronx. Ten road assignments for Nova have ended in victory for New York nine times, including a 6-3 win here in Oakland on May 25 laying 145 at the baseball betting window. He did serve up a pair of long balls, but they were harmless solo shots while New York was busy plating five of its six runs via three long flies.
Meanwhile, the Athletics are 6-1 behind Milone at the Coliseum where the former USC Trojan is sporting a 1.03 ERA in nearly 53 innings. The southpaw has served up just a single homer inOakland, something that will be tested by the big guns for the Bronx Bombers against a big-time fly ball pitcher.
One fly ball that did manage to escape the vast Coliseum basically did Milone in against this Yankees lineup in his only 2012 home defeat on May 27. He pitched well enough to win in the 2-0 setback, but New York's Hiroki Kuroda had an easy time of it against the A's to deny the young lefty.
So we saw one streak end Thursday with Oakland's first win at home over the Yankees since April 2010. Hindsight is 20-20, but it's obvious now I should have listened to my own advice and followed the A's who are red hot this month with an 11-2 mark. The Athletics also managed to pull with 1.5 games of the Angels for second place in the AL West with the triumph.
We saw another streak continue with New York scoring at least three runs for the 43rd straight game. One of the biggest criticisms of the Yanks recently has been their inability to hit with runners in scoring position and a reliance on home runs to push runs across the plate. It was a small, 1-game sample, but New York did manage to go 2-for-5 in the RISP column Thursday.
Now we have a pair of pitchers who have excelled in this road-home situation all year, and the easiest wager would seem to be banking on Nova and Milone to keep this game below the scoreboard hurdle. But I've never done things the easy way and will instead go right back toadding the OVER 7.5 to my baseball picks for tonight.
My pick: Over 7.5 (-110) ---