New York (39-28) at Chicago (28-40), 4:10 p.m. EDT

After getting shut down by a winless pitcher, the New York Yankees will try to regroup against one they haven’t seen in nearly 10 years.

The Yankees will try to put an end to Ryan Dempster’s recent home dominance Saturday when they continue their three-game road set with the Chicago Cubs.

New York (39-29) came to Chicago after a week in which it had baseball’s most prolific offense. The Yankees scored 51 runs while batting .336 with 13 HRs and a .570 slugging percentage in a 6-1 stretch at home.

The opener of this series told a different story, as New York managed four singles and a double Friday in a 3-1 loss. Read more…

Mijhaar’s creditable fourth in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday left his trainer Roger Varian thoroughly satisfied.

The three-year-old travelled ominously well for much of the mile-and-a-half Group Two contest, but had no answer when impressive winner Nathaniel careered away.

Varian is looking forward to returning his colt to 10 furlongs on his next start and he is confident there is plenty to look forward to.

“I took a lot of encouragement from his run as he travelled like a very good horse and maybe just didn’t quite get home over the mile and a half,” said Varian.

“He made eyecatching headway and came from out of the pack as though he was going to go very close, but I think he’ll be a better horse over 10 furlongs.

“If he’d got the trip I think he’d have been second or third and we’d be saying that was a fantastic run on just his third start, so I think we can take plenty of positives from it.

“I`m not sure where he’ll go next. Read more…

Workforce has drifted in the betting for Thursdays Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown after a very cautious assessment of his chances by Sir Michael Stoute. Last years Derby winner may be in serious need of the outing, the Newmarket trainer said on Wednesday, prompting bookmakers to push him out to odds-against from odds-on.

Hes done very well physically but I think hes really going to need this race, Stoute told At The Races. We decided we wouldnt be in a rush with him this year. His first possible target was the Tattersalls Gold Cup [at the Curragh last Sunday], but we thought we wouldnt take him all the way to Ireland and the race looked tough enough, with So You Think.

Stoute described the Brigadier Gerard as a race I dont particularly like and noted that Workforce would be carrying 7lb more than all his rivals because of his status as a Group One winner from last year.

Read more…

Paul Hanagan was bitterly disappointed by the performance of Wootton Bassett in Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The champion jockey feels the colt did not reproduce anything like the form he showed when unbeaten as a juvenile, or when fifth in the French 2000 Guineas.

“Wootton Bassett just didn’t turn up in the St James Palace Stakes and it looks as though we’ve got a serious rebuilding job to do,” Hanagan wrote on his www.attheraces.com blog.

“He was very buzzy down at the start and got really geed-up in the stalls, then missed the break, and I was the first one beaten.

“Frankel is a super horse – there’s no getting away from that – and he’s a joy to watch, but my fellow didn’t reproduce his French Guineas form.

“It may be that he needs dropping back in trip but at the moment we are all scratching our heads.”

  

Monday night baseball on ESPN will feature the final of a four game series when the Cleveland Indians will look to win at least one on the road vs the New York Yankees. The scheduled starting pitchers in MLB predictions for Indians vs Yankees odds have righthander Carlos Carrasco for Cleveland and righthander A.J. Burnett for the Yankees. Carrasco will take the mound for the Indians with a 5-3 record this season with a 4.52-ERA while Burnett has gone 6-4 on the year for New York with a 4.37-ERA.

ESPN Monday night baseball of the Indians vs Yankees can be seen live on ESPN starting at 7:05pm EST from Yankees Stadium. M

Read more…