The New York Yankees have been on fire at the start of the second half of the season winning seven of their last nine games. Tonight's opponent the Texas Rangers have been good of late as well though winning four straight before losing 13-7 at Anaheim last night. I like the price we get on them to bounce back with a win here in the opener of a three-game set home in Texas tonight.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. Pitching - The Yankees will hand the ball to Ivan Nova (2-3, 3.34 ERA) who'll make his sixth start of the year after recovering from Tommy John surgery. He's lost both his road-starts while conceding six runs on 16 hits with three homers over 12 frames and he's 2-2 despite a rather high ERA of 4.80 in five career starts against the Rangers. Texas will counter with Matt Harrison (1-1, 5.40 ERA) who'll make his third start of the year after missing close to 14 months because of back surgery. He was lit up for six runs in four innings of a 7-4 loss against Arizona on July 8 in his season debut but tossed six scoreless ininngs at Coors Field his most recent outing. He was 1-2 with a 1.77 ERA over three starts against the Yankees 2011-12.

2. Situational - The Rangers have won four of their last five coming in as an underdog and they're 7-3 in Harrison's last 10 starts as a home underdog. They've won four straight meetings with the Yankees.

3. X-Factor - Josh Hamilton is 6-for-10 with three doubles in previous meetings with Nova.

Selection: This is a play on the Texas Rangers (10*)