Bobby Maxwell
Colorado (+145) at L.A. DODGERS
The Rockies are playing like a team possessed and this team is coming together at just the right time. They've won eight straight games, they're hitting the ball well and they're getting solid pitching. Nothing more you want out of a team fighting for a playoff spot. The Dodgers are dead and have no real reason to put out maximum effort.
Colorado has beaten the Dodgers four straight and seven of the last nine meetings. The Rockies have pulled themselves right into the thick of the NL Wildcard race and this team is fired up to do some real damage the last week of the season.
Ubaldo Jimenez (4-4, 4.14 ERA) is on the hill for them and his last outing was against these Dodgers when he gave up three runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings of a 9-4 victory. He's faced the Dodgers twice this year and the Rockies have won both games, 9-6 and on Thursday, 9-4.
Brad Penny (16-4, 2.93) goes for Los Angeles and he faced the Rockies on Wednesday and gave up four runs on nine hits in six innings of a 6-5 loss. He's given up three or more runs in four of his last six starts.
Big believer in playing the streaking team and the Dodgers are just 1-7 in their last eight against NL West opponents. They're streaking the wrong way while the Rockies are soaring. Play Colorado.
2♦ COLORADO
Mighty Quinn
Mighty lost with KC but won with the Titans on Monday.
Today Mighty Q likes K C +$110 /W Sox.
Big Al McMordie
St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers
At 8:05 pm, our selection is on the Milwaukee Brewers, as we will fade St. Louis, who has lost its last 10 games on the road, being outscored 70-31 over that stretch. Jeff Suppan gets the start for Milwaukee, and he's been solid at home this season, with a 7-3 record and a 3.97 ERA in 15 outings. And in his career vs. St. Louis, Suppan is 4-2 with a 3.64 ERA. Braden Looper was shelled last week, as Houston beat the Cards 18-1, and Looper has struggled in his nighttime starts this season, with a 6.47 ERA (compared to 1.69 in the daylight). Good Luck - Big Al McMordie
Vegas Experts
Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates
Tuesday, September 25th, 7:05 P.M. EDT
D'Backs have beaten the Bucs 12-of-19 including 6-of-9 here in Pittsburgh. Starter Davis is 10-1 this year vs. teams whose hitters fan 7 or more times per game. Additional supporting angles say to Play On - Road teams with a money line of -100 to -150 (ARIZONA) - after scoring 1 run or less against opponent after scoring 2 runs or less. (82-35 over the last 5 seasons, 70.1%) and Play Against - Home teams with a money line of -100 to -150 (PITTSBURGH) - off 2 straight road losses vs. a division rival, starting a well rested pitcher who is working on 5 or 6 days rest (49-25 since 1997, 66.2%).
Paul Leiner:
10* Mariners -140
5* Over 10.5 NYY/TB
5* Cubs -135
Chuck Franklin:
1500♦ MINNESOTA w/GARZA over Detroit w/Bazardo
1500♦ CLEVELAND w/LAFFEY over Seattle w/Hernandez
Michael Cannon Tuesday Plays:
20 Dime –
DIAMONDBACKS (With Davis and Snell as listed pitchers)
Take the Diamondbacks at this gift of a price for the road win over the Pirates.
The Bucs have thrown in the towel on another losing season. They have lost nine straight and will face a Diamondbacks team that is fighting for the NL West title.
The D-Backs will start Doug Davis and I know he’s been struggling, but to be honest with you I’d back Arizona here even if they called Todd Van Poppel out of retirement and gave him the start.
The Bucs are playing like they can’t wait for the season to end and even a mediocre pitcher like Davis has a chance of shutting this lineup down.
Ian Snell will start for Pittsburgh and he’s shown glimpses of regaining his first-half form, but hasn’t been able to get on a streak in the second-half of the season.
This price should be higher than it is, but with Davis pitching against Snell it gives us good value on Arizona.
Take the Diamondbacks for the easy road win.
5 Dime –
WHITE SOX (With Bannister and Contreras as listed pitchers)
Take the White Sox as the small home chalk tonight over the Royals.
Even though these are two teams battling to stay out of the AL Central cellar, I have to back the White Sox here.
They hold a 10-5 edge in the season series and will be sending Jose Contreras to the mound tonight, and he’s finally turned his season around.
The right-hander has won his last four decisions with a 2.83 ERA in five starts. He’s 8-4 lifetime against the Royals with a 3.25 ERA.
Kansas City will counter with Brian Bannister and he’s hit the wall a little bit down the stretch. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA in his last three starts. He gave up six runs and eight hits, including three home runs, in five innings of a 7-0 home loss to the White Sox.
Take the White Sox as the small home chalk as they grab the win.
Jeff Bonds | MLB Total
double-dime LOS / 963 COL Over 7.5
Analysis:
Los Angeles Dodgers starter Brad Penny simply hasn't been on top of his game since the end of August and his struggles will likely continue against a potent Colorado Rockies lineup.
There's also been at least seven runs scored over his last four home games - which puts us right on the mark for this total.
Another advantage for the Rockies offense, is the fact they just saw Penny five days ago and knocked out three home runs against him. This is definitely worrysome for Penny - considering he's only allowed nine home runs all year.
The OVER is 24-9 in Penny's last 33 home games and 7-1 in the Dodgers last eight during game 1 of a series.
Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez has allowed 13 earned runs over his last 27 innings and has struggled with his control - walking 12 batters over his last four starts
The OVER is 9-3 in the Rockies last 12 games overall and 6-1 in Jiimenez's last seven starts versus a team with a winning record.
With both teams fighting for a playoff spot - expect both offenses to come out swinging.....We're getting tremendous value tonight.
LT Lock
Giants
Steve Merril
New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Devil
Pick: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
The oddsmakers are continually forced to inflate the lines on teams that are still fighting for a playoff spot and value is often found when playing on underdogs in this situation. This was evident yesterday when the Yankees lost outright as a -235 favorite versus Toronto.The line is once again inflated in this game and the Devil Rays fit a subset of my Underdog System. The +1½ run line provides extra value with Tampa’s Jason Hammel on the mound. Hammel is in excellent current form with a fantastic 2.35 ERA and 1.130 WHIP (walks + hits per innings pitched) in his past four starts with a powerful 17-4 strikeout/walk ratio.
Brandon Lang
TUESDAY
5 DIME
Giants - Specify Pitchers - Tomko vs Cain
Rockies - Specify Pitchers - Jimenez vs Penny
Pirates - Specify Pitchers - Davis vs Snell
Karl Garrett
Arizona (pick) at PITTSBURGH
The G-Man's overall free play run stands at 164-145-3.
Tonight I will stick with the division-leading Diamondbacks to inch closer to the West title with the win against the slumping Pirates.
Pittsburgh brings a 9-game losing streak into this game, and I don't see them snapping that skid tonight against a Diamondbacks team that is 4-2 in this year's season series.
Arizona is also 6-3 in games played at PNC Park since the '05 season, and while Doug Davis hasn't been all that sharp of late, I will ride him to the winner's circle this evening.
The Snakes are playing to well as a team right now, and they will make up for any of Davis' shortcomings on the mound with a solid showing against the tough Ian Snell.
Snell certainly has been pitching better than Davis down the stretch, but Snell also lost to Davis and the D-Backs on August 9th at Chase Field. It is deja vu all over again!
Take 'Zona.
4♦ ARIZONA
EZ Winners
This is going to be my final baseball play of the season. I have never had any luck during the playoffs and will not be playing any of the games this post season. Hopefully we can cash in this play today and end the season up over 100 units!
5 STAR PARLAY: (958) NY METS (-$230) & (973) NY YANKEES (-$206)
(Listing Glavine and Clemens)
(Risking $500 to win $565)
Bryan Leonard
PICK: under
Offered at: 10 Pinnacle
REASON FOR PICK: A’s at Red Sox: A pair of good pitchers who don’t walk anyone take the mound. Oakland starter Chad Gaudin has had a fine season and has a 3.60 ERA against Boston this season, while Curt Schilling is the King of Control and has a 1.13 ERA against punchless Oakland. Boston’s offense is not playing well because its missing two key cogs in Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkalis. Don’t look for a lot of runs. Play the A’s/Red Sox under the total.
Scott Rickenbach
PICK: Pittsburgh Pirates
Offered at: -110 Belmont
REASON FOR PICK: 1* (regular play) Pittsburgh Pirates Money Line -110 vs Arizona - Snell vs Davis @ 7:05 ET - We are well aware of the fact that the Pirates have lost nine straight games. The key though is that all nine of those losses came on the road. The Pirates are happy to be back home and they want to finish up their season with a successful homestand. This is absolutely important to them and we see them getting their homestand off on the right foot with a big win tonight. The Pirates are a respectable 35-40 at PNC Park this season. They are relishing the role of spoiler against a Diamondbacks team that is just 38-37 on the road this season.
A big key here is the pitching match-up edge that the Pirates have in this one. Ian Snell shows just a 9-12 record in the books but he has been a victim of a lack of run support. Snell has a 3.83 ERA on the season and he's been pitching very well in recent outings. The key for Snell has been working both corners with his slider and fastball and this is keeping hitters very off balance. He would certainly like to join Tom Gorzelanny and Paul Maholm as Pirates hurlers with double digits in win totals on the season. As a result, Snell is definitely still pitching with motivation and, tonight, he should also be pitching with plenty of run support.
The Pirates offense should come to life at home as they will be helped by facing a struggling Doug Davis. The Diamondbacks southpaw is winless in his last three starts. Davis has allowed 12 earned runs on 25 hits in 13.1 innings of work. Arizona continues to see him pitch himself in and out of trouble over his last three outings and eventually he's going to really get burned for all the baserunners he's been allowing.
Since Davis still shows a winning record on the season and the Pirates are mired in a nine game losing streak, we are getting exceptional value with the much better pitcher in this match-up. Of course having home field edge is also a big advantage. The Diamondbacks do rate the bullpen edge in this game but their relievers have been overused in the recent starts of Davis. He hasn't gotten out of the 5th inning in any of his last three starts! As for Snell, he's gone at least 6 innings in 8 of his last 9 starts! That minimizes the bullpen impact as, in fact, Snell very often goes 7 innings (6 of his last 8 starts). Play Pittsburgh on the money line as a regular selection.