Al DeMarco
5 Dime - Colorado (Marquis) - 1 1/2 Runs over San Francisco(Zito)
The Chicago Cubs practically gave away Jason Marquis during the offseason. Tonight the righthander takes the mound at Coors Field seeking to become the National League's first 15-game winner as the Rockies attempt to open a four-game lead over visiting San Francisco in the wild-card race.
Marquis, who has won his last two outings to improve to 14-8 on the season with a 3.58 ERA, has a 2.30 earned run average in eight career starts versus San Francisco. He's also pitched well at home this season with a 3.86 ERA in 11 outings, and the Rockies have won 16 of his 24 starts overall.
Colorado is coming off consecutive comeback wins against the Giants, following Saturday's 14-11 triumph by rallying for two runs in the seventh for a 4-2 triumph on Sunday against San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum. The Rockies have won six of their last seven games with the lone loss coming in Friday's series opener and they're 16 games over .500 on the season, including 10 games over the break-even mark at home where they've won 25 of their last 35 games. By comparison, following back-to-back losses at Coors, the Giants are now 28-37 on the highway.
San Francisco sends Barry Zito to the mound and although he's pitched well most of the season, the lefthander has been continually victimized by a lack of offensive support as the Giants have averaged a league-low 2.9 runs in his starts. Zito carries a 4.52 road ERA into this start, a number that is not surprising considering he's allowed 102 baserunners in 73.2 highway innings. And tonight, Zito faces a Colorado club that is 13-7 at home versus southpaws, winning 10 of its last 11 against lefties.
With San Francisco losing three of its last four, and the Giants repeatedly failing to support Zito at the plate, it's worth the investment laying the 1 1/2 runs with Colorado to make Marquis and the Rockies a slight home dog.
Seabass
200* NY Jets
20* Giants
20* Tor Und
20* White Sox
20* Clev
Jim Feist
5* AL Game of the Week
TAMPA BAY RAYS at TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Take: TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Tampa Bay in desperate need of wins so the Rays can keep pace with Boston for the AL Wild Card. The Rays have some heavy hitters as they are second in the AL in runs/game (5.20) and third in home runs (159). The Jays are pretty much done for the season as they are double digits back in the Wild Card race and eight games below .500. The Jays do get their Ace on the mound today in Roy Halladay. Hallady is the one bright spot this season for Toronto with a 13-6 record and 2.78 ERA. Halladay also has a lifetime 12-9 record and 3.51 ERA against the Rays. Jeff Neimann will start for the Rays and he's also having a fine season with a 11-5 mark and 3.71 ERA. Despite their bad season, the Jays with their Ace on the hill at this price is just too much to pass on. Take the Jays as your AL Game of the Week.
Bryan Leonard
Tampa Bay at Toronto
Cheap price for possibly the best starter in baseball and we get him pitching at home. Halladay is off a bad start in which he allowed 4 earned runs in 5 innings to the Red Sox. But the big man has a habit of bouncing back after a poor performance. This year he has allowed four earned runs or more just six times. In the games following those performances he permitted just 9 earned runs in 38 innings of work covering five starts. The Blue Jays won 4 of those 5 games. Halladay has produced seven straight quality starts against Tampa Bay and he owns a 2.89 ERA overall pitching in Toronto this season. The Rays counter with Jeff Niemann who has been a pleasant surprise this season. If you remember back to the beginning of the year he was considered the odd man out with David Price on the rise. Niemann has just 20% of his road starts being quality ones. Most of his damage has been done at home. In his last three starts away from home he permitted 13 earned runs in just 19.1 innings of work. The last time he faced the Jays Toronto pounded out 5 earned runs in 6.2 innings of work. The host in this series has won 7 of the last 10 meetings and we expect another home grown victory.
PLAY TORONTO
Alatex
Baltimore -3
Ben Burns
*9 Personal Favorite
Toronto Blue Jays
WINNING CONNECTION
15 Jets Under
Gamblers Ally
Baltimore
SPORTS UNLIMITED
3* NY JETS
NATIONWIDE - GOLD SHEET
RAVENS
LT PROFITS
NY JETS
JIM FIEST
RAVENS