NSA
20* Angels -125
20* Yanks -180
20* SF -130
KELSO
50 Units Reds +100
15 Units Twins/Royals OVER 7
10 Units Yanks -1.5 runline -120
ATS LOCK CLUB
4 Units Twins -110
4 Units Angels +100
5* Sports
3* Colorado + 118
3* Kansas City Pick
Tim Trushel
Giants Under
Tigers Under
Red Sox Under
Rocketman
5* Cubs
Bob Balfe
Chicago White Sox -130
Two great pitchers matchup against each other tonight but you must not overlook how bad the Mariners are away from home. Chicago is a great home team and, with Danks on the mound, should get an easy and inexpensive home win tonight. Take Chicago.
The Duke's Sports
LA Angels (-125) for 2 Units
Solid move by the Angels bringing in Dan Haren, who is arguably one of the best right handers in the majors. He should keep the injury ravaged BoSox lineup cold; after all, Boston is batting a lethargic .218 vs righties this month. On the other hand, we'll look for the Angels' lineup, which is batting a healthy .318 vs righties, to get the best of Clay Buchholz, who is a poor 1-8 vs the AL West; moreover, he sports a lofty 6.35 ERA in 4 career starts vs the Angels. And Boston's bullpen has been misfiring on the road (5.19 ERA). Angels the call.
Mike Lineback
POD - San Francisco Giants -130
Both teams playing well but prefer to back the streaking Giants, winners of 6 of 7 on road from Arizona & Los Angeles, and winning 16 of L21 games overall. SF start Zito has been sharp lately, only 2 runs allowed L2 starts, spanning 15.1 innings. Plus, the lefty has never lost to the Marlins, including earlier start vs. Florida in May (7 innings, 1 run). Florida start Nolasco has been sharp as well. However, he has lost two straight to the Giants. San Francisco have better bullpen. Also, like the fact, Florida are coming off 10-game home stand, with an exhausting series vs. their divisional rivals, the Atlanta Braves this weekend. Add in a same day cross-country travel, and this is a difficult spot for the Marlins regardless.
Jeff Benton
20 DIME L.A. ANGELS
IMPORTANT NOTE: As I noted this morning, there was a chance that the Angels would change pitchers from Joel Pineiro to Dan Haren for this game. That has indeed haprened. So if you already placed your wager with Pineiro listed as the starting pitcher, that wager is voided and I want you to re-bet the Angels and list Haren as the starting pitcher. If you have not placed your wager, go ahead and play the Angels and list Haren. However, if for whatever reason Haren doesn't go, then this play is VOID!
Tough just-concluded road trip for the Angels, who started off with a 10-2 victory at the Yankees then proceeded to lose four of the next five, including three of four at Texas, the team L.A. is chasing in the A.L. West. However, the Angels got a huge energy boost Sunday when it was announced that they acquired former All-Star Dan Haren from the Diamondbacks – a move that should tell the players that the organization isn’t about to surrender the A.L. West title to the Rangers without a fight.
In fact, the Halos are throwing Haren right to the mound tonight, as he's pitching on his regular rest. And just as I expect the rest of the Angels to have a little extra bounce in their step tonight because of their new teammate on the hill, I expect Haren to be equally raring to go as he's finally been released from the prison of negativity that is the DBacks and now is on a playoff contenter. As it is, Haren has allowed three earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts, and he's got a solid 3.14 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in seven career starts against Boston.
The fact the Angels are facing the Red Sox should be added motivation. Not only are these teams in the thick of the wild-card race, but the Angels have a big revenge edge here. Normally, I don’t put much stock in revenge situations in baseball, but in this case I think it’s important because back in early May, L.A. went to Fenway Park and got annihilated in a four-game series, losing all four by a combined score of 36-16. And guess who was motivated by revenge in that series? That would be Boston, which lost the A.L. Divisional playoffs to the Angels last October.
It’s important to note that the Red Sox had a fully healthy roster for that four-game sweep back in May. This time, the Sox head to Anaheim with no Dustin Pedroia, no Jacoby Ellsbury and no Jason Varitek – all of whom are on the disabled list. And while Victor Martinez is expected to be activated in time for this game, how rusty is he going to be after having not played since June 27, when he broke his thumb?
The Red Sox are in the midst of a 10-game West Coast road trip, and they’re just 3-4 so far, losing two games each in Oakland and Seattle. Going back to July 4, Boston is in a 6-12 slump, and it has scored three runs or fewer in 10 of those games. In fact, over their last 11 contests, the Sox have plated just 34 runs, and eight of those came in one game in Seattle. Over the last 10 games, they’re batting just .218 as a team. Conversely, the Angels’ team batting average over their last 10 contests is .317 – nearly 100 points higher!
As for Boston starter Clay Buchholz, he came off the disabled list on Wednesday – he hadn’t pitched in the big leagues since June 26 – and struggled at Oakland, allowing five runs in four innings of a 6-4 loss. The right-hander also hasn’t had much success against the Angels, giving up 24 runs (18 earned) in 27 1/3 innings. That includes an 11-3 loss in his only previous start in Anaheim.
Finally, the home team has dominated this rivalry of late, winning 13 of the last 17 matchups.
Chris Jordon
600* Toronto Blue Jays -1.5
200* San Francisco Giants
Executive
400% Brewers
Tony George
Minnesota -105
Lots of things at work here. First up Greinke for KC stinks against this team, and the Royals are a woeful 1-9 the last 10 times Zach has started for them and they played the Twins. Minny is SMOKING hot at the plate over .300 as a team their last 10 games, and KCs bullpen is in bad form right now with over a 7 ERA their last 3. KC also off a bru8tal series in New York and they simply are in a total funk right now after a strong end to the first half of the season. They also have cooled at the Plate. Minny playing better, short number for the better team, even on the road, KC hardly intimidating for opposing teams at home. Greinke not the same pitcher as last year. Play 1 unit on Minnesota.
Nick "BookieKiller" Parsons
6* Marlins / Giants Over 7
For a number of different reasons I believe the value in this contest is on the "over"
Ricky Nolasco gets the nod for the visitors; Nolasco has been up and down of late; he's 10-7 on the year with a 4.50 ERA.
Very important to point out that Florida has seen the total go "over" the number in 32 of 48 games after a victory (big 5-4 win over Atlanta yesterday).
In the other dugout: Barry Zito heads to the hill for the home side; Zito has been sharp of late, but is coming off a loss; he struggled into the break but has been better in his last couple outings; he's 8-5 on the year with a 3.45 ERA.
Keep in mind though that San Francisco has seen the total go "over" the number in 8 of 13 games this year after three or more consecutive victories (swept Arizona in four game series).
Bottom line: San Francisco has scored a major league-high 122 runs in July, helping it take over the wild-card lead - 1 1/2 games ahead of Cincinnati; Florida won two of three against first-place Atlanta over the weekend and has made up 2 1/2 games in the standings by winning seven of nine overall.
When taking all of the above info into account, I believe this number is just a little low;
Lenny Del Genio
Cincinnati +110
The Reds were shutout yesterday by Houston and today open a three game series in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Brewers are riding a 4-game winning streak after sweeping the Nationals over the weekend. The pitching match tonight has Arroyo for the Reds while the Brewers counter with Wolf. The Reds righty has made a number of quality starts this season and has been very tough on the road with an 8-2 team start record. In his first start after the All Star break he was roughed up a bit, but the two starts prior were very strong allowing only 3 earned runs in 15 innings. The Brewers Wolf has been awful in his last three starts posting a 9.68 ERA and 1.981 WHIP. The Brewers are short favorites tonight and that’s not a good role for Wolf with a 1-8 team start record this season when the Brewers are favored by a $150 or less. As we mentioned Arroyo was beat up in his last start but he tends to rebound posting a 7-0 team start record after allowing 7 or more runs. The Reds are scoring 5.3 runs per game at night this season and they should have no trouble hitting or surpassing that number tonight against Wolf. The Reds beat up the Brewers tonight.