Michael Cannon
30 Dime Minnesota Twins
Al DeMarco
10 Dime SD Padres -1½
TIM TRUSHEL
20* Diamondbacks Under
Teddy Covers
Dallas Vigilantes
Tony George
Minnesota -135
Off a 3-2 loss last night but out hitting the Os, look for Minny to bounce back tonight in what should be a high scoring game on the road here. When I look at the advantages overall here it is staggering in this matchup. Better hitting, bullpen, starting pitcher, defense, depth, on base percentage, slugging percentage and off a game where they let it slip away. No Brainer here, Twinkies come in this one with their ears pinned back. Play 1 Unit on Minnesota.
Nick "BookieKiller" Parsons
10* Chicago Cubs -130
For a number of different reasons I believe the value in this game is on the home side:
Blake Hawksworth goes for the visitors; Hawksworth allowed four runs on 10 hits, but still came away with an 8-4 win over the Phillies his last time out; "That could have gotten ugly," Hawksworth said. "But you try to forget the things that happened early in the game, and just focus on the present and the next pitch." He was pulled after the sixth inning. Hawskworth walked three and struck out one while improving to 4-5 on the season.
Keep in mind that the Achilles heel of this team has been its play away from home; St. Louis is in fact 20-26 (-10-7 units) on the road this year.
In the other dugout: Tom Gorzelanny heads to the hill for the home side; Gorzelanny is coming off a masterful performance his last time out as he scattered 10 baserunners over 6 2/3’s innings to win his third consecutive start on Sunday over the Phillies.
He beat arguably the league’s best in Roy Halladay and seems to thrive in front of the home town crowd; he’s 5-5 with a 3.12 ERA.
Interesting to note that Chicago is in fact 7-6 (+1.1 units) when playing at home in the -100 to -125/130 range.
Bottom line: The Cardinals were on fire, outscoring opponents 46-17 while winning eight straight but have been held scoreless in 20 consecutive innings since then; they produced just one hit in Thursday’s 2-0 loss to Philadelphia in 11 innings and had five during Friday’s 5-0 series-opening defeat.
Chicago has been hot at the plate and is a different team at home; Hawksworth will struggle on the road in this position.