Bob Balfe
England PK
Both teams could have played better in Group play and are very similarly matched on both sides of the ball. The difference here is that England already passed their speed bump in Group play and have since stepped up their defense and goaltending. Look for England to win in a thriller late in the match. Take England as a pick (-140).
Argentina -1
Argentina might be the best team remaining in the tournament and they will have no problem handling the speed of Mexico. Messi has proven he is the most thrilling player in the world and he has yet to score a goal. Look for Argentina to win the time of possession and advance with virtually no problems today. Take Argentina -1 (+115).
Pittsburgh Pirates +215
Ross Ohlendorf is winless this season, but will have a great shot against Gio Gonzalez, who was struggled and appears to be very inferior in his past few starts. Pittsburgh is not a good road team, but they have shown some signs of improvement and have hit the ball well (just never able to generate runs). This is a favorable line for Pittsburgh as Gonzalez is not a -200 caliber pitcher. Look for the Pirates to avoid the sweep today.
KIKI SPORTS
2 Units White Sox -135
1 Unit San Diego/ Florida UNDER 7.5
1 Unit Boston +120
2 Units Germany -105
Executive
250% Dodgers
Sports Investment Group
San Diego +105
Totals 4 U
Top Play SD/Flo UNDER 7.5
Minn/NYM OVER 8.5
Sea/Milw OVER 9
Pitt/Oak OVER 9
RSox/SF UNDER 7
All confirmed 100% by me. Goldengreek stop asking for points at other sites. You didn't buy the Joe Wiz picks. Copy and paste doesn't qualify for points.
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Asian Executive Lock of the Year - Minnesota
DAVID MALINSKY
4* BALTIMORE over WASHINGTON
When you read ”I think it’s huge. No matter what we get down by, we’re going to be able to swing and get our way back into it. I think it’s a big boost.”, and ”I think we can even play better baseball.” from players after a Saturday win, you would likely start looking at the top of the standings to see where it came from. Instead try the lower regions, and the Baltimore Orioles, with Matt Wieters and Adam Jones responsible for the quotes. What had been an under-achieving team has won three games in a row, including back-to-back wins over Washington despite trailing by big early margins, and we are going to back that newly found confidence and energy in a setting that is drastically under-priced.
Baltimore has scored 33 runs in five games on this home stand, and note that facing the Marlins and Nationals meant a rare chance to step down in class – when this home set began, it had nearly been a full month since they had last faced a team with a losing record (Oakland, on May 27th). And no one understands this more than Jeremy Guthrie. While Guthrie’s 4.28 ERA is going to elicit yawns in the marketplace, take a closer look. There are 128 pitchers that have worked at least 60 innings, and he is #2 in difficulty of batters faced. He has only had four games all season against losing teams, working to a solid 2-1/3.03 in those outings, and he can check a slumping Washington offense that has only produced 31 runs in a 2-9 slide, with the only two wins each coming by a single run over Kansas City.
Guthrie should get plenty of offensive support. That resurgent lineup can take advantage of Luis Atilano, who brings much less to the table than his 6-4/4.52 bottom line indicates. Atilano nearly has as many W’s (25) as K’s (30) over 65.2 innings, and if you are going to survive with K counts that low your ground ball ratios better be real high. His are not, at 1.43:1, and with seven HR’s allowed in 37.2 road innings pencil him as clearly vulnerable for this setting. And having completed seven innings only one time, including just 14.2 frames in his last three starts, he does not provide much respite for what has been an over-worked bullpen already in this series.
KEN JONES
Yankees at Dodgers
Pick: Yankees +100
The New York Yankees will look to their most consistent left hand pitcher Andy Pettiite who is two and zero lifetime versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. The left hander has been lights out in his last five starts stingily allowing nine runs on twenty six hits in thirty six frames. Dodger starter Kershaw had a dreadful outing in his last start giving up five runs on thirteen hits in fourteen innings. Play: New York
NSA
20* Boston +110
20* Angels -135
20* Yanks +110
Jeff Benton
20 DIME SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
10 DIME SAN DIEGO PADRES
Giants
I’m as big a Jon Lester fan as there is on the planet. However, it’s not often you get a pitcher the caliber of Tim Lincecum at this dirt cheap of a price, especially at home. And when you do, you just have to play it.
After an inexplicable poor three-start stretch to close out the month of May, Lincecum has been back to his dominant self in June, posting four straight quality outings with the Giants winning all four. Over his last three starts, the right-hander has gone 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 24 strikeouts against just seven walks in 22 innings. On Tuesday in Houston, Lincecum outdueled the red-hot Roy Oswalt, allowing just one unearned run over eight innings of a 3-1 victory.
Overall, Lincecum is 8-2 with a 2.86 ERA, and San Francisco is 11-4 behind its ace, including 6-2 in day games (with Lincecum going 4-1 with a 2.50 ERA under the sun). I bring up day games because for whatever reason, Lester has struggled in sunshine, going 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA in three starts (at night, he’s 7-1 with a 2.36 ERA). It’s also interesting to note that Lester doesn’t get a ton of offensive support when he pitches on the road (the Red Sox average just 4 runs per game in his seven road outings, and they’ve got a 3-4 record when Lester pitches outside of Boston). Nor does he get a ton of offensive support in day games (3.7 runs per game).
Hard to see Boston’s offense production increasing today for three reasons: 1) It is facing Lincecum; 2) It won’t have second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who went down with a broken foot on Friday; and 3) It is ending a tough six-game West Coast road trip today before heading back home.
One final point to make: Despite Saturday's 4-2 Boston win, the Giants are sitll 25-13 at home this season, and one of the reasons why is they’ve lit up left-handed pitchers at home, batting .312.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are in slumps of 2-5 on the road, 14-27 on the road against teams with a winning record and 1-4 when Lester pitches as an underdog (all on the road). On the other hand, San Francisco is on positove streaks of 50-22 as a favorite, 36-16 when Lincecum starts as a favorite and 25-9 when Lincecum goes as a home favorite – and again, rarely if ever has he been this reasonable a chalk.
Padres
The last time Mat Latos pitched in South Florida, the rookie right-hander got murdered, allowing seven runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings of a 10-1 loss. However, since then, Latos has been a complete beast, allowing two runs or fewer in nine of 10 starts (and just three runs in the other outing). Over this 10-start stretch, Latos has given up a grand total of 14 runs in 65 2/3 innings, good for a 1.92 ERA.
During this stretch, Latos is 7-2, and he’s led San Diego to five victories in six road games, yielding just six runs in 39 innings (1.38 road ERA). And if you just focus on his three most recent outings, Latos is 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA, beating three quality opponents in the Mets (road), Blue Jays (home) and Rays (road). He’s allowed just nine hits and three walks while whiffing 23 in 19 2/3 innings.
In a nutshell, Latos is absolutely dealing right now. And even though his counterpart today – Marlins right-hander Anibal Sanchez (7-4, 3.30 ERA) – has been solid himself, the Padres (44-30 overall; 21-14 on the road) have proven for three months they have a better all-around team than the Marlins (35-39 overall; 19-21 at home). And should this game come down to a battle of bullpens, it’s a huge advantage for San Diego (2.59 bullpen ERA vs. Florida’s 4.71 bullpen ERA)
Throw in the revenge factor for Latos and a reasonable pick-em price, and I’ll roll the dice as San Diego -- which continues to be disrespected in the marketplace -- guns for a three-game sweep.
JR O'Donnell
LA Dodgers -110
The 40-34 Dodgers got the bats moving last night as they crushed a 46-28 Yankees ball club 9-4. They keep the mojo going tonight on Espn. The Dodgers send the Monster 7-4 OVER ALL and 3.24 ERA C Kershaw to the mound and he has a terrific 4-0 winning mark at home the last 4 for the home crew. The Dodgers will get to A Petitte and on the flip side the Yankees are hitting a miserable .224 BA vs. left handers the last 11 games. The Dodgers are a East Coast sharp side here on National TV & the JR O. Express will play on the home team who needs a win here tonight
Marc Lawrence
Chicago White Sox -135
Note: The White Sox and Cubs conclude their cross town rivalry Sunday afternoon when John Danks matches serves with Ryan Dempster at U.S Cellular Field Sunday afternoon. When Danks takes the mound he will do so knowing he is 3-0 in his last three starts with a 2.05 ERA. He's also 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his only career start against the Cubs. On the flip side, Dempster is 0-2 with a 16.03 ERA in his career team starts in this park. He is also 1-5 in his last six road team starts and 1-8 in his last nine road team starts during June, including 0-4 his last four. In addition, the Cubs are 2-10 in their last 12 Interleague games against teams from the A.L. Central while the White Sox stand 10-1 in their last 11 games against opponents fro the N.L. Central. With the Cubs falling apart at the seams away from Wrigley (7-14 last 21 road games) and the Pale Hose having won 11 games in a row and owning the best Interleague record in the majors this season at 15-2, including 11-0 the last 11, look for more of the same here today. We recommend a 5* Play on the White Sox
Lenny Del Genio
NY Yankees +110
The Dodgers beat the Yankees yesterday 9-4, but they’ll have a much stiffer test tonight against Pettitte. The NY starter is having a tremendous season with an 11-3 team start record and 2.48 ERA. His last three starts have been against these weak hitting NL squads and in all three starts he’s allowed only two runs, averaging 7 innings of work. Kershaw gets the start tonight for LA and he was shaky his last time out allowing five earned runs to the LA Angels in only 6 2/3 innings of work. That was his only start in IL play this season. If you’re looking for a pitcher to back on the road in the first half of the season it’s Pettitte as he’s posted a 16-5 mark over the past 3 years. A good pitcher to play against in night games over the past two seasons has been Kershaw as he has a 14-19 team start record. The Dodgers are an under .500 team against lefties this season at 9-11 and we don’t see them hitting Pettitte tonight. Yankees win the series tonight. Play on NY Yankees.
Larry Ness
10* IL Game of the Year - LA Angels -135
The Angels have won three straight AL West titles (five of last six) but struggled out of the gate this year. The team lost seven straight from April 30-May 6 but have gotten things turned around since then. Most felt as if the team's momentum was dashed when catcher Kendry Morales was lost for the season with a broken leg back on May 29 but the Angels have gone 18-8 since that time, averaging a healthy 5.38 RPG! The problem lately has been that the Rangers have caught fire, going 19-5 in June (including an 11-game win streak from June 12-24). Texas leads the Angels by 4 1/2 games heading into Sunday's action, with the teams slated for a three-game series in Anaheim come Tuesday. The LAST thing the Angels want to do is head into that series off a loss. Rookie Jhoulys Chacin will be on the mound for the visiting Rockies today. He made a few appearances last season and has made 10 starts since May this year. He opened 2-0, not allowing an earned run in 14.1 innings (14-5 KW ratio). However, he was 1-6 with a 5.59 ERA over his next seven starts and took a four-game losing streak into his Tuesday start vs the Red Sox and Jon Lester. He came up big in that game, not allowing a run in 6.2 innings, despite allowing five walks and four hits (Rockies won 2-1). Ervin Santana goes for the Angels and he's off a 6-3 win vs the Dodgers on Tuesday, allowing eight hits and three ERs in seven innings. That ended a BRUTAL two-start stretch in which he had allowed 17 hits and 10 ERs over just 10 innings (9.00 ERA). However, Santana had been pitching VERY well entering that stretch. After opening the season 1-3 with a 4.40 ERA in his first seven starts (team was 3-4), Santana had won five straight outings (from May 15-June 5), posting a 1.80 ERA. Chacin is just "learning the ropes" while Santana's been a solid home pitcher since arriving in Anaheim back in 2005. What's more, he'll face a Colorado team which has struggled all season vs righties away from home. The Rockies are 11-14 in those games but more importantly, are averaging a WOEFUL 3.62 RPG in those 25 contests. As for the Angels, they are a PERFECT 6-0 at home in day games this season, averaging 6.0 RPG! "Sixes are wild" this afternoon in Anaheim and the Angels get the EASY win!
KELSO
50 Units NY Yankees
25 Units Oakland A's -1.5
10 Units SD Padres
3 Units Seattle Mariners