Free Picks: Premium Service Plays for Tuesday August 25,2009

Power Play Wins
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Los Angeles Dodgers -112

Destroy The Book Sports

15* Destroyer LAA-175
10* Toronto+129
7* Texas+180
7* K.C.-165
5* CWS+240

Doc’s Sports

3-Unit Play Take Colorado Rockies +105 over Los Angeles Dodgers

The NL West race isn’t done yet. Those of us who stayed up late last night can attest to that. The Rocks now have a four-game lead in the wild card standings. There is no doubt in my mind that Jim Tracy is the Manager Of The Year. He sure knows how to build a players confidence. Rockies are a confident bunch right now.

3-Unit Play Take Texas Rangers +165 over New York Yankees

This is a very crucial series for Texas. Kevin Millwood continues to pitch well for them. His mound opponent Joba Chamberlain, was knocked around in his last start by the Mariners. Taking our chances at a nice price tonight.

3-Unit Play Take Seattle Mariners -125 over Oakland A’s

The Mariners must continue to beat up on the bottom feeders, Oakland and KC. They did so last night to get their 10-game home stand off on the right foot. Ryan Rowland-Smith toes the rubber for Seattle tonight. He has pitched extremely well since being recalled.

Mariners win again!

Dave Busk

5 Unit Pick Take Over (10) Baltimore at Minnesota

With the Twins in the thick of a race trying to catch the White Sox’s and the Tigers they are calling Armando Gabino to make his major league debut. The 25 year old has been used mostly as a reliever at Triple A, he was 5-3 with a 2.83 era in 36 appearances and five starts there. He will have some nerves no doubt about and I can’t see how he will pitch past the fifth with most likely a low pitch count. Baltimore meanwhile sends a struggled lefty to the hill and the Twins have hit left handed pitching at a high clip this year. This will be brain Matusz only fifth pro start and he has only pitch 18 innings in his four prior starts while giving up 15 runs on a whopping 31 hits. Get the scoreboard ready !

3 Unit Pick Take Pittsburgh (+160) over Philadelphia

I understand that the Phillies and starting pitcher Joe Blanton have been hot but so has Pirates starter Ross Ohlendorf has been just as hot after tweaking his delivery has only giving 9 earn runs over his last five starts that has last 31 innings. In 13 home starts he has 3.01 era giving up 26 runs over 77 innings. No doubt about it Blanton has been good but I could see him slipping up here vs. the Pirates, this line is inflated big time and I can’t pass up on this value

Vegas Informer

2 Unit Play. Take Chicago Cubs –1 ½ -120 over Washington

3 Unit Play. Take Seattle -105 over Oakland

Tony Salinas

24* Twins (-155) over Orioles

24* Cardinals (-170) over Astros

23* Rockies (+105) over Dodgers

JIM FEIST

NL Game of the Week

LOS ANGELES DODGERS / COLORADO ROCKIES
Take LOS ANGELES DODGERS

The Colorado recent hot streak has coincided with playing some lousy teams: Nationals, Pirates and slumping Cubs. Now a powerful offensive team comes to town, one with a terrific young ace on the hill. Lefty Clayton Kershaw (2.96 ERA) has been on a tear, with a 3.60 ERA his last three starts, fanning 24 in only 15 innings! The Rockies are 3-4 the last 7 starts made by Jason Hammel and opponents are hitting .310 off him. He's not used to Coors Field, either, as he has a 7.02 ERA here! Play the Dodgers.

TEXAS RANGERS / NEW YORK YANKEES
Take TEXAS RANGERS

The Yankees often play an emotional series with their rival Red Sox, then lay an egg the next game. It happened when they swept Boston in early August, hosting Toronto and losing the first game, 5-4, as a favorite. Texas comes to town, a very good team in a Wild Card chase. You need to keep the baseball down in a hitter-friendly park like this, and Kevin Millwood does with his hard sinker. He's allowed fewer hits than innings pitched in 2009. NY righty Joba Chamberlain is off a rough start, getting more rest than normal, and has a 6.75 ERA his last three starts, walking 12 in 16 innings. Texas is second in the AL in slugging and third in steals. A great spot for the visitors, play the Rangers.

Fantasy Sports Gametime

100* Play Philadelphia (-175) over Pittsburgh

Philadelphia has won 11 of the last 13 games and Joe Blanton is 1-0 vs. Detroit over his career with an ERA of 0.63. Pittsburgh has lost 14 of the last 15 games as a home underdog of +150 to +200 and they have also lost 3 consecutive games vs. Philadelphia.

50* Play St. Louis (-160) over Houston

St. Louis has won 13 of the last 16 games and they have also won 26 of the last 32 games when playing as a home favorite of -150 or higher. Adam Wainwright has won 17 of the last 23 games when the total posted is between 7 and 8.5 runs and he is also 2-0 over the last 3 starts with an ERA of 1.31.

50* Play LA Angels (-165) over Detroit

Los Angeles has won 16 of the last 19 games coming off two or more consecutive losses and John Lackey is 6-0 vs. Detroit over his career with an ERA of 3.31. Detroit has lost 23 of the last 31 games as a road underdog of +100 or higher and Jarrod Washburn has lost 11 of the last 16 games when pitching in the month of August.

Indian Cowboy

4 Unit Play. Take the Colorado Rockies +102 against the LA Dodgers

The Rockies just have the ability to keep coming at you and give them a lot of credit for being successful against the Giants as they just did not give up. Kershaw has been solid this year though including defeating the Rockies earlier this year at home 1-0 as he picked up the win and just yielded 1 hit. I expect the Rockies to have more success against him today. Kershaw is also winless in his last 6 starts and he has struggled at Coors over his lifetime as he has a 2-2 record with a 8.64 era. Jason Hammel remembers his last start against LA as he pitched 8 beautiful innings only to get saddled with a 0-1 loss. I look for a reverse of fortunes today as Hammel is used to pitching at Coors and will likely have the edge today as the Rockies have seen Kershaw once already and shoul be a bit more prepared this time around. The Dodgers are 0-6 of late when Kershaw is a favorite and the Rockies are 10-1 in Hammel's last 11 starts when the total is set at this mark.

4 Unit Play. Take Over 165.5 between the Sacramento Monarchs @ Atlanta Dream

There is something odd, or fishy if you will about this line. After all, the line opened up at -5 and has gone down to -3 and -3.5 in many books. This is despite the fact that over 70% are banking on Atlanta at home. Plus, Atlanta needs this game for playoff seeding while Sacramento is out of the playoff hunt. Nevertheless, the line continues to go down and it is a short line at that despite the public pounding the Dream. I believe the Monarchs might have a shot to win this game outright, so this is an indirect play on them by taking the Over. Sacramento has not quit on the season as they have won 4 of 5 SU and one of them was a loss to the Sparks at home after they had just beaten them on the road. This team is playing spoiler and loving it. They defeated the Sparks at Staples, beat the Silver Stars on the road, defeated the League leader in Indiana at home as Outright 5.5 dogs and took care of Washington most recently by 22. For a team in Sacramento that put up 85 in LA and 90 in San Antonio, points do not come very tough on the road. Atlanta plays a very up and down game as they are averaging nearly 84 points per game. I believe this game will be a prototype of the Sparks vs. Dream that just occured over the weekend where LA won 87-91 (178). The Sparks and Monarchs are fairly even in play right now so this probably explains the short line on the side. Rather, let's take the over as this game likely exceeds 170 again. The Over is 6-0 for the Monarchs in their last 6 road games and the Over is 4-0 for the Dream against the Western Conference.

Allen Eastman

3-Unit Play. Take San Francisco (-120) over Arizona

Home sweet home for the Giants. They have been one of the best home bets in baseball and I think that they will carry over some anger from last night's loss at Colorado. The Diamondbacks are just 1-9 in their last 10 road games and they never play well in San Fran. Arizona is just 20-41 in their last 61 trips there. The Giants are 15-5 in Matt Cain’s last 20 starts and they are 8-1 when he starts at home.

Triple Crown Sports

4* Texas / NYY Under

Doc's Sports

3-Unit Play Take # Colorado Rockies +105 over Los Angeles Dodgers

3-Unit Play Take # Texas Rangers +165 over New York Yankees

3-Unit Play Take # Seattle Mariners -125 over Oakland A’s

Chris Jordan

100♦ MINNESOTA TWINS RUN LINE (LIST Gabino)

100♦ MILWAUKEE BREWERS (LIST Suppan and Arroyo)

100♦ COLORADO ROCKIES (LIST Hammel and Kershaw)

HalfBets

8* Blue Jays +130