BOB BALFE
United States -140
The United States has been knocking on the door for two decades now, with this being the most important game in USA Soccer history against a team that they should beat. The second half of the last game gave this team the confidence to turn the page and become contenders in this tournament. Take the USA.
England/Slovenia Over 2.5
England has not played well in the first two games and will need a win today to advance to the second round. Look for Slovenia to put some pressure on them and make it tough for the English to control the pace that they prefer. At the end of the day, particularly in the second half, both teams will open it up to put a few goals in the net. Take the Over.
Serbia -125
Australia does not have a good defense and the better team should win here today. If Serbia wins, they will have a great shot at advancing considering Germany is going to need a (and probably will) win against Ghana today to advance. Look for Serbia to get out to an early lead and to never look back, putting all the pressure on the Germans. Take Serbia.
Germany -1
Both teams need a win to secure themselves a spot in the next round. Germany is one of the most offensively gifted teams and does a great job applying pressure early and often. Look for Germany to get a much needed win to advance to the second round. Take Germany -1.
Texas Rangers/Pittsburgh Pirates Over 10
The Pirates out-hit the Rangers last night and still could not get the win. Nippert has been horrible this year so I expect the Pirates to continue to hut and actually generate some runs. Texas will get their runs as always (5.2 rpg) and we should push this over the total today. Take the Over.
JR O'Donnell
2* Minnesota -145
The 40-30 Minny Twins - 145 grab Jr O's spotlight as tonight's BIG PLAY ** Under the Radar ** Winner goes to the Minny Twins off a loss and we will be fading the retread Mil Brewers "Manny Parra" who is a terrible 1-5 over all and a bad ERA mark vs. a smooth hitting Minny Twins team. You saw what the Twins did to a pretty good Phillies ball club. Let's look at some hidden gems that reinforce our winner. Owners of one of the top Inter-league marks the Twins Liriano has a 3-0 mark and a 2 ERA vs these Brewers . The Twins are a dynamite play off a loss and JR O. is not afraid to lay the lead on the road.
ROCKETMAN
3* San Francisco -115
Houston is 12-24 this year when playing against a team with a winning record. San Francisco has won 6 of their last 9 games overall. Houston has lost 8 of their last 9 games overall. San Francisco bullpen has a 3.55 ERA overall this year. Houston is scoring only 3.4 runs per game overall, 3.5 runs per game at home and 3.7 runs per game against left handed starters this year. Barry Zito is 7-3 with a 3.13 ERA overall this year. San Francisco is 6-0 overall vs Houston this year. Zito is 3-1 with a 3.69 ERA overall vs Houston since 1997. Brett Myers is 1-4 with a 6.63 ERA overall vs San Francisco since 1997. We'll play San Francisco for 3 units tonight!
4* Minnesota -140
Minnesota is 40-29 overall this year while Milwaukee comes in at 29-40 on the season. Minnesota is 33-15 the past 3 years in inter-league play. Milwaukee is 2-7 this year at home when the total is 8 to 8 1/2. Milwaukee comes in losers of 3 of their last 4 games overall. Minnesota bullpen has a 2.89 ERA overall this year and a 3.04 ERA on the road this season. Milwaukee bullpen has a 5.76 ERA overall this year and a 6.02 ERA at home this season. Francisco Liriano is 6-4 with a 2.98 ERA overall this year, 3.63 ERA on the road and a 2.05 ERA his last 3 starts. Manny Parra is 1-5 overall this year, 0-2 in all starts this season, 0-1 at home and 0-2 his last 3 starts. Minnesota is 11-4 overall vs Milwaukee the past 3 years. Liriano is 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA overall vs Milwaukee since 1997. Parra has a 6.97 ERA overall vs Minnesota since 1997. We'll play Minnesota for 4 units tonight!
BEN BURNS
8* Cardinals / Blue Jays Under 7.5
I'm playing on St. Louis and Toronto to finish UNDER the total. Yesterday's series opener was high-scoring, finishing well above the total. I expect this evening's game to be much lower-scoring.
Romero gets the call for the home team and he's been superb here at Toronto. In six home starts, he's gone 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA and 0.854 WHIP.
He's averaged a whopping eight innings per start here and has an impressive 50 K's, with just 15 walks, in 48 innings here. Not surprisingly, the UNDER is 5-1 in his six starts here.
Meanwhile, Chris Carpenter checks in at 8-1 with a 2.83 ERA and 1.151 WHIP, averaging 6.8 innings per start. Carpenter, an ex-member of the Jays, has made one start against his former team. That was back in 2005. He returned to his former stomping grounds and tossed a complete-game one-hit shutout. He had 10 K's and 1 walk. Talk about dominance.
Even with yesterday's game finishing above the total, the Jays have seen the UNDER go 20-15 at home while the Cards have seen the UNDER go 20-15 on the road. The Cards have also still seen the UNDER go a highly profitable 29-15-1 their last 45 night games.
Including Carpenter's previously mentioned start here, the UNDER is 3-1 the last four times that these teams faced each other. Carpenter wants to ride into town and deliver another big outing while Romero will be anxious not to get shown up by a former fan favorite and I expect a well-pitched affair.
EXECUTIVE
250% White Sox
Marc Lawrence
Minnesota -140
The Twins send southpaw Francisco Liriano the the hill in Milwaukee in Game Two of this three game Interleague matchup knowing Liriano is 7-1 away in his career team starts during the month of June. He is also 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his career team starts against the Brewers. With Milwaukee's Manny Parra just 1-5 with an 8.81 ERA in his last six team starts during June, look for the Twins to improve to 13-4 in this series here tonight. We recommend a strong 3-unit play on Minnesota.
Larry Ness
10* IL Rivalry GOY LA Angels -125
The Angels and Dodgers met for a three-game series back on June 11-13. It was the final series at the end on a long 14-game road trip for the Angels and for the Dodgers, they were completing a 13-game homestand. The Angels swept the dodgers 10-1, 4-2 and 6-5, marking the first time they had done so (at Dodger Stadium) in 14 years of IL play. The teams opened a three-game series last night in Anaheim with the Angels making it four straight wins over the Dodgers this season, winning 6-3. Should anything change tonight? I think not. The Angels are now an impressive 16-6 since Kendry Morales broke his leg in a home plate celebration back on May 29, while the Dodgers have dropped EIGHT of their last 10 (FIVE straight), starting with that Angels' three-game sweep in Dodger Stadium. Rookie John Ely starts for the Dodgers and Joel Pineiro for the Angels. Ely's first ML start came back on April 28 and he struggled at the Mets (6 IP / 6 hits / 5 ERs) in a 7-3 loss. He then went 3-1 (team was 5-1) over his next six starts, posting a 1.80 ERA. However, either Ely has "run out of gas" or the league has caught up to him. He's 0-2 (team is 1-2) over his last four starts, allowing 23 hits and 15 ERs over 14.2 innings (9.20 ERA). As for Pineiro, he was thought to be a "star in waiting" back with Seattle in the early part of the 2000s. He went 14-7 (3.24) in '02 and 16-11 (3.78) in '03 but from 2004-08 (for Seattle, Boston and St Louis), was 35-47 with a 5.34 ERA. However, he got things sorted out last year with the Cards. He opened 4-0, struggled in losing nine of his next 11 but then went 8-0 with 2.87 ERA over an 11-start stretch (7/3-9/1) in which the Cards won all 11 of his starts. He finished 15-12 with a 3.49 ERA, earning him a two-year, $16 million free agent deal with the Angels. Pineiro has been streaky all season for the Angels. He opened with a 1.77 ERA in his first three starts, then allowed 21 hits and 15 ERs (14.46 ERA) over 9.1 innings of his next two outings. He followed with an 0.84 ERA over his next three but then posted an 8.61 ERA over his next four outings. However, he's allowed just two ERs (and eight hits) over 17 innings of his last two starts (1.06 ERA), earning consecutive wins with a 12-2 KW ratio. That includes a five-hit, complete game 10-1 win over the Dodgers on June 11 (he's 3-0 with a 2.67 ERA in four career starts against the Dodgers). Let's note that while Pineiro owns a 6.80 ERA on the road, his home ERA is 2.40. Dodgers woes continue tonight.
Tony George
Washington -1.5
Brian Bannister for KC has been lit up like a Christmas Tree in his last 2 starts against Atlanta and Cincy, and in his last 3 games has a 10.05 ERA. Rookie sensation Scott Strasburg should eat up an inconsistent offense of KC, who on this road trip have lost 2 close ones, but Bannister will allow the Nats to put runners in scoring position and light up the scoreboard. KC cannot close a game, and while both bullpens are in excellent form, the Nats should get up early and then close it out. Strasburg has a WHIP of 0.78 and an ERA of 1.86, and KC is hardly intimidating. Strasburg is not a flash in the pan, he is the real deal, and has given up only 10 hits in 3 games and 19 innings pitched, unreal. That was against better teams I might add. Play 2 Units on Washington on the runline.
Paul Leiner
100* Dodgers +110
50* Tigers +100
25* A's +100
Fantasy Sports Gametime
100* Play Tampa Bay (-180) over San Diego
Tampa bay has won 60 of the last 80 games as a home favorite of -175 to -200 and they have won 9 of the last 11 games when playing on a Wednesday. San Diego pitcher, Kevin Correia has lost 6 consecutive road games as an underdog of +150 to +200 and he is 0-1 over the last 3 starts with an ERA of 8.52.
50* Play Colorado (-170) over Boston
Colorado has won 29 of the last 38 home games as a favorite of -150 to -175 and they have also won 4 consecutive games vs. AL East Division Opponents. Ubaldo Jimenez has won 20 of the last 24 games as a favorite of -150 or higher and he is 13-1 this season with an ERA of 1.15.
50* Play Germany over Ghana
KIKI SPORTS
INTERLEAGUE GOY - 3 Units St. Louis -110
1 Unit Minnesota -145
1 Unit Atlanta -125
POWER PLAY WINS
Los Angeles Angels
MIKE LINEBACK
4* POD Washington Nationals -1.5
Accu Picks
5* GOY Giants
3* Texas -1.5
3* Seattle -1.5
MTi Sports
Yankees at Diamondbacks
Pick: Under 10.5
It would be easy to believe that the Yankees will pound Willis here, but the NY offense is soft after a big win. NY is 2-15 OU as a favorite of more than 130 when the OU line is more than 9 and they are off a five-plus run win. NY is 0-9 OU their last nine in this spot, including 0-4 OU this season.
In addition, the Yanks are 0-9-1 OU as a 130+ favorite in the last game of a series when they are off a win in which they never trailed.
As for the D-Backs, we find that they are 1-14 OU as a home dog when seeking immediate revenge for a five-plus run loss as a dog of more than 110. The lone over went over in extra innings.
In Willis’ last two home starts with Arizona he allowed a total of two runs. let’s go UNDER this jacked-up line.
MTi’s FORECAST: NY Yankees 5 Arizona 3