DAVE COKIN
RED SOX VS TIGERS
PLAY: TIGERS -142
Daniel Norris makes his second start for Detroit tonight, and he’ll be hoping to duplicate his Tigers debut effort. He’ll be opposed by Boston righty Joe Kelly, who has had what can only be described as a nightmarish campaign.
The Tigers dealt away rentals Yoenis Cespedes and David Price at the deadline, and this apparently had much to do with the dismissal of the extremely well respected Dave Dombrowski as the Tigers GM. Dombrowski will land a great new job in the near future. But as stated previously, I though Dombrowski did a phenomenal job of landing some serious prospects in return for a couple of guys headed to free agency at season’s end. Meanwhile, the Tigers are already showing some immediate benefits from the deals, with two excellent starts by a pair of the newcomers.
I like the chance of Norris picking up another win tonight. The Tigers are off a couple of nice wins while the Red Sox limp in off another series loss, this time to the rival Yankees. Boston is in play out the string mode, and with rumors building of a substantial off season shakeup being on the way, I can see this team really struggling with focus in what amounts to a meaningless 50 or so remaining games.
Kelly has been an utter disaster for the Red Sox. He’s had all kinds of command issues and he just doesn’t have the look of a confident pitcher. I’d say there’s a pretty significant edge for Norris here and the team elements are going to favor the Bengals as well.
Regular readers of this space know that I rarely put out anything resembling heavy chalk for my comp selections. But playing against the reeling Red Sox makes sense to me, and with their worst starter on the hill, I don’t see this number being at all unreasonable. I’ll be looking to lay it with the Tigers tonight.
Rob Vinciletti
Minnesota Twins vs. Cleveland Indians
Play: Cleveland Indians -131
The Indians will look to bounce back from a road loss and fit a league wide database system here cashing 90% that plays on certain home favorites with a total that is less than 9 if they are off a road dog loss and are taking on a team like the Twins that are off a road dog loss by 5+ runs and scored 2 or less runs. The Twins were blasted by the BLUE Jays and are 1-4 on the road off a 5+ run road loss. They have lost 5 straight. Tonight they have Pelfrey pitching and he has an elevated 5.67 road era. He will face Indians Prized prospect Cody Anderson who has a solid 3.38 era. Look for Cleveland to take the opener.
Marc Lawrence
San Francisco Giants vs. Chicago Cubs
Play: Chicago Cubs -130
Edges - Cubs: Jon Lester 2-0 with 0.52 ERA home career team starts versus San Francisco, and 3-0 with 1.59 ERA home last three team starts during the month of August. Giants: Mike Leake 6-14 last twenty overall away team starts, and 3-10 away career team starts during the month of August. With Lester in fine KW form with 50 strikeouts and 5 walks his last six starts, we recommend a 1* play on the Cubs.
Jim Feist
Miami Marlins vs. Atlanta Braves
Play: Atlanta Braves +130
Atlanta is a small park, tough to score runs in, and Miami is in town with a terrible offense, dead last in runs scored. The Marlins are 17-37 in their last 54 road games, 19-39 away against a right-handed starter. Jose Fernandez is an ace at home but his ERA is 2 runs higher on the road (3.46 ERA). Miami is 3-13 vs. the National League East and the Braves are 9-4 at home against a right-handed starter. Julio Teheran is a home dog but is 5-1 at home with a 2.37 ERA. Teheran earned his seventh win of the season Sunday against the Phillies, allowing two runs with seven strikeouts and no walks in seven strong innings. The Marlins are 26-54 in the last 80 meetings and the Braves are 7-2 when Teheran faces the Marlins.
World Wide Sports
Alouettes vs. Red Blacks
Play: Under 46.5
The Alouettes are 5-0 on the UNDER this season. The Total has averaged just 40 points in Montreal's games this season. Ottawa's games have averaged just at 46 points per game. The last 4 meetings between these teams have all hit on the UNDER averaging right at 32 points.
Will Rogers
White Sox vs. Royals
Pick: Royals
The Kansas City Royals are coming off a tough road trip, losing six of 10 games at Cincinnati, Toronto and Detroit. They return home to host the White Sox, who came out of the break hot, but have since fizzled. Chicago has lost five of it's last seven, now sitting 11.5 games back of the Royals.
Here are my keys to the game:
1. Pitching - John Danks will get the start for the visiting Sox, and he hasn't performed well on the road. Danks (6-8, 4.80 ERA) allowed just one run on three hits and four walks over 5.2 innings in a home win over New York in his last start. He's 2-5 with a 6.29 ERA in nine starts on the road, and he was hammered for four runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings in his only previous visit to Kansas City this season. The Royals counter with Edinson Volquez, who is 6-2 with a 2.74 ERA in 11 starts at home.
2. Eric Hosmer - The Royals slugger comes in swinging a red hot bat, hitting .409 the last seven days. He's been better at home than he has been on the road, hitting .333 at Kauffman Stadium this season.
3. X-Factor - The White Sox have lost 18 of the last 24 meetings in this series.
Mr Vegas
Houston at Oakland
Take: Oakland
Houston is a long way from home and 43-91 in their last 134 road games vs. a team with a losing home record. Dallas Keuchel has been getting hit, allowing 7 runs his last two starts (12 innings). The Astros are 1-5 in Keuchels last 6 road starts. The Athletics are 7-2 vs. the American League West and have ace Sonny Gray (11-4, 2.12 ERA) going. Gray didn't earn a decision Sunday as he allowed one run on four hits and four walks, striking out seven batters before exiting to start the eighth inning in a 2-1 victory over the Indians. The Athletics are 6-1 in Gray's last 7 starts.
Steve Rosen
Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees
Play: Toronto Blue Jays +102
The Toronto Blue Jays are not content to fight for the American League wild card and plan to close the gap between themselves and the first-place New York Yankees.Toronto has won eight of its last nine after completing a four-game sweep of Minnesota. Dickey has been on fire lately having a 0.77 ERA over the last 3 games! Dickey is enjoying his best run of the season with wins in each of his last two turns and has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his last five starts. The 40-year-old yielded two hits in seven scoreless innings to best AL-leading Kansas City on Sunday. Dickey is 1-0 in two starts against New York this season, surrendering a total of two runs in 14 1/3 frames. Toronto is too hot and with Dickey going I see another win coming their way!