Karl Garrett
Tampa Bay at KANSAS CITY
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G-Man gave you a Thursday comp plays winner on the Phillies, as I am now 11-4 the last 15 days with my comp plays.
Going with the Rays over the Royals for Friday night, as Tampa Bay has proven in the past that they can handle this Kansas City team pretty much at will.
Tampa swept 3 June meetings at the Trop against KC, including the start that James Shields made against them, as the righty worked 8 innings while striking out 8, and allowing just 2 earned runs to cross.
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The Rays are 20-8 the last 28 times they have faced the Royals, and catch the Royals in the midst of a 3-9 home slide their last 12 games.
Kansas City will go with Brian Bannister who sports a slim 1.74 ERA over his last 3 starts, but is just 1-2. Obviously, the KC offense has not been much of a help to Bannister's cause of late.
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Take Tampa to continue their domination of Kansas City.
2♦ TAMPA BAY
Michael Cannon
LA Angels -110 at OAKLAND
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Take the Angels for the road win over the A’s.
Los Angeles is 4-2 against Oakland this year, including a 3-0 mark on the road. Joe Saunders will get the start tonight and I like him to get back on track against the A’s. The left-hander is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in two starts against the A’s this year. That improved his career record to 7-2 with a 3.77 ERA in 11 outings against Oakland.
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Oakland will counter with Trevor Cahill, who is 0-3 with an 11.37 ERA in his last three starts.
Take the Angels as they grab the road win.
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3♦ LA ANGELS
Drew Gordon
Philadelphia -125at FLORIDA
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Now on a 25-16 roll with the plays I'm giving away, including the Phillies over the Marlins 4-0 Thursday! For today's complimentary play, we're staying with the Philadelphia/Florida series...
Phillies picked up where they left off, shutting out the Fish 4-0 and notching their 10th win in their last 11 games! Not only was the ageless veteran Moyer outstanding, allowing only 1 hit over 7 scoreless, but the Phillies were swinging the bats well, collecting 10 hits including 2 dingers from Ibanez! We're looking the same way tonight, and here's why:
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Phillies have been massacring righties, batting .335 against them over ther last 10 games, and Chris Volstad was no different last night. So, that being said, what makes you think Nolasco will be the one to slow down this potent Phillies lineup? The answer is simple, he WON'T. He looked good after coming back from the minors, but in his last start he demonstrated the same inconsistency that got him demoted in the first place, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits over 6 innings at Arizona. His ERA is a respectable 4.40 at Land Shark Stadium, but the way the Phillies are killing righties it won't matter.
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Finally, we haven't even mentioned southpaw Cole Hamels yet, who has had a down season thus far, but I expect will rebound from an embarassing effort against the Pirates in his last start (some extra rest afforded by the All-Star break doesn't hurt either). He gets just what the doctor ordered with a Marlins offense that managed a measly hit yesterday, and it doesn't get much easier against another southpaw tonight.
Bottom line, although these two teams aren't that far apart in the battle for the NL East, not only are the Phillies the superior team, but they're also playing better baseball at this point. Marlins are inconsistent at the very least, and the last thing they need is to run into a red-hot Phillies team, especially with a vulnerable Nolasco on the hill.
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Take Philadelphia behind Hamels over Florida and Nolasco in this MLB match up.
2♦ PHILADELPHIA
Scott Delaney
Today's Complimentary Selection
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I am on a 32-19-1 run with complimentary releases and tonight we're playing the Marlins over the Phils.
This was a tough call to make, but I am siding with the Fish tonight at home, and expect them to end Philadelphia’s win streak at six games.
Despite last night’s loss, which was a revenge game for Jamie Moyer, make note that the Marlins had won 10 of 11 at Land Shark Stadium, and much of that is a credit to a stifling rotation. Florida’s starters went 7-1 with a 2.71 ERA, and that includes their final home victory before the All-Star break, a 5-0 win over Pittsburgh in which tonight’s starter Ricky Nolasco allowed three hits and struck out 12 over eight innings.
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The victory over the Bucs marked the right-hander’s fourth straight before his streak ended on the road, at Arizona, last Friday. No need to worry in my eyes, though, as he was 3-1 with a 2.96 ERA in four starts versus Philadelphia in 2008.
And forget about last night for a minute, the Phils have still dropped six of their last nine on the highway and are 1-5 in their last six against right-handed starters.
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And despite the one-hit, shutout loss last night, Florida has still reeled off wins four of its last six inside N.L. East-play and 12-6 against southpaw starters.
I’ll expect Nolasco to get plenty of run support against Cole Hamels, who is 2-3 with an inflated 6.34 ERA in seven road starts this season, while he’s 2-4 with a 4.15 ERA in eight career starts against Florida.
Take the home team here.
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2♦ MARLINS
Matt Rivers
For Friday take the Rays in Kansas City.
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(Possible pitching change to Brian Bannister, stay with play if so)
Zach Greinke is still an upper eschelon hurler but the righty is not the same ridiculously dominant guy we saw in the first few months of the season and therefore I will take the far superior Rays here in this spot.
Sure the road is never easy and especially when going up against a guy of Greinke's stature but James Shields is really really good himself and the difference in offenses is truly night and day. The Royals appeared to be headed in the right direction earlier in the season but their offense has let them down a ton and is bad at best right now when compared to other Major League lineups.
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On the opposite extreme is this Tampa Bay club that got out of the gate slower but has been proving itself once again recently as a team that is going to make a lot of noise before all is said and done. Crawford, Upton, Longoria and Pena are all awesome and light years ahead of the Billy Butler's and Mark Teahen's and David DeJesus' of the world.
Greinke could be great and KC could squeak out the victory but all in all and more times than not the Rays are the right side and the victor in this situation.
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1♦ Rays
Jake Timlin
Today's Complimentary Selection
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Building on their easy win last night I look for the Rockies to blast the Padres once again tonight.
Thanks to last night’s 10-1 win Colorado continues their dominance of San Diego having won 8 of the last 11 meetings. Now to continue making it 12 of 14 will be Jimenez who’s season 3.81 ERA is due for a win after losing his last three games due to the lack of run support.
San Diego, meanwhile, counters having lost 11 of their last 13 games and with Geer who will look to build on that number with his 1-4 season record.
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Fact is Colorado has clearly showed they own the Padres as of late and I don’t see anything changing as the Rockies continue to shine tonight at Petco Field thanks to another blowout win.
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2♦ Colorado Rockies -1 ½
Craig Davis
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A.J. Burnett gets back on the hill after finishing the first half of the season in convincing fashion. Burnett has allowed less than three earned runs in each of his last five starts and hasn't allowed more than three since May 22nd vs. the Phillies. Tonight he faces lefty Lucas French, a pitcher who was promoted from the bullpen to the rotation in July. In his last start (vs. Kansas City), he tallied 6 innings of work, allowing just one earned run lowering his season ERA to 1.93. The difference tonight is the fact the Yankees, unlike Kansas City, hit lefties extremely well. They have five "regulars" that hit well over .300 vs. left-handed pitching and all I can tell you is that French has his work cut out for himself tonight. The Yankees ended the first half of the season getting swept in Anaheim after tying the Red Sox for the best record in the American League prior to that series. Yankees blast the Tigers tonight and give Burnett yet another easy win.
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2♦ NY YANKESS -1 ½