Jeff Alexander
San Francisco Giants -119
The Giants have the edge with Cain (9-3, 2.53 ERA) on the mound. The Giants are 9-2 in Cain's last 11 starts, 5-1 in his last 6 road starts and 4-0 in hi last 4 starts following a team loss in their previous game. Cain has also enjoyed plenty of success against Washington, leading San Francisco to a 6-2 record in his last 8 starts against the Nats. The Nationals are just 1-5 in their last 6 games as a home underdog. We'll grab the Giants at a pretty decent price.
Jimmy Boyd
New York Mets -115
The Phillies have lost 6 of their last 7 overall and have dropped 7 of 11 to the Mets this season. Hamels is having a terrific season, but the Mets know his stuff well. In fact, the Phillies are just 3-7 in Hamels' last 10 starts versus the Mets. Dickey has been the best pitcher in baseball this year. He's 12-1 with a 2.15 ERA on the season and 6-0 with a 1.85 ERA at home. The Mets have won 10 of his last 11 starts, and he has allowed no earned runs in 6 of his last 7 starts. I'll get behind this season's top pitcher at home at a nice price.
Matt Rivers
Comp plays on an 11-3 run the past 2 weeks, Angels-Indians way Over the total on Wednesday.
Tonight I am taking the underdog Dodgers to pull off the win at Arizona.
Wade Miley has been stellar this first half of the season, going 9-4 with a 2.87 ERA, but he is coming off a start that saw him surrender 8 runs on 8 hits in just under 4 innings of work versus Milwaukee.
The Dodgers may not be tearing the cover off the ball right now, but they do come to 'Zona perched back in first place in the West, as Los Angeles has scrapped together wins in three of their last four, including two in a row in which they have allowed just two runs total.
Nathan Eovaldi is still in search of his first win of the season, and with the Diamondbacks looking to end a five game losing streak, I think that it is worth a shot backing the underdog in this one to prevail.
Los Angeles has won three of the five series meetings this season against Arizona, so back the Dodgers to come through plus-money in the desert tonight.
1♦ L.A. DODGERS
Jeff Benton
Your Thursday freebie is the Under in San Francisco-Washington.
After a pair of high-scoring games the last two days, look for the pitching to take control tonight and keep the runs off the board in D.C.
Matt Cain will go for the Giants, and Cain is coming off his worst start of the first half, allowing 11 hits and 5 runs in a loss to the Reds. Prior to that start, Cain had allowed one run or less in five of his previous six starts.
You can expect Cain to settle in tonight and throw some goose eggs on the board. Four of Cain's last six starts have ended up Under the total, including his last pair.
Ross Detwiler gets the nod for the Nationals, and his ERA stands at 3.30 for the year after splitting time in the bullpen and the starting rotation.
The Nats are on a 7-0-1 Over run their past eight games, I think it is about time the bats get cooled and they play an Under, don't you?
Giants-Nationals to hold Under the posted total.
2♦ UNDER
Dom Chambers
For my free selection, let’s take a look at the Chicago Cubs to defeat the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves start Mike Minor and he won his last start against the Washington Nationals, but that was the game Stephen Strasburg left the game due to heat exhaustion.
That will not be the case here.
Matt Garza starts for the Cubs. Overall, his ERA is 4.01 and he is 2-1 in his last three starts.
He is an adequate starter for a bad team.
For the Braves, Minor is the weak link in the rotation. In his last three starts, his ERA is 7.04 and his WHIP is 1.695.
The Cubs will be able to score against him.
The Braves may have tougher time against Garza. In his last two starts against the Braves, Garza allowed five earned runs in 10 innings pitched.
Cubs are a live dog in this situation.
Take the Cubs.
3♦ CUBS
Chris Jordan
My free pick run improved to 5-2 over the past week, after I told you the Philadelphia Phillies would beat the New York Mets, and Cliff Lee would finally earn his first win of the season. Tonight I am telling the Arizona Diamondbacks are going to win on the Run Line over the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it's twice as strong as last night's 2♦ on the Phils.
It's been a rough go for Los Angeles' young right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, who is now 0-5 with a 4.61 ERA on the season. He's started seven times and the Dodgers have lost all seven games. Now I will say, I backed him a couple times, and he was impressive - and pitched well enough to win for the most part - in his first five starts.
But in his last two trips to the hill, he's struggled something bad, allowing 13 earned runs over 10-1/3 innings. Granted, he's been given the lowest run support in the Majors, but then if we use that excuse, he's going to be in big trouble tonight against Arizona's Wade Miley.
How good is the Diamondbacks' southpaw slinger doing? He was named to the National League All-Star roster on Sunday, and believe me, this rookie is out to end the first half of the season on a high note, after looking awful his last time on the mound.
Miley allowed a career-high eight earned runs against the Brewers on Saturday. Nevertheless, he has a 9-4 record and a 2.87 ERA so far, and I like his chances to neutralize the Dodgers' struggling lineup tonight.
4♦ ARIZONA -1.5
Scott Delaney
My free play for tonight is going to be on the Cincinnati Reds over the San Diego Padres, as the Friars' win streak is about to come to an end. Their bubble is about to burst, cause quite frankly, they're not that good to be able to sustain a win streak like this.
And I want you to be sure to list Mat Latos and Edinson Volquez, as this is a clash of pitchers taking on their former teams. Matter of fact, they were involved in the same trade that sent each other to the teams they're pitching for now. And while Latos is flourishing this season, Volquez is struggling with his new squad.
Latos, who is 7-2 this season and has looked swell in his last three starts, has been firing strikes and has found his groove thanks to much-better mechanics. He's tossed back-to-back complete games and in those last three trips to the hill he's 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA and 24 strikeouts.
On the other hand, we have Volquez, who might be coming in after a solid showing against the Colorado Rockies - albeit he issued a season-high six walks - but he's still 5-7 on the season and I think will be more under pressure against the Reds, than Latos will be against the Pads.
Lay the road chalk and list both.
1♦ CINCINNATI
Craig Davis
Tonight's free play is on the NY Mets over Philly with R.A. Dickey getting the best of Cole Hamels.
Surprisingly, Vegas had these two at dead-even money overnight. Not surprisingly, the Mets have slowly become a -120 to -127 home favorite and it could continue to slowly go up.
Mets starter R.A. Dickey just keeps plugging along, and aside from a strange beating the Yankees gave him two starts ago, he's been nearly flawless. For the season, Dickey is 12-1 with a disgusting 2.15 ERA... but over the last two months it's been even better. The month of June was so good, in fact, that he landed the NL Pitcher of the Month Award. And why not?
He only went 5-0 in six starts (he earned a no-decision in the Yankees game), allowing no earned runs in any game but that Yankees game (5). That's good for a 0.93 ERA!!
Think about that for a minute... three complete game shutouts and two other starts in which he went at least seven innings without allowing a run. Yes, the Yankees did get to him for five runs, but the last-place Phillies aren't the Yankees and Dickey has already had success against the Phils once this year.
At Citi Field this year, Dickey is 6-0 with a 1.85 ERA and beat the Phillies back in April, allowing one run in seven innings of work for a 3-3 career record against them (with a 2.40 ERA over that span).
Yes, I realize Cole Hamels has already beaten the Mets twice this season, but he's lost three of his last five starts and is coming off Saturday's 3-2 setback in Miami. He allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings of work.
Add in the fact that rumors are swirling about Hamels being used as trade bait, and it's no wonder his mind hasn't been completely on pitching lately. That will carry over to tonight as the Mets get to him for the first time this year.
Take the Mets as your free play of the day.
2♦ N.Y. METS
Nelly
Chicago Cubs + over Atlanta Braves
Matt Garza may get moved to another team soon but he has pitched extremely well for the Cubs in recent weeks, with a three or fewer runs allowed in six straight starts. Garza owns a 4.01 ERA on the season with strong strikeout marks and while the Cubs are 5-10 behind him he owns a season WHIP of 1.16 and he has a quality start in four straight road starts. The Cubs are well out of contention but Chicago has won seven of the last nine games as the pitching staff has really done a great job, allowing three or fewer runs in seven of the last nine games. The Braves have lost five of the last seven games with the offense struggling. The Braves are only 19-22 at home this season and while the Cubs have been a lousy road team this is a young offensive team that is coming together at this point in the year. Mike Minor continues to struggle for Atlanta with a 6.20 ERA on the season. Minor has allowed 15 runs in his last three outings and he has failed to pitch six innings in eight of his last ten starts. Minor owns a 1.47 WHIP on the season and while the Cubs have a poor record against left-handed pitching this looks like a favorable underdog situation for a team playing much better than the record suggests.
GoodFella
Cleveland Indians -114
Simply a nice "spot" here for the Indians, as they are really smashing the baseball right now & are coming off a boatrace at HOME over the Angels yesterday & they take on a Rays club who are coming off a grueling series with hated division rival Yankees & they desperately needed to win the series vs NYY and they did just that but did drop last nights game to them. Cleveland is very dangerous vs RH pitching as they are extremely loaded with dangerous LH sticks & this "spot" and price on them here is very solid & I look for them to keep the hot hitting going vs Hellickson who simply does his best work at the "Trop". My money is on the INDIANS tonight.