Ratedpicks
Chicago WhiteSox +100
Toronto BlueJays -105
LA Angels +100
Arizona D'backs/Seattle Mariners OVER 8
Scott Delaney
20 DIME MILWAUKEE BREWERS (Action) - I like the way the Brewers are playing right now, and think is the perfect spot for them to keep this run alive. The surging Brewers come in after posting a three-game road sweep in Cleveland, where they tallied 30 runs and appear to be ready to maintain their lead in the NL Central while pulling even at .500 in Interleague play this season.
Milwaukee, which has won four of nine Interleague games, come in on winning streaks of 5-1 with a suitcase in hand, 14-3 in series openers and 20-6 against winning teams.
On the flipside, we’re siding against a Tigers team that clawed its way to a 6-3 win last night in St. Louis, avoiding a three-game sweep by the Cardinals. Nevertheless, they’re still mired in a 1-4 skid overall, and come into this series on losing ruts of 14-29 in series openers, 2-6 at home and 3-6 against winning teams.
Though we’re not listing Braden Looper, might be good to note he is 3-1 in eight appearances (two starts) against the Tigers. In addition, the Brew Crew is 6-1 in his last seven starts against winning teams.
On the other hand, Detroit has dropped seven of Armando Galarraga’s last nine starts, as the righty has failed to record a win in almost two months - since April 26. Galarraga is 0-7 in those nine outings, allowing 38 runs over 45-1/3 innings, for a sky-high 7.54 ERA.
The Tigers are also 1-5 the last six times he’s pitched in series openers, so the Brewers should be able to hit him quite easily.
Take the slim road pup here.
5 DIME UNDER AstrosTwins (WITH Oswalt/Slowey) - A pair of incredible ace hurlers will toe the slab tonight, and though it takes place in the Homer Domer, I’ll look for this one to stay low. Houston’s Roy Oswalt and Minnesota’s Kevin Slowey will put on a show for anyone who likes pitching duels.
Minnesota improved to 7-2 in Interleague play with a 5-1 win over Pittsburgh last night, the Twins are 21-6 against the senior circuit since the start of last season and Slowey is looking to become the majors’ second 10-game winner. That’s the motivation for the home team.
And since Slowey is 6-1 with a 2.58 ERA in nine starts versus NL foes, I expect Oswalt to accept the challenge and turn this into a showcase from the mound. The Houston right-hander comes in with a 10-7 mark and 3.48 ERA in 24 Interleague starts, while he’s 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two appearances against the Twins.
Slowey has been overpowering, which will be good enough to shut down the Astros’ lineup, while Oswalt has seemingly re-established his breaking ball and will keep the Twins off-balance to keep his team in this one.
I am not game enough to take the obvious choice with the Twins, as it looks too easy; instead we play this one under.
Ron Raymond
5* Minnesota Twins -150
5* Diamondbacks / Mariners Under 7.5
Marc Lawrence
Fan Appreciation Play!
LA Dodgers vs LA Angels
Play: LA Dodgers
When the Dodgers open a 3-game series with cross town rival Angels tonight they will send Chad Billingsley to the hill knowing he is 6-0 in his last six team starts in June, including 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA this season. With Billingsley 5-1 in his last six road team starts and Joe Saunders 1-3 with a 5.18 ERA in his last four starts, look for the Dodgers to come up big here tonight.
Erin Rynning
Playmaker: Washington
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MLB | Jun 19 '09 (7:05p)
Baltimore Orioles vs Philadelphia Phillies Philadelphia Phillies
-146 at 5dimes
5* Interleague Game of the Year on Phillies -146
Philly has really struggled at home this season and was just swept by the Jays, but that's precisely why I like them here. They will be very hungry to get back in the winner's circle and I fully expect them to do so against an Orioles team that is just 8-20 on the road this season. Both teams send southpaws to the hill this evening and that figures to give the Phillies the edge as they are 15-8 versus lefty starters this season, scoring a healthy 5.5 runs per game against them. Baltimore has struggled on the road, scoring only 3.8 runs per game, and it has been even worse against southpaw starters, averaging only 3.6 runs per contest. Bastardo should benefit from Baltimore having never seen him while Hill is 0-2 when starting against Philly with an ERA of 5.74 and a WHIP of 1.659. The Orioles are 7-23 in their last 30 interleague road games vs. a left-handed starter and 25-58 in their last 83 road games vs. a left-handed starter period. The Phillies are 12-5 in their last 17 home games vs. a left-handed starter and 36-16 in their last 52 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400. Love the Phillies in this spot.
MLB | Jun 19 '09 (8:10p)
Houston Astros vs Minnesota Twins Minnesota Twins
-143 at 5dimes
3* Interleague SMASH on Twins -143
The Twins are 7-2 in interleague play this season and 21-6 versus the NL since the start of last season. I'll ride them again today behind Kevin Slowey, who is a perfect 7-0 at home this season. The Twins are 6-0 in Slowey's last 6 interleague starts, 7-0 in Slowey's last 7 Friday starts, 4-0 in his last 4 starts during game 1 of a series, and 5-0 in his last 5 starts vs. the National League Central. The Astros are just 1-5 in their last 6 interleague games, 5-15 in their last 20 vs. the American League Central, and 4-11 in their last 15 during game 1 of a series. Plus, the Astros are 1-4 in Oswalt's last 5 interleague starts. The Astros are averaging just 4.1 runs per game on the road this season compared to the 5.5 the Twins are scoring at home and Oswalt hasn't been as dominant as we are used to seeing. Bet the Twins.
Alex Smart
MLB Home Run Blast -Tests 60% Run
Chicago White Sox -105 / 3 units
Jose Contreras after a dismal start and temporary demotion to the minors to begin his current campaign is now in red hot form,having allowed just 3 hits in his L/16 innings of stellar work.
manager Ozzie Guillen said of Contreras.
"It feels like the guy we were missing. He makes you forget how bad it was in the beginning," "Right now, he's cruising, cruising along. He's stepped it up big time, winning a couple games when we need him the most."
Contreras looks like a good bet to notch a third consecutive win vs a Cincinnati, team off a hapless 7-0 loss to Atlanta yesterday, their 5th in their L/7 behind a offense that asleep at the wheel as is evident by scoring just eight total runs in the losses.The top six hitters in the Reds' batting order have combined to go 2 for 21 after their top five batters went 0 for 17 in a 4-3 win on Wednesday. Needless to say this Reds team is ice cold at the moment, and with their starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo mimicking his team recent performances with a 0-2 record along with a 6.23 ERA in three starts the broken Red machine is viable fade material. Note: Reds have lost 9 straight previous meetings to the south siders.
Final notes & Key Trends: Reds are 1-4 in Arroyos last 5 starts as an underdog. Arroyos team is 2-13 when he starts vs teams like the Pale Hose who strand 6.9 or less runners on base per game over the last few seasons.
Play on the Chicago White Sox -3*
Jamie Tursini
New York Yankees vs. Florida Marlins
Play: Over 9½
This is the type of situation I like to bet the over.
Both offenses are struggling. The Yankees just lost 2 of 3 home games to Washington. Scoring only 2 and then 0 runs the last two games. Florida has scored 2, 1, and 2 runs their last 3 all at Boston.
Both offenses crush lefties.
The Yankees bat .315 scoring 6.36 runs on the road vs southpaws.
Florida bats a solid .268 and scores 6.90 runs at home vs lefties.
Play the over
Drew Gordon
1. 200,000♦ Chi. White Sox
2. 50,000♦ LA Angels
igz1 sports
MLB
3* Cleveland (Lee) -105
3* Florida (West) +110
3* Chicago White Sox (Contreras) -105
3* Over 10 -120 Atlanta (Kawakami) vs Boston (Matsuzaka)
Tony Diamond
Toronto (tallet) -1.03 over Washington (zimmerman)
Milwaukee (looper) +1.03 over Detroit (galarraga)
St. Louis (thompson) -1.06 over Kansas City (davies)
LA Dodgers (billingsley) -1.07 over LA Angels (saunders)
Tampa Bay / NY Mets "over" 9.5 -1.10
David Banks
MLB
2:20 Clev. Indians
7:05 Wash. Nationals
7:10 NY Mets
7:10 Bost Redsox
8:10 Minn. Twins
8:10 St. Louis Cards
Yankee Capper
MLB GUARANTEED GRAND SLAM
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES -145
MLB GUARANTEED GRAND SLAM
TORONTO BLUE JAYS +110
MLB GUARANTEED GRAND SLAM
MILWAUKEE BREWERS +110
MLB GUARANTEED GRAND SLAM
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS -105
WeCoverSpreads
Blue Jays-101
Lefty Brian Tallet gets the start for the Blue Jays against the Nationals tonight. The Nats are batting just .214 vs. southpaws at home this season. He has seven quality starts under his belt this season. He shows very good poise under pressure with runners on base, while he doesn't have over powering stuff he works with a solid slider and change up with a fastball in the low 90's. The six foot seven hurler should do fine tonight against a non-productive Nationals offense. He has shown resilience working his off speed stuff when falling behind in the count. He's done decent this year as Toronto continues to over achieve with a "patch-work" rotation due to injuries and still has a 37-31 record to show for it.
The Nationals have lost seven of ten of Jordan Zimmerans starts this season. He has a 5.37 ERA and has given up 61 hits in 57 innings of work. The 23 year old pitcher has produced just three quality starts this season and is facing a Toronto team that is hitting .286 vs right handed hurlers on the highway. The Blue Jays batters have a new found confidence after sweeping the reigning World Series Champs and that should carry over tonight. The Nationals are just 6-20 in their last 26 home games vs. south paws. The Blue Jays have won six of the last seven meetings and we expect them to continue rolling. We like laying the short chalk vs.the worse team in MLB; we feel the line is this short due to the two recent victories vs. the Yankees who probably weren't really "up" to play a Washington team who had only 16 wins coming into the series.
Triple Crown Sports
3 Units on Boston (Matsuzaka)
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