Priceless Picks
1 Unit on Chicago Cubs +128
The Cubs are the better team here, even without Soriano on the field. So we'll bet the Cubs showing solid value in the underdog role tonight. The Cubs have been one of the best teams in baseball at starting out a series with a win. In fact, the Cubs are 10-1 in their last 11 during game 1 of a series. The Cubs are 24-9 in their last 33 overall, 6-2 in their last 8 interleague games, and 11-2 in their last 13 games following a win. The Blue Jays are just 5-13 in their last 18 during game 1 of a series, 3-7 in their last 10 vs. the National League Central, and 2-6 in their last 8 overall. Bet the Cubs.
Jeff Alexander Sports
1 Unit on St. Louis Cards +106
I like the Cards showing good value in the home dog role tonight behind the 7-1 Wellemeyer. The Cardinals are 8-0 in their last 8 home games vs. a team with a winning road record, 7-0 in their last 7 after scoring 2 runs or less in their previous game, 7-1 in their last 8 vs. the National League East, and 7-1 in their last 8 games as a home underdog. The Cardinals are 6-1 in Wellemeyer's last 7 starts as a home underdog and 6-1 in Wellemeyers last 7 home starts. After nearly getting swept at Florida , I expect the Phillies to continue to struggle on the road in this series.
Eddie Roman
10,000 Unit MLB Stat Match Game of the Year #3
Milwaukee Brewers -135
WINNERS EDGE
Toronto B-Jays RL +165 , 2 units
Atlanta Braves +120 , 1 unit
Arizona D-Backs - 135 , 1 unit
MATT FARGO
Interleague Total of the Year
Take Over 9 in San Diego @ Cleveland
The Tribe swing the bats well on Thursday scoring 12 runs and we fully expect a carryover effect when this interleague series against San Diego opens up @ Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. The Fathers also are coming off an impressive performance against Los Angeles on getaway day scoring nine runs in their shutout victory. We will not worry about who wins this game and just collect with the over. This has always been a hitters ballpark and expect Jeremy Sowers to struggle to record out since his E.R.A. is 6.91. The summer has arrived and with that scoring will go up and we will easily collect with the over.
LARRY NESS
Colorado Rockies @ Chicago White Sox
PICK: Chicago White Sox
The White Sox spent the first part of this week in Detroit, losing all three games of the series, giving them six straight road losses. The White Sox just haven't been able to score away from home as of late, as they've totaled just 10 runs in those six losses (1.67 RPG). However, here at home, the White Sox are 20-9 on the season, averaging 5.14 RPG. That includes wins in their last seven home games, in which they've averaged 9.14 RPG. The Rockies come into this series just 26-40 on the season, including a rather pathetic 10-24 mark on the road. After being MLB's best moneyline team in '07 (plus-$2,466), the Rockies rank 29th of 30 teams this year (minus-$1,497), with most of the damage coming away from Coors Field (minus-$1,180). Jeff Francis gets the start for Colorado and the team's ace just has "not been himself" in '08. He went a combined 27-23 in '05 and '06, which was pretty good considering the Rockies were only 143-181 (.441) in those two seasons. Then last year, when the Rockies made it all the way to the World Series, Francs went 17-9 in the regular season and with the Rockies going 22-12 in his regular season starts, he became MLB's second-biggest "money-maker" among starters at plus-$1,094. He got off to a terrible start in '08 and while he's pitched better lately (3.00 ERA over his last three starts), he's just 2-6 with a 5.45 ERA on the year, with Colorado going 4-9 (minus-$514) in his 13 starts. He'll be opposed by Gavin Floyd, who seems to be "coming into his own" this year. He entered the '08 season with an 8-10 (6.30 ERA) career mark in 40 appearances (29 starts). However, he's 7-3 with a 3.10 ERA in 12 starts this year (team is 8-4), which includes a 4-1 mark with a 2.42 ERA in six home starts (team is 5-1). Take the White Sox in this one.
LEE KOSTROSKI
Philadelphia Phillies @ St. Louis
PICK: St. Louis
Losing Albert Pujols to injury for a few weeks is a big blow but the Cardinals should continue to play well. As hot as the Cubs have been, St. Louis has stayed right with Chicago in the competitive NL Central and the Cardinals have been one of the most profitable teams to back in baseball. The Phillies have been playing well also but St. Louis has a stronger record and the Cardinals will be tough to take down at home where they are 21-13 on the season.
Todd Wellemeyer has proven to be a solid starter for the Cardinals as he is 7-1 and the Cardinals have won five of this last seven starts. Wellemeyer has an overall ERA of 2.92 which has dipped dramatically to just 1.89 in his last three outings. In his last three starts he has pitched 19 innings, allowed just 4 earned runs and struck out 13 for a 2-0 record.
Philadelphia owns great statistics in the bullpen but St. Louis has actually posted very solid numbers after some struggles in April. The Cardinals actually own a superior team ERA to the Phillies even with Philadelphia’s top ranked bullpen ERA. Philadelphia starter Kyle Kendrick owns a 5.80 ERA on the road this season and he has not pitched as well as his 5-2 record indicates. Despite perceptions to the contrary St. Louis has been the superior hitting team with the second strongest team average in the NL. Philadelphia is hitting just .231 in the last ten games and the Cardinals have been too solid to be just a slight favorite at home.
Tony Karpinski
Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants
Play: San Francisco Giants
Interesting match-up in the battle of the bay tonight in this late contest. We get to see two young (Yes Barry Zito is still relatively young) pitchers today. Both southpaws and both have not been pitching well of late. Greg Smith is the classic young starter. He pitches well at home and on the road he is just down-right bad. The Oakland Athletics have lost the last four road starts in which Greg Smith has taken the ball. His last road start was one of the worst all season. Greg went to Texas and allowed seven hits, seven earned runs in just five innings. Barry Zito has showed more signs of life recently and will pitch well against a team that played a late home contest last night.
Steam On-Line Guaranteed Selections
5000* BASEBALL LATE STEAMER WINNER
Chicago White Sox w/Floyd -145
Computer Crushers Guaranteed Selections
5000 UNIT BASEBALL CRUSHER WINNER
NY Yankees w/Chambrlain -150
Wunderdog
Indiana at Atlanta
Pick: Indiana -7.5
The Atlanta Fear have lived a nightmare through their first 8 games, as they have failed to find the win column, 5 of those have been dropped on their homecourt and 3 of the last 4 by double-digits. The Indiana Fever should thrive here as they play tough defense, allowing just 66ppg. The under also looks good to us for this one. Katie Douglass has averaged 20ppg for the Fever and we like them against the hapless Dream with the Fever defense taking control of this one.
Terron Chapman
Florida Marlins vs. Tampa Bay Rays
Play: Florida Marlins
The battle for bragging rights of the Sunshine state begins tonight when the Marlins visit the Rays in their interleague matchup. I'm not sure if the Rays should be favored by such a heavy number as they have been through alot the last week or so and have lost six of their last 10.
Andy Sonnastine will take the mound for the Rays as they return home from a nine game road trip which saw them go 3-6. Sonnastine has not gone past the sixth inning in his last three starts while allowing a total of 26 hits. Despite a record of 6-3, he has ERA of 5.36 in home games this year. He will be opposed by Ryan Tucker of the Marlins who was impressive in the first start of his career. He held the Reds to 2 hits and just 1 earned run in 5 innings pitched. He won't be facing a Rays lineup at full strength as Carl Crawford and Akinori Iwamura have begun serving their respective suspensions due to their part in the brawl at Fenway.
The Rays have been outstanding at home this year with a record of 24-10. That home field advantage could be negated against a Marlins team who has won 7 of the last 10 meetings in Tampa. They are 13-6 in the last 19 overall. Play on the Florida Marlins for 1 Uniit
SPORTS KINGZ
ANGELS -140
DETROIT -145
BOSTON -105
WHITE SOX -170
BIG AL's 20-3 INTERLEAGUE BASEBALL B-L-O-W-O-U-T!
At 7:10pm our selection is on the Tampa Bay Rays over the Florida Marlins. Interleague play starts in earnest this weekend, and some teams are traveling great distances (the Nationals heading out to play the Mariners for example) while others are just taking a short drive up a freeway, like the Marlins who are visiting their cross-state rivals in Tampa Bay. But then these two teams face off every year it seems, and it's been a pretty even series going back the past two seasons. But this year Tampa has a real team for the first time, and Florida may be in for a bit of a surprise as it heads back to "the Trop" for what I'm sure will be some welcome climate-controlled comfort. It may be cool inside Tampa's dome, but the Rays have been red-hot of late, going an incredible 20-3 over their last 23 home games. Rookie righthander Ryan Tucker gets only his second start for the Fish and although he was pretty effective in his first Major League outing against the Reds, Tucker had a habit of walking a lot of batters (5 walks in 5 innings), something that will absolutely hound him if he does it tonight in Tampa's hitter-friendly indoor arena. With a record of 6-3 and an ERA of 4.88, Tampa's righthander Andy Sonnanstine isn't headed for a Cy Young award, but he has one thing that Florida's Tucker doesn't have, and that's experience. And in his only start vs. Florida, he struck out 10 Marlins in seven innings, while giving up just 2 earned runs in a Rays victory. Take Tampa Bay.
Louie Mayo
MLB
(5*) 34-38 -54.50 Yankees -145
(3*) 40-33 -2.77 Colorado +135
(1*) 41-34 +.09 Phillies -110
WNBA 5-7
(50*) Seattle +2
(50*) Chicago -7
AFL 19-24
(50*) Over 108 Orlando