MLB: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com
Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees
Blue Jays sweeping a mini two game Inter-League set vs defending champion Giants take a season-high four game win streak into New York this weekend a venue that has been a house of horrors as Jays are 0-7 last seven trips into New York, 2-16 last eighteen in the Big Apple. Swinging mean sticks over the streak pounding out 49 hits, 8 yard-ball, 36 runs the Jays need to keep the offensive onslaught going to survive pitching matchups for the series. In the opener, Jays will be mighty anxious handing the ball to Buehrle (1-2, 6.19 ERA). Although the southpaw is coming off his best start of the season allowing just one run over seven-plus innings the hurler hasn't had much success vs New York in his career. Buehrle already 0-1 in two starts vs New York carries a 1-9 life-time record vs Bronx Bombers over 14 starts (1-13 TSR). He'll be opposed by Kuroda (5-2, 2.31 ERA) entering with a sharp 4-1 TSR vs Toronto. Things may not improve Saturday when Jays hook Morrow (1-2, 4.69) against Phelps (1-2, 4.33 ERA). Morrow a little rusty being off nearly two weeks with back/neck issues could see his Toronto team start skid vs Yankees go to 1-4. Not much wiggle room in the finale when Dickey (3-5, 4.83 ERA) and Sabathia (4-3, 3.19 ERA) share the mound. Dickey has a 0-2 slide going vs New York while lefty Sabathia has owned Jays in his career posting a 14-4 mark in 19 starts with his teams (NY/CLE) 14-5 over the span.
Milwaukee Brewers at St Louis Cardinals
The St Louis Cardinals sporting a major League best pitching staff (3.06 ERA) anchored by NL Rookie of the Year candidate Shelby Miller are off to an N.L. best 26-14 stuffing +$869 into betting accounts. Today, they hand the ball to lefty Jaime Garcia (4-2, 2.88 ERA) off a sub quality start allowing 2 Jacks, 5 runs in a loss to Colorado. Nothing much going right for Milwaukee during this extended 10 game road swing (1-6) and with bats rather silent (3.0 runs/game) look for Garcia to get back in the groove. The hurler has thrived in this situation posting a 9-3 (+$549) TSR following a start in which he up => 5 runs in 6 or less innings. We recommend backing Cardinals as they're 6-1 on the year vs division rival Brewers. Another strong MLB Betting trend tells us Brewers are on a 1-11 skid vs the division.
MLB Odds and Picks
By: The Linemakers
Sportingnews.com
LAS VEGAS -- The Reds get Johnny Cueto back from the disabled list on Monday against the Mets, which is going to cause a ripple effect in their rotation. Someone will have to be taken out of the rotation and either moved to the bullpen or sent down to the minors. Until Wednesday, the Reds had been quiet about their intentions.
Cingrani, the flame-throwing left-handed rookie who has dazzled Reds fans and coaches staff with a 2-0 record, 2.89 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 28 innings, appears to be the low man on the totem pole and is bracing himself for the inevitable.
"Whatever they tell me to do, I will do," said Cingrani said Sunday, per the team's website. "Leake has been here for four years, and I wouldn't be surprised if I go back down."
In eight starts this season, Leake has put together a 3-2 record with a 3.72 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. In somewhat of an audition for his job, Leake was outstanding in 6 2/3 innings of work in a 4-0 win over the Marlins on Wednesday, scattering nine hits and walking only one.
After that outing, manager Dusty Baker finally spoke about the situation and seemed miffed that anyone was talking about Leake being sent down.
"Who's talking about keeping his spot?" Baker told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "He's doing better than some of the guys on our staff. I don't understand why it comes down to Leake and somebody else. Leakie's pitched well. He's taken us deep into games. It never was a competition."
When asked directly about Cingrani, Baker implied, but didn’t explicitly say, that he’d be sent down.
"The silver lining is he's gotten extended time here, so the lining is that he's put us in a position to win," Baker said. "What if he had come up and got shelled, and then who are we to turn to then? Who's our next line of defense? Had we lost four out of his five starts or whatever it is, (heck), we'd be seven (games) out, or worse. That's that he's done. He's kept us in games."
So that takes us to tonight's game at Philadelphia, where Cingrani takes on Cliff Lee (4-2, 286 ERA). What is the mindset of a 23-year old with the knowledge that this might be his last stint in the majors until someone else in the rotation gets injured? Does he get pumped to make a lasting impression, or does he sulk with a woe-is-me attitude?
In his last start – as Cueto was making a rehab start and a few days before the Leake-Cingrani debate began – Cingrani lasted only four innings, serving up two solo home runs to the Brewers in a 4-3 Reds victory.
Now he's facing Lee, one of the best in the game, who held the Reds scoreless for six innings on April 15, before giving up two runs in the seventh. The Reds won the game, 4-2, and went on to sweep the series.
Cincinnati is currently on a six-game winning streak, 1.5 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. The Reds’ 25-16 record is second-best in the NL, behind the Cardinals. The Phillies (19-22), meanwhile, have been floating around .500 for the last two weeks, and surprisingly, are only 3.5 games out of the NL East lead.
"For some reason we seem to win a couple, get within one or two games of .500, then all of the sudden we fall back three, four, five," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel told the Phillies' website. "Then we win a couple more, and we're yo-yoing back and forth. We definitely need to put a streak together, play sound baseball and run off a six-to-10 game winning streak."
Lee has been outstanding over his last two outings, picking up wins at Arizona and San Francisco in 15 innings of combined work and allowing only two runs. But we like the Reds’ winning to continue and for the Phillies to keep yo-yoing. The Reds have won four of five Cingrani starts this season, and he'll try to make Baker's decision harder than ever with one of his best outings of the year – and perhaps is last in the majors for a while. Make it count, kid!
This should also be a low-scoring game. Five of Lee's eight starts have stayed UNDER the total this season.
Friday’s selections:
Reds (Cingrani) +110 at Phillies
Reds/Phillies UNDER 7 (EV)
Mets (Harvey) -130 at Cubs
Blue Jays (Buerhle) +135 at Yankees
Red Sox (Buchholz) -140 at Twins
Season to date record: 76-64 (+1398)