Afternoon Action
By Brian Edwards
We’ve got day games! Gamblers can get in on the action early and often Thursday with six afternoon affairs on the nine-game slate. Let’s take a look at a pair of games with crucial ramifications on the division races.
**Tigers at Red Sox**
Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened Detroit as a minus-115 road favorite with a total of nine ‘over’ (minus-125). Bettors can take the Tigers on the run line (minus 1 ½ runs) for a plus-140 payout.
Boston will give the starting nod to Clay Buchholz (1-2, 5.33 ERA), who kept his team in the game in his last start but nonetheless took the loss. Buchholz went six innings and gave up just two runs in a 5-0 loss to the Yankees in the Bronx. The right-hander took a no-decision in his lone home assignment this year, surrendering a pair of runs over 5 2/3 innings of work for a 3.18 ERA.
Jim Leyland will hand the ball to his ace Justin Verlander, who has a 12-6 record and 3.45 ERA. The hard-throwing righty is 5-5 with a 4.68 ERA in 13 road starts in 2009. Verlander is 1-2 with a 5.49 career ERA against Boston. He is 5-2 with a 1.74 ERA during seven starts in day games this year.
Boston slugger David Ortiz is 3-for-7 (.429) against Verlander with one double and one home run. Kevin Youklis is 4-for-10 off the right-hander with a pair of big flies. Newly acquired Victor Martinez has the most experience against Verlander, going 11-for-39 (.282) with three doubles and four homers.
Going into Wednesday’s third leg of this four-game series, Boston had a 37-17 home record at Fenway Park. Meanwhile, Detroit was the owner of an abysmal 23-35 road ledger. The Red Sox entered Wednesday’s action in second place in the American League East, 5 ½ games back of the Yankees. They held a 1 ½-game advantage over Texas in the AL wild-card hunt. Meanwhile, the Tigers had a two-game lead over the second-place White Sox in the AL Central.
The ‘over’ has hit in six straight games for the Tigers. However, the ‘under’ is 63-46 overall for Detroit, 35-21 in its road games.
The ‘under’ is 57-46 overall for the Red Sox, 27-22 in their home assignments.
The Red Sox have produced a 19-15 record in day games this year. Detroit has thrived in day games, compiling a 25-14 ledger.
The MLB Network will provide television coverage at 1:35 p.m. Eastern.
**Phillies at Cubs**
LVSC opened Philadelphia as a minus-125 road ‘chalk.’ As always, there was no overnight total due to the uncertain wind conditions at Wrigley Field.
Cliff Lee (9-9, 2.95) will get the call for the Phillies, who acquired the former Cy Young winner before the trading deadline. The left-hander has won both of his starts since joining his new club and has prevailed in each of his last five outings, throwing three complete games during that stretch. Lee is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in a pair of career starts against the Cubs.
Alfonso Soriano is 3-for-11 (.273) with one homer against Lee. Milton Bradley is hitting just .231 with one homer off the lefty in 13 career at-bats.
Ryan Dempster (6-5, 4.04) has a 4-1 record and 4.62 ERA in eight home starts this year. The veteran right-hander is 4-3 with a 4.76 lifetime ERA against Philadelphia. Dempster is 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA in day games this season.
Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins is 9-for-30 (.300) against Dempster with a pair of doubles. Ryan Howard is 1-for-5 (.200) against the righty with a double. Don’t be surprised if Matt Stairs gets a rare start because he absolutely feasts on Dempster, blasting three homers and producing four hits in just seven career at-bats.
The Cubs own a 12-12 record against southpaws in 2009. They are 31-20 in day games, 33-20 at home before Wednesday’s game went final.
Charlie Manuel’s team is 21-12 in day games and took a 33-19 road mark into Wednesday’s game with Pedro Martinez making his debut for the Phillies.
The ‘under’ is 59-48 overall for the Cubs, 28-25 in their home games.
The ‘under’ is 54-50 overall for the Phillies, but they have watched the ‘under’ cash at a 25-24 clip in their road games.
Dempster will throw the first pitch at 2:20 p.m. Eastern.
vegasinsider.com
N.Y. Yankees (71-43) at Seattle (60-54)
The Yankees take baseball’s best record to the Pacific Northwest for the first time this season, with ace CC Sabathia (12-7, 3.76) slated to toe the slab at Safeco Field against the Mariners’ Ian Snell (0-0, 6.14).
New York wrapped up a successful seven-game homestand with Wednesday afternoon’s 4-3, 11-inning victory over the Blue Jays. The Yankees won five of seven on the homestand and they’re 9-1 in their last 10 (3-0 on the road). Additionally, the Bronx Bombers are on sensational runs of 36-16 overall, 35-17 against right-handed starters and 10-3 in series openers.
Seattle got a two-out RBI single from Ken Griffey Jr. in the bottom of the 14th inning Wednesday night to put away the White Sox 1-0. The Mariners are 6-2 in their last eight at home and 4-1 in their last five against the A.L. East, but they’ve dropped seven of 10 when facing left-handed starters.
New York is on an 11-3 roll against the Mariners, but it has lost five of its last seven at Safeco Field.
Sabathia improved to 4-1 in his last five starts with Saturday’s dominating 5-0 victory over the Red Sox, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out nine over 7 2/3 scoreless innings. The hefty lefty pitched at least seven innings in all four victories and has gone into the seventh inning in six of his last seven outings. However, Sabathia has won three straight games just once this season, back in mid May.
Sabathia is 7-5 with a 3.89 ERA in 13 road starts this year and 4-4 with a 3.42 ERA in 12 career starts against the Mariners, including an 8-4 home loss on July 2 when he gave up six runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings in his second worst start of the season. On the bright side, Sabathia is 4-1 with a 2.83 ERA in seven games at Safeco Field.
Snell lasted just 1 1/3 innings on Saturday’s against the Rays, giving up three runs on two hits and six walks, and though he escaped with a no-decision, Seattle lost 10-4 at home. The veteran right-hander, who was acquired from the Pirates at the trade deadline, is a combined 2-8 with a 5.42 ERA in 17 starts this year. Snell, whose first career start at Safeco Field came on Saturday, has never faced the Yankees.
For New York, the “over” is on runs of 4-0-1 on the road, 6-1-1 versus the A.L. West, 4-1-1 on Thursday, 5-1 in Sabathia’s last six road outings and 4-0-1 in Sabathia’s last five versus A.L. West foes. Similarly, Seattle is on “over” streaks of 7-2 overall, 4-2 at home and 5-1-1 in series openers. Finally, seven of the last 10 clashes between these squads have topped the total, but the “under” is 6-1 in the last seven meetings at Safeco Field.
ATS ADVANTAGE: N.Y. YANKEES and OVER
Gametimepicks.com
Thursday's streaking and slumping starting pitchers
Streaking
Jeremy Sowers, Cleveland Indians (4-7, 4.75 ERA)
Maybe a little trip to the minors was all Sowers needed. The lefty is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in three starts since his return from Columbus on July 25 and he is quietly one of the hottest pitchers in the majors right now.
Sowers has given up only 14 hits since his return to the bigs and nobody has taken him over the wall in 20 innings in those starts. The 26-year-old lefty isn’t doing it with big whiffs or heavy heat, either. Instead, he’s getting batters to ground out in most at-bats, which shows Sowers might have learned a thing or two while riding the bus in the Midwest.
Look for value with Sowers for the rest of the month.
Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies, (2-0,1.12 ERA)
Looks like Lee likes his new surroundings. He has started with a perfect record since being moved to the Phillies and he’s only given up two runs and 10 hits in 16 innings with his new club.
It’s nothing new for Lee - except for the winning part. Despite some fantastic pitching all season, he went just 7-9 with the lowly Indians and watched as one quality start after another was squandered away.
Right now, he’s pitching off the charts. He’s won five games in a row and three of those were complete game efforts (He went seven innings in the other two). He gave up just one run in four of those outings and two runs in the other.
Slumping
Cesar Carrillo, San Diego Padres, (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Make it 13 starting pitchers for the Padres when Carrillo makes his major league debut Thursday in Milwaukee. The first-round pick from 2005 has had a rough road to get to this point after Tommy John surgery forced him to miss the 2007 season.
The prospect started the year in Double-A in San Antonio and was only recently promoted to Triple-A where he went 0-2 with a 6.19 ERA. So chances are, he’ll need some run support if he hopes to make his debut a winning one. Hopefully for him, the Padres club that shows up will be the one that scored 13 runs Monday night instead of the one that’s hitting .239 BA this season.
Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Thursday, Aug. 13
New York Yankees at Seattle (10:10 p.m. EDT). CC Sabathia (12-7, 3.76 ERA) starts for the Yankees in the opener of a four-game series.
STARS
Wednesday
-Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners, lined a pinch-hit double off the right-field wall with two outs in the bottom of the 14th to give Seattle a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
-Juan Uribe, Giants, hit a two-run homer with one out in the 10th inning to give San Francisco a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
-Hunter Pence and Bud Norris, Astros. Pence hit two three-run homers for a career-high six RBIs in a 14-6 victory over Florida, and Norris struck out six in five innings to become the first Houston pitcher to win his first three starts since Roger Clemens won his first seven in 2004.
-Robinson Cano, Yankees, hit a game-ending RBI single in the 11th inning, and also homered in New York's 4-3 victory over Toronto.
-Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez, Phillies, hit three-run homers in an eight-run fourth in support of Pedro Martinez in Philadelphia's 12-5 win over Chicago.
-Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Jason Bay, Red Sox. Beckett pitched seven strong innings for his major league-high 14th win, and Lowell and Bay homered in Boston's 8-2 victory in Detroit.
-Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter, Cardinals. Pujols hit his major league-leading 38th homer, and Carpenter (12-3) won his seventh straight decision, striking out 10 in seven innings in St. Louis' 5-2 win over Cincinnati.
-Adam LaRoche, Braves, homered twice and drew a bases-loaded walk in Atlanta's 6-2 victory over Washington.
-Gary Matthews Jr. and Howie Kendrick, Angels, hit three-run homers in Los Angeles' 10-5 victory over Tampa Bay.
-Landon Powell, Athletics, homered in a four-run fourth inning and Oakland beat Baltimore 6-3 for its third straight series victory.
-Cory Sullivan, Mets, tripled twice in his second game in the leadoff spot and made a nice defensive play in center to help New York beat Arizona 6-4.
-Tommy Hunter and Josh Hamilton, Rangers. Hunter limited Cleveland to six hits in a career-high 7 2-3 innings, and Hamilton had three hits and drove in two runs in Texas' 5-0 victory.
-Joe Crede, Twins, hit a three-run homer in his return to the lineup from a shoulder injury to help Minnesota beat Kansas City 7-1.
-Ubaldo Jimenez and Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies. Jimenez pitched three-hit ball for eight innings, and Gonzalez homered early in Colorado's 8-0 win over Pittsburgh.
START
Pedro Martinez pitched five innings Wednesday night in his return to the majors to help Philadelphia rout Chicago 12-5. The three-time Cy Young Award winner left with a 12-3 lead. It was Martinez's first appearance in the majors since September 2008, while with the New York Mets, also against the Cubs. Martinez threw 99 pitches, allowing seven hits and three runs. He walked one and had five strikeouts.
STATS
The New York Yankees have won nine of their last 10 to move to a season-best 28 games over .500. They're a major league-best 41-18 at home. ... Atlanta has won five straight to improve to 17-9 since the All-Star break.
SUSPENDED
Boston star Kevin Youkilis and Detroit pitcher Rick Porcello were suspended for five games each Wednesday and fined by Major League Baseball, a day after their brawl at Fenway Park. Youkilis began his suspension Wednesday night against Detroit. Porcello appealed, and no penalty will take effect until the process is complete.
SURGERY
Seattle left-hander Erik Bedard is having more surgery on his throwing shoulder, all but ending his season and perhaps his time with the Mariners. Manager Don Wakamatsu said Wednesday that Bedard will have exploratory surgery Friday in Los Angeles with Dr. Lewis Yocum, who removed a cyst from Bedard's shoulder in September. ... Jordan Zimmermann will have reconstructive elbow surgery next week, leaving Washington without its top pitching prospect for at least a year.
SPEAKING
"I promised my dad I would come back and play baseball like he asked me, his last word. Making it back feels like I just took something off my shoulders. The fact that I got a win or whatever is very good, but to actually be able to make it back like I promised my dad I would do, it was probably my best gift. That's for him. This one's for him.'' - Pedro Martinez after pitching five innings Wednesday night in his return to the majors to help Philadelphia rout Chicago 12-5. His father died in July 2008.