NATIONAL LEAGUE
L.A. Dodgers (68-45) at San Francisco (61-51)
The Dodgers hand the ball to southpaw Randy Wolf (5-6, 3.61 ERA) as they continue their three-game series at AT&T Park against the Giants, who will counter with rookie Joe Martinez (2-0, 5.87).
Los Angeles put the brakes on just its second three-game losing skid of the season with Monday’s 4-2 victory. Still, the Dodgers are just 6-11 in their last 17 games (4-4 on the road) and they’re on additional plunges of 1-4 against right-handed starters and 3-10 in the second game of a series. On the positive end, Joe Torre’s club is on runs of 47-19 in N.L. West action and 9-2 on Tuesday.
San Francisco has dropped two in a row and three of its last four, all at home. Still, the Giants are on surges of 37-18 at home, 10-4 versus left-handed starters, 7-1 at home against lefties, 4-2 as an underdog and 5-1 on Tuesday.
The Dodgers are 6-4 against the Giants this season, but they’re only 3-6 in their last nine in San Francisco since 2008.
Wolf has made 24 starts this year, yet has just 11 decisions, the latest no-decision coming Thursday at home against Atlanta. In that contest, Wolf was in line for a loss after surrendering four runs on nine hits in seven innings, but the Dodgers turned a 4-2 defeat into a 5-4 win courtesy of Andre Ethier’s walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. It was the second straight time that Wolf gave up four runs and nine hits, a mini slump that follows a stretch of six consecutive quality starts.
L.A. is 4-1 in Wolf’s last five Tuesday outings, 9-3 in his last 12 as a favorite and 5-2 in his last seven against N.L. West rivals, but it has dropped four of his last five starts on the road. In fact,
Wolf is only 4-4 despite a stellar 3.04 ERA in 12 road contests, with the Dodgers going 5-7. Wolf faced the Giants in San Francisco on April 27 and gave up three unearned runs in six innings, with the Dodgers falling 5-4. He’s 6-4 with a 3.44 ERA in 14 career starts against the Giants.
Martinez earned a 10-6 victory in his first career start on Wednesday at Houston, giving up three runs in five innings. It was his first appearance since April 9 when the right-hander suffered multiple skull fractures after being struck in the head by a line drive in a home game against Milwaukee. In two relief appearances at home (both versus the Brewers), Martinez gave up two runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings (6.75 ERA), but he did earn a victory on April 7.
The Dodgers have stayed under the total in five of their last six on the road, but the over is 6-3 in their last nine overall and 5-2 in their last seven against right-handed starters. Meanwhile, the under is 20-9-3 in the Giants’ last 32 N.L. West contests, 8-3 in their last 10 at home and 4-1 in their last five versus southpaw starters. However, the over is 11-4-1 in San Francisco’s last 16 games as a home underdog.
ATS ADVANTAGE: L.A. DODGERS
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay (61-51) at L.A. Angels (66-44)
Rookie David Price (5-4, 4.91 ERA) goes after his third straight win when he leads the Rays against Ervin Santana (4-6, 7.20) and the Angels in the middle game of a three-game set at Angel Stadium.
Los Angeles got two home runs from Vladimir Guerrero – his 399th and 400th of his career – and held off Tampa Bay in an 8-7 slugfest on Monday. The Angels are on sizzling runs of 37-15 overall, 10-4 at home, 6-0 against A.L. East squads, 13-3 as an underdog, 23-7 as a home pup and 57-28 against southpaw starters. Additionally, Mike Scioscia’s club has dominated Tampa over the years, winning 51 of the last 75 meetings overall while going 27-5 in the last 32 matchups in California.
Tampa Bay is now 1-3 on its current road trip, a funk that follows a 6-2 run (all at home). The Rays continue to play sub-.500 ball on the road (25-33), and they’re 12-28 in their last 40 as a road chalk, but on the bright side, they’ve won five straight games on Tuesday.
Price led Tampa Bay to Wednesday’s 6-4 home win over Boston, giving up two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks in six innings. Tampa has won four of Price’s last five starts, including the last three in a row, with the lefty allowing just three runs on 11 hits and two walks in his last two outings covering 13 innings. However, Price has been a disaster on the road this year, going 0-3 with an 8.20 ERA in six starts.
The Rays are just 1-4 when Price faces A.L. West opponents, but the victory came on June 11 over the Angels in Tampa Bay. Price lasted just 4 1/3 innings, yielding a run on two hits and a whopping six walks, but the Rays rolled to an 11-1 win.
Santana had one of his better outings of the season on Thursday at the White Sox. Despite allowing four runs on five hits and five walks, he struck out seven and earned a 9-5 road win. The Angels are 4-1 in Santana’s last five trips to the mound, even though in the last four, the right-hander has given up 20 runs (all earned) in 21 2/3 innings. On top of that, he’s 0-4 with a 12.38 ERA in six home starts in 2009.
With Santana pitching, the Angels are on runs of 6-1 as an underdog and 5-1 as a home pup, but they’re 1-4 in his last five at Angel Stadium and 1-5 in his last six against the A.L. East. Additionally, the Halos are 1-5 in Santana’s last six starts versus the Rays, including that 11-1 defeat on June 11 when Santana yielded six runs in 4 2/3 innings. For his career, he’s 3-4 with a 6.04 ERA in nine starts against Tampa Bay, but 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA in two home games.
L.A. is on a slew of “over” runs, including 39-14-3 overall, 23-7-1 at home, 8-2 as an underdog, 5-0-1 on Tuesday, 6-0 against the A.L. East and 13-4-1 versus winning teams. Also, with Santana pitching, the “over” is on streaks of 4-0 overall, 5-2-1 at home and 16-7-2 as an underdog. Meanwhile, the Rays carry “over” trends of 5-0 overall, 5-1 on the highway, 6-0 versus the A.L. West and 5-2-1 when Price goes off as a favorite. Finally, the last three meetings between these clubs this season have topped the total.
ATS ADVANTAGE: L.A. ANGELS and OVER
Gametimepicks.com
Hot Harden at Wrigley
By Brobury Sports
Chicago Cubs hurler Rich Harden has pitched great of late, but he has struggled at Wrigley Field this year.
Harden (7-7. 4.41 ERA) has a 1.80 ERA in his last five starts but four of them came on the road where he has a 2.28 ERA. Harden pitched well in his last start at Wrigley back on July 26th, giving up one run in six innings to Cincinnati, but his home ERA is 6.84 overall.
That’s one reason why the Cubs are only slim favorites at BroburySports.com despite being 33-19 at home and 8-2 in their last 10 there. First pitch for this contest is 8:05 pm ET.
Chicago (58-52) is returning home after a brutal 10-game road trip that ended in Colorado last night with an 11-5 loss. The Cubs went 4-6 overall on the trip and sit three games behind St. Louis in the hotly contested NL Central.
Bettors should note that Cubs’ third baseman Aramis Ramirez might miss this game with a shoulder injury. But while Chicago is tired coming off this long trip, they are 9-2 in their last 11 home games following a road trip of seven days or more.
Philly’s big bats have been silent
One of the most surprising events over the weekend was Philadelphia (61-48) getting swept at home by the Florida Marlins. The Phillies bats continued to stay cold by scoring just nine runs in three games.
Philadelphia is 3-8 in their last 11 games and dead last in August NL runs scored at 3.13 per game. That’s way below their 5.22 average for the season which leads their league.
The Phillies cushion in the NL East is just 3.5 games over the Marlins and they need to turn their fortunes around starting tonight.
Playing the role of stopper is standout rookie lefthander J.A. Happ (8-2, 2.74 ERA). Happ was supposed to be warming a spot in the rotation for the newly signed Pedro Martinez, but he has performed so well that Jamie Moyer was sent to the pen.
Happ’s splits are the same as Harden as his ERA is significantly lower on the road (1.72) than at home (3.77 ERA). That kind of poise will needed as Philly has lost four of their last five road games.
One positive note for the Phillies is the day off should do them good. They’re 23-11 in their last 34 games following a day off.
End-Of-Streak?
By SportsPic
Washington Nationals behind 7.1 runs/game with it's pitching staff holding opponents to 4.1 per game have got themselves enjoying an eight game win streak with backers stuffing +$1054 into betting accounts. Still, despite the surge and all-around solid performance the Nats remain a league worst 40-72 (-$2501) on the season. Although winning is contagious Nats are in dangerous territory heading into Atlanta. Nats are a league worst 14-39 on the highway (-$1971) and have already lost three straight at Turner Field this season bringing the mark to 7-13 last twenty visits to Atlanta. John Lannan (8-8, 3.39) toeing the rubber in the opener puts added pressure on Washington. The southpaw does not fair well on the highway going 3-7 in ten starts compiling a 1.08 SWR, 1.63 WHIP. Meanwhile, Braves off a 5-2 road swing grabbing +$407 at the betting window are now 58-54 (-$319) overall and just 4 1/2 back in the Division. They'll try to gain ground handing the ball to Tommy Hanson (6-2, 3.22). The rookie off his eight quality start of the season in a 6-2 victory at Padres is 3-1 at home with Braves winning four of his five starts. As mentioned, tough spot for Nats, Braves are a solid 15-5 at home facing a starter with a WHIP >1.5 while Nats enter 5-16 last twenty-one on the road with Lannan, 3-13 opening a series with the hurler.
Tuesday's streaking and slumping starting pitchers
There aren’t really any pitchers scheduled to start on Tuesday that are setting the world on fire. Because of that, we’re going to focus on hurlers making their big league debut or returning from injury.
Returning
Roy Oswalt (6-4, 3.61 ERA), Houston Astros
The veteran righty makes his first start since leaving a game earlier on July 28 because of a strain in his lower back. Oswalt said he had no pain in his back after throwing a 40-pitch session on Sunday.
“The biggest thing is just command right now,” he told the Houston Chronicle. “In the bullpen, it’s OK, but you can tell when you get in the game if your command is going to be there.”
After a rough start to the campaign, Oswalt has lowered his ERA to a nifty 3.61. The Astros have won in each of the Mississippi native’s last six appearances.
Debuting
Junichi Tazawa (0-1, 10.80), Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox rookie actually made his big league debut in relief during Friday’s loss to the Yankees. He gave up four hits (including a walk-off home run to Alex Rodriguez) and two earned runs over 1 1-2 innings.
Since Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka are both still on the disabled list, manager Terry Francona was left with few options to fill John Smoltz’s spot in the rotation.
Tazawa will be pitching on three days’ rest, but he only threw 35 pitches in Friday’s outing.
“If he’d have thrown more [pitches], we wouldn’t have done this,” Francona told the Boston Globe about Tazawa’s Friday appearance.
Slumping
Ervin Santana (4-6, 7.20), Los Angeles Angels
At least you know what you’re getting with this flame-throwing righty. It’s almost a given that he’s going to pitch six innings and surrender five to six runs in the process.
Santana strikes out a good number of batters (58 in 70 innings pitched) but he struggles with his location. He walked five in his last start and has been taken out of the park eight times in his last six starts.
The Halo offense has been good enough to cover for Santana’s shortcomings. Los Angeles has won in four of his last five starts with the total cashing in five straight as well.
Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Tuesday, Aug. 11
Philadelphia at Chicago Cubs, (8:05 p.m. EDT). Rookie sensation J.A. Happ (8-2) and the Phillies open a series against the NL rival Cubs and Rich Harden (7-7).
STARS
Monday
-Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies, hit for the cycle and had a career-high seven RBIs to help Colorado beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5.
-Vladimir Guerrero, Angels, homered twice, including the 400th of his career to put Los Angeles ahead in the seventh inning of an 8-7 victory over Tampa Bay.
-Kyle Lohse, Cardinals, won for the first time since injuring his forearm more than 2 1/2 months ago, working six effective innings for St. Louis in a 4-1 win over Cincinnati.
-Nick Green, Red Sox, hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly and one of Boston's three homers as the Red Sox beat Detroit 6-5 to end a six-game losing streak.
-Matt Kemp, Dodgers, hit a three-run double to back a strong effort from Hiroki Kuroda and help slumping Los Angeles win the opener of the key three-game series with San Francisco 4-2.
CYCLING
Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki became the sixth player in the majors to hit for the cycle this season. He had five hits and drove in a career high seven runs in an 11-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs. It was the eighth time in Coors Field history a player has hit for the cycle. Fred Lewis of San Francisco was the last one to do it, on May 13, 2007. The last Colorado player to hit for the cycle was Mike Lansing, who did it on June 18, 2000.
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Less than five months after open-heart surgery, Aaron Boone is back playing baseball, appearing in a minor league game in Texas. Boone batted second Monday night for the Corpus Christi Hooks, a Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. He swung at the first pitch and popped up to the first baseman in foul territory. Boone played third base against Midland and was hitless in two at-bats before leaving the game.
WE'll TAKE HIM
Alex Rios showed up at Yankee Stadium and saw his name in the starting lineup Monday night. He left the ballpark a few hours later, on his way to join the White Sox and a pennant race. The two-time All-Star was claimed off waivers by Chicago and learned the news about 30 minutes before the first pitch between New York and Toronto. The White Sox will be responsible for the remainder on the seven-year, $69,835,000 contract he signed in 2008.
NO PROBLEM
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen doesn't expect to be punished by Major League Baseball for saying his team will retaliate if any more of his batters get hit by pitches. Guillen said before his team's game against the Mariners he hasn't heard from league officials, nor does he expect to. Guillen went off on Sunday after three of his players were hit by Indians pitchers Saturday.
MILESTONE
Vladimir Guerrero's second home run of the Angels' 8-7 win over the Rays was the 400th of his career. He also extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games a week after coming off the disabled list for the second time this season. The slugger is one of seven active major leaguers with at least 400 homers and 2,000 hits.
BRING ON BALTIMORE
The Athletics are 4-0 against Baltimore this season, and their nine-game run against the Orioles is the longest in Oakland history. The A's are 64-27 (.703) versus Baltimore since the start of the 1999 season - the best winning percentage by any AL team against the Orioles in that span.
SIDELINED
All-Star Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley will miss his scheduled start against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday with a strained left hamstring. ... Chicago Cubs starter Tom Gorzelanny left Monday night's game against the Colorado Rockies with a right foot contusion after getting hit by a hard grounder in the second inning. ... Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto injured his left hip running out a grounder in the top of the third inning Monday night and was removed from the game.
STATS
Robinson Cano and Jerry Hairston hit back-to-back homers in the Yankees' 5-4 loss to Toronto, the 12th set of consecutive homers for New York this season. ... Seattle's Kenji Johjima hit his first home run since May 25, a tie-breaking two-run shot in the Mariners' 6-4 win over the White Sox.
G'DAY MATE
Trent Oeltjen had no idea playing in the big leagues would be this much fun. The outfielder from Down Under hit his third home run in four major league games, helping the Arizona Diamondbacks send the New York Mets to their ninth loss in 12 games, 7-4 on Monday night.
SPEAKING
"Our biggest thing was - we're back home, just play the rest of the season as hard as we can and whatever happens happens. But were going to remain positive. There's a lot of games left.'' - Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said after the Red Sox returned home to beat Detroit 6-5 after being swept four straight in New York.