Tuesday's Streaking and Slumping Starting Pitchers
Streaking
Pedro Martinez (3-0, 3.52 ERA), Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies expected a lift when they signed the veteran righthander, but no one in the organization could have imagined a spotless record after five starts.
Philadelphia has won all five games started by Martinez, who has had two abbreviated outings but appears to be getting stronger. He allowed one run and five hits with nine strikeouts in seven innings in his last start, outdueling Tim Lincecum.
"You can see that he knows what he's doing and he's not just winging it up there hoping that he's getting outs," Lincecum told the Phillies' web site. "He's pitching with a purpose. He knows how to get guys out."
Martinez has 23 strikeouts and just three walks in 23 innings.
Brian Duensing (2-1, 3.81), Minnesota Twins
The Twins might have a better chance of catching the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central if they had showed more patience with their rookie lefthander as a starter, which has been his role since entering the organization in 2005.
Called up for good in early July, Duensing did mop-up relief work before being given a start July 29. He allowed two homers in five innings and was sent back to the pen, where he again was ineffective.
In 30 1-3 innings as a reliever, Duensing had 20 strikeouts, 16 walks and three homers allowed.
Duensing got another start Aug. 22 and has stayed in the rotation. In three starts, he is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA. In 19 innings, he has 18 strikeouts, four walks and no homers allowed.
Returning
Bruce Chen (1-6, 5.24), Kansas City Royals
The veteran lefthander won his first game in nearly four years on Aug. 6, then was bumped from the rotation when Gil Meche returned from back spasms.
Chen has made five relief appearances since, allowing at least a run in each but stretching out to work four innings with 70 pitches on Sept. 2.
After pitching just 10 total innings in 2007 and 2008 due to arm problems, Chen is 1-6 with a 5.40 ERA as a starter this season, allowing opposing hitters to hit .304.
Slumping
Rick VandenHurk (2-2, 4.91), Florida Marlins
The 6-5 righthander has alternated good and bad starts in his last four outings and is due for a bad one.
On Aug. 5 at Washington, he gave up three homers and five earned runs in four innings. On Aug. 16 vs. Colorado, he surrendered three homers and six earned runs.
since returning in late July from elbow surgery, VandenHurk has been ripped for nine homers in just 36 2-3 innings.
Billy Buckner (2-6, 8.29), Arizona Diamondbacks
The righthander's last start marked his return from a mid-season demotion, but he picked up where he left off, losing his fifth straight outing.
During that stretch, Buckner has an 11.09 ERA, a 2.01 WHIP and has given up seven homers in 24 1-3 innings, including at least one in each start.
Tampa Bay (72-66) at N.Y. Yankees (89-50)
The Rays, whose wild-card hopes are fading fast, send rookie David Price (7-7, 4.75 ERA) to the hill opposite Chad Gaudin (5-10, 4.98 overall; 1-0, 4.08 with New York) as these A.L. East rivals continue a four-game series in the Bronx.
New York swept a day-night doubleheader from Tampa Bay on Monday, winning 4-1 and 11-1. The Yankees have won 10 of their last 12, allowing three runs or fewer in seven of those contests. They’re on additional surges of 51-18 overall, 41-13 at home, 25-6 against divisional foes, 13-4 against teams with a winning record, 4-1 on Tuesday, 36-15 versus southpaw starters and 42-17 as a favorite.
The Rays have now dropped six in a row, tallying three runs or less four times, and they’re just 3-11 in their last 14 contests, a slump that has all but ended their hopes of a return trip to the postseason. Tampa Bay is also in ruts of 0-5 against right-handed starters and 10-28 in the third game of a series.
New York has won six of the last seven meetings against Tampa Bay this year and is 57-24 in the last 81 series clashes in the Bronx. The visitor is 7-5 in the last 12 battles.
Price is coming off Thursday’s 6-3 home loss to Boston, yielding four runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The lefty has still surrendered three earned runs or fewer in five of his last seven starts, including his first road win of the season at Detroit on Aug. 29 when he scattered five hits and a run over 7 1/3 innings of a 3-1 victory. Still, Price is just 1-4 with a 6.81 ERA in eight road starts.
The Rays have alternated wins and losses in Price’s last five trips to the mound, but they’re 6-1 in his last seven starts against the A.L. East. Also, in his first career start against the Yankees on June 6 in New York, he gave up three runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks over 5 2/3 innings, getting a no-decision in Tampa Bay’s 9-7 win.
Gaudin started the season with the Padres and went 4-10 with a 5.13 ERA in 20 games (19 starters) before being traded to the Yankees. He’s made two starts since arriving in New York, giving up a total of three runs, five hits and eight walks in eight innings, with the Yanks winning both games on the road (3-2 at Oakland and 10-5 at Toronto). Gaudin faced the Rays twice in 2007, going 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA.
For Tampa Bay, the “under” is on runs of 5-2 on the road, 7-3 as an underdog, 7-2 on Tuesday, 35-17-4 against right-handed starters and 4-0-1 with Price on the hill. Meanwhile, New York is on “over” stretches of 6-2 overall (all against divisional opponents), 7-2 against winning teams, 4-0 on Tuesday and 4-1 against southpaw starters, but the under is 16-8-1 in the Yankees’ last 25 games in the Bronx.
Finally, the under is 5-2 in the last six battles between these rivals and 10-5 in the last 15 clashes in New York.
ATS ADVANTAGE: N.Y. YANKEES and UNDER
Seattle (72-66) at L.A. Angels (81-54)
The Mariners continue a seven-game, three-city A.L. West road trip when they open a three-game set against the Angels. Scott Kazmir (8-8, 5.68 ERA) will make his home debut for Los Angeles when he matches up against Seattle ace Felix Hernandez (14-5, 2.65) for the second time in five days.
Seattle had Monday off after splitting a four-game series in Oakland, winning the first two games 7-4 and 6-3 before losing the last two 9-5 and 5-2, with the defeats ending a four-game winning streak. The Mariners are 7-3 in their last 10 against A.L. West foes, but otherwise they’re in funks of 19-40 as an underdog, 1-5 after an off day and 1-6 on the highway versus southpaw starters.
The Angels took the first three games of a weekend series at Kansas City before falling 6-3 on Sunday. Prior to the defeat, L.A. had won five of seven, while giving up a total of just 10 runs. However, the Angels’ once-red-hot offense has been held to three runs or fewer in five of its last six games. Mike Scioscia’s club is still on runs of 52-25 overall and 18-8 in series openers.
These rivals met last week in Seattle with the Mariners taking two of three, capped by Wednesday’s 3-0 victory in which Hernandez (eight scoreless innings, four hits allowed) outdueled Kazmir (two runs, one earned, and three hits allowed in 6 1/3 innings). Seattle holds a 9-7 edge in the season series, but is just 9-20 in its last 29 games at Angel Stadium.
With Wednesday’s dominating outing against Los Angeles, Hernandez has now delivered 18 quality starts in his last 19 trips to the mound, including the last seven in a row. Also, in half of his 28 starts, the big right-hander has given up one or zero earned runs.
With Hernandez on the mound, the Mariners are on a slew of positive runs, including 20-8 overall, 8-2 on the road, 5-1 as an underdog, 4-0 against division rivals and 9-1 versus winning teams. He’s 8-2 with a 2.06 ERA in 15 road starts this year and 4-5 with a 4.40 ERA in 15 career starts against the Angels, but in his last two against L.A., he gave up just one unearned run on 10 hits in 14 2/3 innings, with Seattle adding a 4-3 win in Anaheim on May 30 to his 3-0 home victory Wednesday.
Despite losing, Kazmir pitched well in his Angels debut and has now delivered four straight quality starts going back to his time with Tampa Bay, posting a 2.77 ERA with 29 strikeouts against just seven walks in 26 innings. The hard-throwing left-hander has made just one previous career start at Angel Stadium – in June of last season with Tampa Bay – allowing three runs on six hits while striking out 10 in 6 2/3 innings, but he lost, 4-2.
With Wednesday’s 3-0 setback, Kazmir is now 3-2 with a solid 2.93 ERA in seven career starts against the Mariners. He has a 35-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his last five outings versus Seattle.
Behind their ace, the Mariners are on “under” streaks of 12-5-1 overall, 36-16-2 on the road and 28-13-1 as an underdog. However, the over is 8-3 in King Felix’s last 11 starts versus the Halos. Also, the under is 6-3 in Kazmir’s last nine starts (3-0 last three) and 4-1 in his last five outings against Seattle.
The under is 18-6 in Seattle’s last 24 games versus the A.L. West and 4-1-1 in its last six on Tuesday, but the over is 7-3-1 in the M’s last 11 road games, 4-1-1 in their last six after an off day and 8-1-1 in their last 10 series openers. Meanwhile, the Angels have stayed under the number in five straight games overall and four straight on Tuesday, but the over is 20-8 in their last 28 at home, 9-3-1 in their last 13 series openers and 35-16-4 in their last 54 when favored.
Lastly, the under is 6-2 in the last eight Mariners-Angels battles.
ATS ADVANTAGE: L.A. ANGELS
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Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Tuesday, September 8
Cincinnati at Colorado (8:40 p.m. EDT). The NL wild card-leading Rockies get to face Matt Maloney (0-3), who will be called up from Double-A to start at Coors Field.
STARS
Monday
- Juan Uribe, Giants, homered twice, tripled and drove in five runs in San Francisco's 9-4 victory over San Diego.
- Chris Carpenter, Cardinals, pitched a one-hitter and struck out 10 to lead St. Louis to a 3-0 victory at Milwaukee.
- Billy Butler, Royals, homered twice and had four RBIs in Kansas City's 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
- Mark Teixeira, Yankees, had three hits, including two homers, and drove in four runs in New York's 11-1 win over Tampa Bay in the second game of a day-night doubleheader. The Yankees also won the opener 4-1.
- Derek Lee, Cubs, homered twice and had three RBIs to carry Chicago to a 4-2 victory at Pittsburgh.
- Joe Mauer, Twins, had three hits and keyed a five-run first inning for Minnesota in a 6-3 victory at Toronto.
- Manny Ramirez, Ronny Belliard and James Loney, Dodgers, all hit solo homers to give Los Angeles a 7-2 victory at Arizona.
- Hunter Pence, Astros, homered and drove in three runs in Houston's 4-3 win over Philadelphia.
DUBIOUS RECORD
The Pittsburgh Pirates were assured of a record-breaking 17th straight losing season, falling to the Chicago Cubs 4-2 Monday. By losing their 10th in 11 games, the Pirates dropped to 54-82 and will finish below .500, just as they have every season since 1993. The string of losing seasons - which followed the Pirates' three consecutive NL East titles from 1990-92 - is the longest for any team in the four major North American pro team sports. Only the Phillies (1933-48) have had as many as 16 losing seasons in a row.
STILL 3 HITS AWAY
Derek Jeter went 0 for 8 with a walk in the Yankees' 4-1 and 11-1 doubleheader sweep of Tampa Bay on Monday, remaining at 2,718 career hits - three behind Lou Gehrig for the franchise record.
A WIN FOR BUEHRLE
Mark Buehrle outpitched Boston's Josh Beckett, limiting the Red Sox to one run and eight hits in seven-plus innings in the Chicago White Sox's 5-1 victory on Monday. Buehrle (12-7) won for the first time since pitching a perfect game on July 23, going 0-4 with a 5.44 ERA in eight starts since. Beckett (14-6), who hasn't won since Aug. 12, gave up three runs and six hits over seven innings.
SNAPPED
Kansas City's 6-3 win over Los Angeles on Monday snapped the Royals' nine-game losing streak against the Angels. ... The Twins' 6-3 win over the Blue Jays ended their seven-game losing skid in Toronto. ... Colorado's 4-3 win over Cincinnati snapped the Reds' seven-game winning streak.
SLUMP
Alex Rios went 0 for 3 in the White Sox's 5-1 win over Boston on Monday, extending his slump to 4 for 49.
OUCH!
Tampa Bay slugger Carlos Pena broke two fingers when he was hit by a pitch from CC Sabathia in the opener of Monday's day-night doubleheader against the Yankees. Pena was hurt on an 0-1 offering in the first inning of a 4-1 loss, with the ball hitting his left hand and then his bat. Pena broke the middle and index fingers. He was to return to Florida on Tuesday and meet with the Rays medical staff before a determination is made whether he needs surgery.
ANOTHER SHOT
Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton has received a second shot for the pinched nerve in his back, and is not expected to return until at least next weekend. Hamilton was back in Texas, where he had another injection Monday while the Rangers opened a three-game series in Cleveland. Hamilton will wait for the Rangers to come home for the start of a nine-game homestand Friday.
SURGERY
Cleveland All-Star outfielder Grady Sizemore has been scheduled to have arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow at the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday. Team physician Dr. Mark Schickendantz will perform the operation. Sizemore also needs to undergo lower abdominal surgery, but no timetable has been set for that procedure. Sizemore, who had missed only nine games over the previous four seasons, played with pain all season until being shut down Friday.
SPEAKING
"I knew when the ball hit me it was going to be bad. You don't take a 95 mph fastball on the finger and live to tell about it - or the finger live to tell about it.'' - Tampa Bay slugger Carlos Pena after breaking two fingers when he was hit by a pitch from CC Sabathia in the first inning of a 4-1 loss to the Yankees in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
Runs-A-Plenty
By SportsPic
Rockies will be hooking Jason Marquis (14-10, 3.75) against rookie Matt Maloney (0-3, 6.46) in the second of this four game test with Reds that has the marking of a high scoring affair. Rockies recording 42 runs the past seven swatting 13 yard-ball over the span will do a number on Maloney who's been spanked for 6 jacks, 15 runs his last three starts for Reds. Cinci notching 39 runs it's last eight on the diamond get their share off Jason Marquis crushed for 10 runs his last 11 innings of work. Teams clashing with starters like Marquis (WHIP 1.91, BOR 8.0 L2), Maloney (WHIP 1.51, BOR 13.5 L3) with high WHIP's (>1.5) and low Batter-Out Ratings (<15) leads to plenty of runs. Consider 'Over', league wise this combination of starters who can't get guys out has produced an 'Over' 78.9% of the time (262-51-19) with a combined total of 13.6 runs/game. Have sportsbooks set the total between 9.5 - 10.5 the 'Over' remains a solid 115-31-5 (76.1%).
West Coast Aces
By Brobury Sports
Three of the best pitchers in baseball are playing late Tuesday games on the West Coast.
Chad Billingsley (L.A. Dodgers) -200 at Arizona Diamondbacks – 9:40 pm ET
Billingsley and the Dodgers are -200 ‘chalk’ for the second in a four-game series. The Dodgers won the opener 7-2 and lead the season series 10-6.
L.A. only has a 3.5 game lead over Colorado in the NL West so they need to keep on winning.
Billingsley (12-9, 3.86 ERA) has lost his last three starts with a 5.29 ERA. His splits are pretty even between home and away, and this is his first meeting against Arizona this season. Billingsley was 6-4 with a 3.36 ERA against the Diamondbacks from 2006-2008.
Billy Buckner (2-6, 8.29 ERA) is the opposing pitcher and Red Sox fans cringe at even hearing that name. This Buckner has made eight starts, but only one since being sent to AAA in June. That start was last Thursday night at the Dodgers when he gave up four runs in six innings.
Felix Hernandez (Seattle) +110 at L.A. Angels – 10:05 pm ET
Hernandez and Seattle are +110 underdogs as they open up a three games series. The Angels are only 7-9 versus Seattle this year, but they lead Texas by five games in the AL West.
Hernandez (14-5, 2.65 ERA) is a Cy Young candidate who is pitching with plenty of motivation. His last start was against these Angels, and all he did was shut-out their potent lineup over eight innings in a 3-0 win. Hernandez is a mind-blowing 8-2 with a 2.06 ERA away from home.
Scott Kazmir (8-8, 5.68 ERA) was Hernandez’s opposition last week and tonight as well. That was Kazmir’s first start after being traded from Tampa and he pitched very good with one run allowed in 6 1/3rd innings. Look for another good outing from Kazmir.
Tim Lincecum (San Francisco) -270 vs. San Diego – 10:15 pm ET
Lincecum and the Giants are huge -270 home favorites in the middle of this three-game series. The Giants won yesterday 9-4 and are 6-1 at home versus San Diego and 0-6 on the road. San Fran trails Colorado by two games in the NL Wild Card.
Lincecum (13-5, 2.34 ERA) is 1-2 in his last three starts even though he has a 2.04 ERA. His home numbers are ridiculous at 8-1 and a 1.83 ERA. That fact, plus the Giants success against San Diego at home, is why the spread is so large.
San Diego’s Kevin Correia (10-10, 4.29 ERA) is a former Giant who has pitched solidly overall this year. Correia has a 3.00 ERA in two starts versus San Francisco this year, including one on the road. The Padres won both contests.
Dodgers at D-backs
By SBGGlobal.com
Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona
SBG Global Opening Line: Dodgers - 185 , Total 9.5 Over – 120
The MLB odds could be a little lopsided on the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday. The Dodgers send Chad Billingsley to the mound while the Diamondbacks go with Billy Butler.
SBG Global reports that early MLB Betting has the public taking Dodgers on the Road.
The baseball betting numbers have Billingsley at 12-9 on the season with a 3.86 ERA while Buckner is 2-6 with an 8.29 ERA. Billingsley was great for four innings last time out against Arizona and then collapsed giving up four runs in the fifth. Billingsley has only one win in his last five starts and only three in his last 14. He is 7-5 in his career against the Diamondbacks. Injuries are starting to hurt the Dodgers as Clayton Kershaw will miss his next start with an injury, Casey Blake missed a third start Sunday with a tight hamstring and Jim Thome has a heel injury.
Buckner gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings last time out against the Dodgers. That could mean this sees some runs scored on Tuesday even though the trends point to an under.
Here is a look at the MLB Betting stats for Tuesday’s game. The Dodgers are 6-0 in their last 6 game 2’s of a series. The Dodgers are 4-1 in their last 5 road games. The Dodgers are 18-6 in their last 24 Tuesday games. Even though Billingsley is not pitching well of late, the Dodgers are 12-3 in his last 15 starts vs. the National League West. Overall, the Dodgers are 1-4 in Billingsley’s last 5 starts. The Dodgers are 5-2 in Billingsley’s last 7 road starts vs. the Diamondbacks.
Even though Arizona has been better of late, they are still 16-36 in their last 52 games as an underdog. They are 1-4 in Buckner’s last 5 starts as an underdog.
SBG Global Current Line: Dodgers - 200 , Total 9.5 Over - 120
The trends do point to this game going under the total. The Under is 7-1-1 in the Dodgers last 9 vs. the National League West. The Under is 14-3 in the Dodgers last 17 games vs. a right-handed starter. The pitching stats on Billingsley point to an over though, as the Over is 6-1 in his last 7 road starts. The Over is 4-0 in Buckner’s last 4 home starts.