Mr. A's
NBA
Orlando Magic -7½
Atlanta Hawks +9
Los Angeles Lakers -4½
MLB
Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets
The Pirates have dropped nine of their last 12 games and five straight on the road. They will send Ian Snell to the mound. Snell is 2-1 with a 4.45 ERA in five starts this season and is 0-2 with a 6.11 ERA in four career outings, including three starts versus the Mets. New York has won five of the last six against Pittsburgh at home and will counter with Johan Santana. The lefty is 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA in five starts and is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two appearances, one start versus Pittsburgh. Take the Mets tonight at Shea Stadium.
New York Mets - 240
GINA
NBA
Orlando Magic - 7½
Los Angeles Lakers - 4½
MLB
Houston Astros at Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks took five of seven games against the Astros last year and have played sound at Chase Field, winning nine of their 11 home games this season. Arizona will send right-hander Dan Haren to the hill. Haren is 0-2 with a 4.63 ERA in three games, including 2 starts versus the Astros, but has pitched outstanding thus far this season, 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA and has won three straight starts at home. Houston counters with Chris Sampson. The right-hander is 1-3 with a 6.28 ERA and went 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA in two career starts against the Diamondbacks. Go with Arizona at home. The Diamondbacks have won the last five versus Houston at home.
Arizona Diamondbacks - 185
Nite Owl Sports
Dallas Desperados @ Philadelphia Soul
Pick: 2 units Over 104.5
Well football fans, it's finally here, -- no, not the 12th round of the NFL draft, but the long anticipated showdown between the AFL's best teams, both of whom happen to still be undefeated at the midway point of the season, making this nationally televised (on ESPN) game between the Dallas Desperados and the Philadelphia Soul, Arena FB's equivalent of last October's most watched regular season game in NFL history, between the NE Pats and Indy Colts. So who will win this game of AFL "heavy weights," dubbed the "Broad Street Brawl," as the two great football cities of Philly and Dallas renew their mutual hatred for each other stemming from the intense rivalry between the Cowboys and Eagles in the NFL. While we lean towards Philly, which has already notched two impressive road wins over LY's champion San Jose and perennial AFL power Chicago, has been playing great all year and is playing at home, it's not a high percentage play to go against Dallas either. Desperados have the top defense in AFL, allowing just 43 PPG, and they also beat LY's champion San Jose on the road, 59-55. So that leaves us with the total if we choose to have a play on this game, and despite the good defenses of both teams (Philly's also being good at #5, allowing 50 PPG and second in TO margin at +10), we will go with the Over as the best value here, as we can't see even a defense as good as Dallas stopping this potent Philly offensive unit (averaging 66 PPG on offense), or for that matter can't see Philly's defense slowing down the ruthlessly efficient Dallas offensine unit very much, either. So we will go with the Over as long as the totals line stays at 105 or less But we also recommend teasing the totals line below 100 and Philly to +1 with a 6 or 6.5 point teaser, if your have access to teasers in AFL. Finally, if you have access to second half lines in AFL and either team gets down at the half by enough to make Dallas more than a full TD underdog or Philly at least a 3 point dog on the adjusted game line (using the HT score and second half line), go with the team that is down and has the value with the second half line, barring any game ending injury to any key player(s) on thet team. Likewise, if the first half scoring is disproportionately low, consider taking the over for the second half, as these potent offenses are both too good to be held down for a full game.
Nick Parsons
Play ON Baltimore Orioles $ line (+) @ Chicago White Sox
The Orioles have lost each of the last two games in this series but should bounce back here. They hand the ball to Daniel Cabrera today and Baltimore is a perfect 5-0 in his starts so far this season. After a couple of rough outings to start the season, Cabrera has allowed two earned runs or less in each of his last three starts. In his most recent outing he only allowed five hits in eight innings of work. Also, Cabrera did not walk a single batter and he retired eleven straight batters to finish up the game. The Orioles righthander is definitely in a zone right now and he should be able to keep that going with another strong effort this afternoon. Many bettors may get caught up on Cabreras history of struggles at US Cellular Field. However, his current form is much better than what hes displayed in the past when hes struggled with his form and often had control issues. Cabrera will be opposed by Javier Vazquez of the White Sox and the Chicago righthander is off of a very poor start versus the Yankees in his most recent outing. Looks like Vazquez could be in for a rough stretch due to what we saw in his mechanics against the Yanks. Also, even though Vazquez has a solid 6-2 record against the Orioles in his career, its his 5.24 ERA that tells the full story! Look for him to get hit hard again today and, with the way that Cabrera is pitching, this means that the Orioles should get the upset win on the road here. Baltimore is a solid value play on Monday afternoon
Ben Burns
Atlanta Hawks +9.5 / 4 units
Los Angeles Lakers/Denver Nuggets Over 227.5 / 4 units
St. Louis Cardinals -133 / 4 units
Montreal Canadiens/Philadelphia Flyers Under 5.5 / 4 units
Great Lake Sports
5* Lakers
4* A's
3* Astros Under
Bob Akmens
NHL: 3* PHILADELPHIA -135 vs Montreal
NBA 3* BOSTON / ATLANTA UNDER 190
MLB: 4* ST LOUIS (WELLEMEYER) -150
Wunderdog
Game: Baltimore at Chicago White Sox
Pick: Baltimore +137
Chicago goes for the sweep with Javier Vazquez, but they must get through Daniel Cabrera to get it. Cabrera is 2-0 and coming off a great performance on Wednesday in which he allowed just two runs and no walks in eight innings. In contrast Vazquez is coming off a 6-run, 10-hit performance in five and a third on Wednesday. This is a good matchup for the Orioles. Baltimore is 10-3 this season over teams allowing fewer than 4.3 runs per game. Cabrera is 22-7 against teams batting .260 or worse and 21-8 against AL Central opponents. We like Baltimore to stave off the series loss.
Winning Points
**PREFERRED
Toronto over Orlando* by 1
Let's keep it simple. From Game 4 in Toronto: "In the second half, we shot the 3 well, and that's big for us,"said Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy. "Obviously,it's a big thing for them, too, and they didn't shoot it well today."
Toronto head coach Sam Mitchell: "We've got to do a better job of stopping their dribble-penetration." TORONTO, 99-98.
Root
Chairman- Hawks
Millionaire- Raptors
Erin Rynning
MLB Playmaker: Cleveland -105
Alex Smart
Chicago White Sox -139 / 3 units
AFL-Dallas +5.5 / 3 units
Teddy Covers
NBA Toronto Raptors +7.5 / 4 units
NBA Boston Celtics/Atlanta Hawks Under 190.0 / 4 units
MLB Colorado Rockies/San Francisco Giants Over 7.5 / 3 units
Michael Cannon
15 Dime
RAPTORS
Take the points with Toronto tonight on the road.
It’s real simple for Toronto. Win or go home.
I expect the Raptors to come into this game with the sense of urgency they need in order to keep this series going. Chris Bosh broke out in Game 4 with 39 points and 15 rebounds, but he didn’t get any help from the backcourt.
If Toronto can execute the pick-and-roll with T. J. Ford and Jose Calderon, then not only does Toronto stand an excellent chance of staying within the number, they’ll have a shot at the outright win.
In the Raptors lone win of this series, Ford and Calderon combined for 39 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds. More importantly, they only committed four turnovers.
Look for Toronto to execute that game plan while Bosh continues to shine inside.
Now I know Dwight Howard has been a beast in this series, and he could very well lead the Magic to the series win by himself tonight. But as long as Toronto can get Bosh going inside, along with the backcourt scoring, I don’t see the Magic covering this number.
Toronto is 10-4 ATS in the last 14 meetings with Orlando.
Take the points with the Raptors as they keep it within the number.
5 Dime
YANKEES (With Mussina as listed pitcher)
Take the Yankees for the road win tonight over the Indians.
New York got a sensational pitching effort from Chien-Ming Wang in yesterday’s 1-0 win over Cleveland, and tonight I expect Mike Mussina to pick up where Wang left off.
Mussina is coming off his best start of the season, a 6-4 win over the White Sox on Wednesday. The right-hander pitched seven innings, allowing just four hits and two runs.
Aaron Laffey will get the start for the Tribe tonight and he’s making his season debut. You have to wonder how he’ll fare against the Yankees lineup, which is still formidable despite some of the injuries they are dealing with.
Take the Yankees as they grab the road win.
Doc's NHL
4* Phil -130