MICHAEL CANNON
Saturday's Plays...
15 Dime –
CARDINALS (With Wainwright as listed pitcher)
Take the Cardinals for the road win tonight over the Astros.
Adam Wainwright will start for St. Louis and he’s been the team’s horse this year. The right-hander is 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA on the season, but he’s owned the Astros in his career.
Wainwright is 4-0 with a 1.95 ERA in five lifetime starts against Houston, including 2-0 against them this season.
Considering how bad the Astros were struggling at the plate prior to last night’s win, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think Wainwright is going to put the cuffs on them tonight.
Houston’s 6-1 victory last night marked the first time in nine games the Astros scored more than three runs.
Take the Cardinals as they grab the road win.
5 Dime –
A’s (With Garland and Smith as listed pitchers)
Take the A’s for the home win tonight over the Angels.
I gave my clients the Angels as my best bet last night, but tonight I’m switching sides and picking the A’s.
The main reason is Angels’ starter Jon Garland, who has been terrible against Oakland in his career. The right-hander is 3-9 with a 5.01 ERA lifetime against the A’s, including a 0-5 mark with a 5.36 ERA in his last seven starts against them.
Rookie Greg Smith will start for the A’s and he’s been solid at home, with a 2-1 record and a 2.27 ERA.
Take the A’s as they grab the home win
ROCKETMAN
Cleveland @ Detroit
Play On: 1* Cleveland
A battle of a couple of underachieving teams this year. Detroit is 9-22 this year when the total is 9 to 9 1/2. Detroit is 5-18 against division opponents this year. Detroit is 5-17 in day games this year. Tigers have lost 4 in a row coming in. Laffey has a 3.02 ERA overall this year. Rogers has a 6.10 ERA at home this year. Looks like Ivan Rodriguez probably won't start today. We'll recommend a small play on Cleveland today!
Aj Apollo
MLB 3* LA Dodgers (Lowe vs Zambrano)
MLB 3* Pittsburgh Pirates ( Gorzelanny vs. Haren)
Fairway Jay
MLB 3* Indians/Tigers over 10
MLB 4* Twins/White Sox over 9
MLB 3* White Sox -1.5 runline
Youngstown Connection
Portugal -1 +145 over Turkey
Keith Martin
Chicago Cubs (M: -123.0)
Boston Red Sox -1.5 (M: 110.0)
New York Mets (M: -113.0)
PlusLineSports Daily Baseball Pick
Chicago Cubs -1.5
BIG AL's NL TOTALS WINNER (7-2 L9; 14-6 L20).
At 7:05pm our selection is on the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros 'under' the total. As most of the eyes of the sporting world will be watching a 4-legged athlete named Big Brown try to be the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years, it is perhaps a reminder that there is another type of Triple Crown - that of the baseball variety - that hasn't been conquered in 40 years. Unlike the horse racing triple crown this one will be played out over the next four months and one of the main characters in this drama is Houston's first baseman Lance Berkman. Berkman is currently second in NL batting average (behind Chipper Jones), second in RBI (behind Chase Utley) and third in home runs, so it will be interesting to see if he can make a run at this coveted title the rest of the way. The problem for Berkman is going to be that the Astros don't have nearly the offense that they've had in years past when they had guys like Bagwell and Biggio, so he really doesn't have much protection around him in the lineup. Tonight's pitching matchup features two righthanders in Adam Wainwright and Shawn Chacon who seem to perform at their best against their opponent tonight. Wainwright has never lost to the Astros (in five starts) and Chacon has only lost once to the Cards (in six starts), and I look for a low-scoring contest here, as Houston has gone 'under' 8 of its last 9, and 38 of 61 (with one push) this season. Take the 'under'.
Dr Baseball Guaranteed Selections
GRAND SLAM BASEBALL ANNIHILATOR
Chicago White Sox w/Buehrle -160
The Hammer Guaranteed Selections
PRIVATE INVESTORS CLUB BASEBALL WINNER
NY Mets w/Perez -110
Bob Akmens
MLB 4* Boston Red Sox (Wakefield vs Batista)
MLB 4* Florida Marlins (Olsen vs Arroyo)
MLB 4* Phillies/Braves over 10
AFL 3* Dallas Desperados -3.5
Wizard of Odds Guaranteed Selections
TOP RATED BASEBALL SURE THING OF THE DAY
Philadelphia w/Kendrick +100
Jack Burnet
Three MLB 2000 Dime Locks
Cleveland Indians
Tampa Bay Rays
San Diego Padres
Aaron Laffey saw his ERA go up almost a run and a half after a dreadful performance last time out. He'll look to bounce back off a game where he allowed eight runs and 11 hits in five innings of a 13-9 win at Texas on Monday. He had given up a total of two home runs over his previous 89 big-league innings, and had never allowed more than five runs or eight hits in any outing. Laffey had posted a 0.79 ERA in five starts in May. Kenny Rogers, meanwhile, has a 5.12 ERA in 57 career appearances against the Tribe and will get blown out tonight.
Andy Sonnastine needs to get back to his dominant ways after hitting a bit of a rut over the past two weeks. Before his last two debacles, he was 5-0 with a 2.98 ERA in his previous six outings. Scott Feldman, the converted reliever, will go for Texas, and is 1-2 with a 4.56 ERA on the year. He is looking for his first win since May 9 in his first start against Tampa. Rangers' pitching is last in baseball with a 5.10 ERA and has an 8.67 ERA in its last six games. Wow. The bullpen fails again as the Rays come back to win this one.
Oliver Perez can look like a Cy Young award winner, or the worst pitcher in all of baseball. He did the latter Monday night, allowing six runs in two thirds of an inning before getting the hook. He is 0-1 with an 11.91 ERA, nine strikeouts, 14 walks and six homers allowed in 11 1/3 innings over his last three starts. He also hasn't fared well in four starts against his former team, San Diego, going 1-3 with a 6.61 ERA. He'll get shelled tonight.
Ross Benjamin
Cincinnati (Arroyo) @ Florida (Olsen)
Play On: Over 9.0 (10*)
The Marlins are now 12-0-2 over the total in their last 14 games overall. Their starting pitching continues to be shaky and their bullpen that once was their strong point is now wearing down from being overworked. The Florida starting pitcher Scott Olsen has made his mark as a power pitcher in his young career but has had trouble reaching 90 miles per hour in his last 3 starts. By all accounts in the South Florida media outlets Olsen is suffering from dead arm syndrome. In those last 3 starts Olsen has posted a 1.74 WHIP, a whopping 7.53 ERA, and what is most alarming is he has given up 6 home runs in just 14.1 innings. Bronson Arroyo has not fared well in his 7 road starts posting a 1.75 WHIP and 5.75 ERA. Arroyo has allowed 11 home runs this season in just 69.0 innings. These 2 teams have gone over the total in 9 of their last 11 meetings. The Reds are 22-8-2 over the total in their last 32 versus a left-handed starting pitcher. Play on the over as my MLB 10* Total of the Night.
Mike Rose
MLB 3* Rays/Rangers over 10.5
AFL 2* Georgia Force/Columbus Destroyers over 106.5
AFL 3* Chicago Rush -4.5
AFL 2* New Orleans Voodoo/Ny Dragons under 103.5