SPORTS ADVISORS
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia (41-28) at St. Louis (40-29)
One night after scoring 20 runs in a rout of the Cardinals, the Phillies will try to keep their hot bats going when they face St. Louis right-hander Kyle Lohse (7-2, 3.92), who is set to pitch opposite Adam Eaton (2-3, 4.62 ERA) at Busch Stadium.
Philadelphia scored a 20-2 victory in St. Louis on Friday and has won 10 of the last 13 meetings with the Cardinals overall and 10 of the last 12 in Busch Stadium. The Phillies are 5-2 on their current road trip and they’ve won eight of their last 11 overall. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have won six of their last 10, but dropped two in a row.
Eaton is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in his last three starts but on the highway he is 0-2 with a 5.26 ERA. Eaton has held the opposition to three earned runs or less in seven of his last nine outings (including four in a row) and gave up three runs in six innings of a 6-3 win in Atlanta on Sunday.
For his career, Eaton is 1-4 with a 6.82 ERA in seven career starts against the Cardinals. Last season Eaton was destroyed by St. Louis in two starts, giving up a combined 12 runs in 9 1/3 innings in a pair of losses. The Phillies are 2-5 in Eaton’s last seven on the road and 0-5 in his last five on Saturdays, but 7-3 in his last 10 on the road against winning teams and 4-0 in his past four as a favorite.
Lohse is 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA in his last three outings and he’s 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA in Busch Stadium. The Cardinals have won his last five starts, including Sunday’s 5-4 victory at Houston where the right-hander allowed three runs in six innings.
With Cincinnati last season, Lohse beat the Phillies 2-1 when he gave up one unearned run in seven innings but got a no-decision. For his career, he’s 0-1 with a 1.40 ERA in three starts against Philadelphia. The Cardinals are 4-0 when Lohse faces a winning team.
With Eaton on the hill, the under is on streaks of 13-3-1 overall, 5-0 as a favorite, 5-1-1 on the road and 4-1 against an N.L. Central foe. Meanwhile, the under is 5-2-1 in Lohse’s last seven at home.
Although Friday’s game soared over the total, the over for the Phillies is on runs of 10-2 overall, 6-1 on the road, 7-1 as a favorite and 5-2 on the road against right-handed pitching. For St. Louis, the under is 13-6-4 at home against teams with a winning road record, 6-3-1 against teams with a winning record and 8-3-1 as a ‘dog.
Conversely, the over is 6-1 in the last seven meetings overall between these teams.
ATS ADVANTAGE: NONE
INTERLEAGUE
Florida (36-31) at Tampa Bay (39-28)
The Rays try to make it two in a row over the Marlins when they send Matt Garza (4-3, 4.38) to the mound at Tropicana Field to take on Florida southpaw Mark Hendrickson (7-4, 5.76).
Tampa Bay continued its dominating home season with a 7-3 victory over the Marlins on Friday night, improving to 22-5 in its last 27 in front of the home fans. The Rays have now won three in a row in this rivalry, taking the final two last season after dropping the first four. However, even with Friday’s loss, the Marlins are 7-4 in the last 11 series clashes in Tampa Bay and 13-7 in their last 20 matchups overall.
Florida has won just once in their last six road games and just once in their last six interleague games, but the Marlins are 4-0 on Saturdays, 7-3 in interleague road games and 6-2 in the second game of a series. Meanwhile the Rays are on runs of 21-7 as a favorite, 14-3 at home against teams with a winning record, 16-7 as an interleague favorite and 4-1 on Saturdays.
Hendrickson has been crushed in his last three starts, going 0-2 with a 14.25 ERA and he is just 2-2 on the road with a 6.06 ERA. He has not gone past six innings in any of his last nine starts and lasted just 2 1/3 on Monday when he gave up six runs (five earned) on five hits in a 9-4 home loss to the Reds.
As a member of the Blue Jays, Hendrickson faced the Rays five times in 2002 and 2003 and for his career he’s 2-2 with a 4.02 ERA against Tampa Bay. So far this season, the Marlins are 9-4 in his 13 starts.
Garza is 3-0 with a 2.40 ERA at Tropicana Field and the Rays have gone 4-0 in Garza’s last four home starts. On Sunday in Texas, he allowed three runs on six hits in four innings of a 6-3 loss to the Rangers, but last time out at home he held the Rangers to two runs on four hits in eight innings of a 5-3 win.
Garza has never faced the Marlins, but in his lone interleague start this season he got shelled in St. Louis, giving up seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings of a 9-8 loss.
The over is 4-0 in Hendrickson’s last four starts overall and 5-2 when he pitches following a Marlins’ loss. As for Garza, the under is 7-2 in his last nine and 4-0 when he throws at home.
For the Marlins, the over is 12-1-4 in their last 17 road games, 22-7-4 in their last 33 overall, 10-3-3 in their last 16 as an underdog and 7-0-3 in their last 10 interleague games. For the Rays, the under is 20-7-1 in their last 28 at home, 15-5-1 in interleague home games, 28-11-1 at home against winning teams and 13-4-2 in interleague play overall.
Finally, when playing in Tampa Bay, the under is on a 7-1-1 run between these in-state rivals.
ATS ADVANTAGE: TAMPA BAY
Robert Ross
Los Angeles Dodgers at Detroit Tigers
Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers
Penny pitched well is losing his last two. Look for him to get back in the win column here. He is 26-8 against the money line when playing against a team with a losing record over the last 2 seasons while Detroit is 6-14 against the money line vs. terrible power teams - averaging 0.75 or less HR's/game this season. Take Los Angeles!
Scott Spreitzer
Texas Rangers at New York Mets
Prediction: Over
I'm playing the OVER between the Rangers and Mets with Gabbard and Martinez set to do battle. Both of these squads own strong offensive numbers in tonight's situation. The Rangers entered the weekend with a 13-5 mark in road night games against righties, scoring 6.5 runs per game, while the Mets are 7-2 in home night tilts against southpaws, scoring 5 runs per game. New York will catch struggling southpaw Kason Gabbard tonight. Gabbard has been smacked for 15 earned runs and 18 hits, to go along with 15 walks in his last three starts, spanning 12 innings of action! That adds up to a horrible, 11.25 ERA and 2.75 WHIP over his last three starts. Pedro Martinez is also looking for his quality "stuff" after getting knocked around a bit in his two outings since coming back from injury. The Mets have allowed 14 combined runs to anemic San Diego and San Francisco in those two starts, where Martinez owns a 5.73 ERA and 1.82 whip! Look for both lineups to have their way with tonight's starting pitchers, adding up to a play on the Over.
Marc Lawrence
Philadelphia Phillies @ St. Louis
PICK: St. Louis
When the Cardinals send Kyle Lohse to the hill against Adam Eaton and the Phillies in St. Louis this afternoon they'll do so knowing Lohse's 3.24 ERA at home this season is 1.7 RPG better than his 5.04 road ERA.
Conversely, Eaton's 5.26 road ERA is 1.3 RPG higher than his 3.89 home ERA. With the Cards still red-faced off last night's embarrassing effort, look for St. Louis to improve to 11-3 on Saturdays and Philadelphia to dip to 1-6 on Saturdays here today.
We recommend a 1-unit play on St. Louis with Lohse vs. Eaton.
Ross Benjamin
Texas (Gabbard) @ Mets (Martinez)
Play: Over 9.0
Going into this weekend’s action the Texas Rangers have gone over the total in 12 of their last 14 games. The Rangers are hitting a robust .291 as a team on the season versus right-handed pitching. The Mets are hitting a sizzling .291 as a team at home this season versus left-handed pitching. The Texas starting pitcher Gabbard enters the game in horrendous form off of his last 3 starts posting a 2.75 WHIP, a 11.25 ERA, and walking 6 more than he has struck out. The Mets starter Pedro Martinez is not physically sound and has lost a ton of velocity off of his once feared fastball. In 3 starts this season Martinez has posted a 1.74 WHIP and a lofty 6.91 ERA. Texas has seen just 4 of its last 27 road games go under the total versus a team with a less than .500 win percentage. The Mets have seen just 1 game go under the total in their last 8 versus a left-handed starting pitcher. Play on over the total as my free selection of the day.
Scott Ferrall
HOUSTON +105 over New York Yanks--I think Mussina struggles at Minute Maid Saturday night as the Astors even up their series behind Wandy Rodriguez. ATKE THE OVER 9.5 RUNS
Mets -160 over Rangers--STOP THE PRESS--The Mets win two in a row ! Pedro does the job at Shea and beats Gabbard and those tough Texas bats. Hamilton is a beats ! NY is playing for Willie's ass, but he's still getting fired--unless they sweep the Rangers this weekend--which they might !
ARIZONA -180 over Kansas City--The Big Unit works over the Royals in the desert. Johsnon hasn't been dominant this season, but he'll look good Saturday night against KC (13-24 on road)
Oakland -125 over San Francisco--Harden is just too tough for the light hitting Giants. TAKE THE UNDER 7 RUNS--Cain will make it difficult for the A's and I'm thinking this one will be low scoring ! Harden is 3-0 with a 2.85 ERA and SF is 13-19 at home. The A's move to .500 on the road across the Bay.
Jeff Hochman
Chicago Cubs vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Play: Under
Jason Marquis is coming off his best outing of the season. He gave up three hits over 6 1/3 innings against the Dodgers, striking out two. His "heavy" Sinker was clocked at 93 MPH!
Roy Halladay has been dominant of late, posting a 5-0 record and a 2.72 ERA over his past six appearances. Over that span, he's compiled 34 strikeouts and just two walks over 39 2/3 innings. Halladay is 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA in one career start against the Cubs.
Big stadium and a early Day game after a Night game always favors pitching.
Bobby Maxwell
Philadelphia -110 at ST. LOUIS
Philadelphia came out and spanked the Cardinals 20-2 in St. Louis Friday, continuing their dominance over the Cards at Busch Stadium.
The Phillies have won 10 of the last 13 series meetings with St. Louis and 10 of the last 12 times they've played inside Busch Stadium. Philadelphia is 5-2 on their road trip and they've won eight of their last 11 overall.
The Cardinals have lost two in a row and today they've got Kyle Lohse (7-2, 3.92 ERA) on the mound against the Phillies Adam Eaton (2-3, 4.62).
Eaton has a 2.41 ERA in his last three starts and he's held the opposition to three earned runs or less in seven of his last nine starts. Philadelphia is 7-3 when Eaton goes on the road against a winning team and 4-0 when he takes the mound as a favorite.
Obviously the Phillies' bats are healthy and having no problem scoring runs after the 20-run explosion Friday night. Look for them to keep it up and get to the Cardinals again. Play Philadelphia.
3* PHILADELPHIA
Alex Smart
Chicago Cubs @ Toronto Blue Jays Under 8.0
Former Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays has been over powering of late, posting a 5-0 record along with a stingy 2.72 ERA in his L/6 starts. The work horse ace , will present a challenge to a Cubs batting order that is not used to facing him. If for some reason he falters he will be buoyed by a top notch bullpen that has garnered a tight 3.05 ERA in home games this season. The Chicago Cubs will return fire with Jason Marquis , who after a poor start has rounded into top form, as is evident by winning his L/3 decision, while garnering a stable 3.24 ERA in his L/ 3 overall starts. The righty hurler is backed by a bullpen, that owns a tight 3.01 ERA in road contests this season. Bottom line: With two quality hurlers on the hill and two better than average bullpens backing them, Im predicting tilt that will remain on the low side of the number. Final notes & Key Trends: Blue Jays are 38-18 on the under vs right handed starters this season. Cubs are 15-4 in their L/19 on the under vs AL teams that have a batting average of .265 or less dating back to the late 90s. Play UNDER
Steve Merril
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Baltimore Orioles
Play: Over
My pitcher performance ratings predict a correction for Pittsburgh’s Zach Duke tonight after three straight quality starts as Duke still has a weak 1.52 WHIP (walks + hits per innings pitched) this season with a poor 30-24 strikeout/walk ratio. After a slow start this season, the Orioles offense is now in solid current form and has scored at least 5+ runs in 7 of their past 11 games (5.6 runs per game average), including a 9 run performance last night. While Baltimore’s offense has been strong, their pitching has struggled as the Orioles have allowed at least 5+ runs in each of their past 7 games (6.0 runs per game) with a 6-1 Over record during that span.
Big Al McMordie
Philadelphia Phillies vs. St Louis Cardinals
Play: Under
At 3:55 pm, our complimentary selection is on the St Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies 'under' the total. Last night, the Phillies routed the Cards 20-2 on a season-high 21 hits. It all started in the first inning off of St. Louis righty Todd Wellemeyer, who surrendered home runs to 3 straight Philly batters (Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Pat Burrell). Howard even hit a second home run, and drove in five runs overall, while Carlos Ruiz had four hits and four RBI, as Philly tallied 20 runs for the first time since 1900! The fact that the Phils got to Wellemeyer is a bit surprising since he was the NL Pitcher of the Month for May, but one of the things I often do is play the 'under' after a team burst out offensively for 20 or more hits against the same opponent the previous game. And especially if there are quality pitchers on the hill, as there are this afternoon. Kyle Lohse has won four straight starts with an ERA under 2 runs per game over that stretch, and his mound opponent will be Adam Eaton, who is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA in his last three starts. Take the 'under'.
Ross Benjamin 20* GOY
Oakland @ San Francisco
Play: Oakland -120
The Oakland starter Rich harden is in very good form off of his last 5 starts posting a 2.52 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. In 5 starts at night this season Harden has posted a brilliant 1.93 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. Harden is 11-1 in his last 12 team starts versus a team with a less than .500 winning percentage, 16-5 with his last 21 team starts on the road, and 37-14 with his last 51 team starts overall. His adversary Matt Cain is 2-5 in his home team starts in 2008 with a 4.57 ERA and is 0-2 in his career home team starts versus Oakland with a 5.11 ERA. Cain has allowed 7 home runs at home this season in just 43.1 innings. Cain is a pathetic 5-22 in his last 27 team starts versus a team with a less than .500 winning percentage. The Giants are 0-7 in the last 7 games at home versus a right-handed starting pitcher. Oakland is 5-1 in the last 6 overall versus the Giants and 5-1 the last 6 at San Francisco. Oakland is a solid 11-7 on the road versus a right-handed starting pitcher.
Scott Spreitzer's PERFECT 11-0, 100% IL KNOCKOUT GAME OF THE YEAR!
I'm laying the price with the Reds on Saturday night with Volquez on the bump. Although Edinson Volquez pitched in the American League for a couple of seasons, he never faced the Boston Red Sox. On Saturday, he's catching the defending champs at the perfect time. The Bosox have been a terrible money-burner this season in road games against righthanders. In fact, they're 1-5 when those games are played under the sun, averaging just 2.8 runs per game. At the same time, the Reds are in one of their best spots of 2008. Cincinnati has smoked righthanders for 5.1 runs per game, sporting a 7-3 mark in daytime outings at Great American. Cinci is also a perfect 6-0 in home starts by Volquez, winning by an average score of 6.5-to-2! Boston will counter with Tim Wakefield. The Red Sox are just 2-6 in his road starts this season, including four straight losses, allowing at least six runs on four occasions. Finally, the Reds are a perfect 4-0 against the American League this season and they're 7-0 as a favorite, with Volquez on the bump...a combined 11-0 situation. Add it up and we have a great spot for one side...the Cincinnati Reds. The home team is my IL "Knockout" Game of the Year!
Dave Cokin
CHC Cubs and TOR Blue Jays
Take CHC Cubs
Roy Halladay was pretty solid in 2007, but there was some mild concern that he was showing the first signs of decline as his ERA jumped a half run and he just didn't dominate like he usually does. Those worries now appear to be pretty needless as Halladay is back to his old ways. However, he's facing a very tough lineup today, as even minus Alfonso Soriano, the Cubs have a good attack Jason Marquis is way better in day games (36-19) as opposed to night games (36-45). No argument with Toronto being favored here, but I see value on the Cubs with the number as high as it is. I'll take a shot at the big price and go for the upset.
Jim Feist
KC Royals and ARI D'backs
Take Over
Arizona doesn't always hit on the road, but at home the offense is terrific, averaging 5.5 runs per game. That's not surprising as it's a good hitter's park. Kansas City comes to town and starter Gil Meche has been terrible, a 3-8 record with a 5.25 ERA. Arizona starter Micah Owings has also been struggling, at 0-3 his last 3 starts with a 9.22 ERA. In fact, Arizona is 3-0 over the total his last three starts. Look for plenty of runs in this indoor game, Play the Royals/Diamondbacks over the total!