LT Profits
Baltimore Orioles -125
Zach Duke of the Pittsburgh Pirates is finally starting to fulfill his enormous potential, but most of his success has come at home so he may have his hands full when the Bucs visit the Baltimore Orioles tonight.
Yes, Duke has allowed exactly two earned runs in each of his last three starts, but two of those outings came at home and the other came at St. Louis vs. a Cardinals team that he has always had success against. The bottom line is that he is 0-2 with a rather high 4.63 ERA and a poor 1.51 WHIP in six road starts. Moreover, he shouldn’t expect much help from a Pittsburgh bullpen that ranks 21st in the majors with a 4.12 pen ERA, and he is facing a Baltimore lineup that is hitting an excellent .285 vs. left-handed pitchers at home this season and a whopping .317 against them in the last 10 games overall.
Meanwhile, Orioles starter Radhames Liz has pitched well in two starts, albeit in limited innings. Liz allowed exactly two runs in both of his starting efforts while going only five innings in one start and 5.1 frames in the other. Still, a repeat performance should be good enough considering that the Baltimore bullpen ranks eighth in the bigs with a 3.26 ERA.
Finally, the Pirates are not big fans of interleague play as they have gone 15-41 in their last 56 such contests.
Pick: Orioles -125
Oakland Athletics -125
The Oakland Athletics are now 7-1 in the last eight Bay Area Series meetings with the San Francisco Giants after winning again 5-1 last night, and we look for the A’s to continue that dominance tonight with Rich Harden on the hill.
Harden may be injury prone, but he has always been one of the best pitchers in the league when he does make it to the mound. He is 3-0 this season with Oakland going 6-2 as a team when he takes the mound, and he has allowed three runs or less in seven of his eight starts. He is currently working on a streak of five consecutive Quality Starts, and he has also allowed a grand total of two earned runs and four hits in 15.1 career innings vs. the Giants!
Now Matt Cain was considered one of the unluckiest pitchers in the league last season, but while he does have some nice starts this year such his last outing in Washington, he has not been nearly as consistent as last year. Cain is 3-4, and he has seen his ERA rise to 4.43 to go along with a very mediocre 1.41 WHIP. If that isn’t bad enough, his key numbers are actually slightly worse at home, where he has a 4.57 ERA with a 1.48 WHIP.
Not only does Oakland have the better starting pitcher, but they also rank second in the American League and fourth in the Major League with a 2.98 bullpen ERA. That pen held the Giants scoreless in just two hits in four innings last night. Comparatively, the Giants rank 19th in the majors with a 4.10 pen ERA.
Finally, the Giants are just 2-10 in their last 12 home games and we look for those struggles to continue vs. Harden here.
Pick: Athletics -125
Cash & Profit Experts
Today's Complimentary Play
Cincinnati Reds / Boston Red Sox Under 9
JR MILLER
Major League Baseball
Redsox at Reds UNDER 9.0 -115 (Wakefield-Volquez)
RAYS -159 over Marlins (Garza-Hendrickson)
BREWERS -150 over Twins (Suppan-Perkins)
ASTROS +110 over Yankees (Rodriguez-Mussina)
Padres at Indians OVER 9.0 -102 (Baek-Lee)
Ben Burns' #1 June Underdog GOM *7-0 L7!!
SAN FRANCISCO
B!G AL's INTERLEAGUE TOTAL OF THE YEAR!
Yankees/Astros Under
The Experts Guaranteed Selections
ULTIMATE EXPERTS BASEBALL WINNER
Cleveland w/Lee -174
Kelso
10 units Oakland A's
Matt Fargo
Oakland Athletics at San Francisco Giants Jun 14 2008 9:05PM
Prediction: Oakland Athletics
The As are 12-8 over their last 20 games after winning the opener of this series last night over former teammate Barry Zito. The pitching has been the catalyst over this stretch as the staff has allowed three runs or fewer in 13 of those games and allowing an average of only 3.6 rpg in those 20 games. The Giants meanwhile have dropped three of their last four games after putting together a sweep in Washington. San Francisco is actually playing better on the road this season as its 13-20 home record is worst in baseball.
Rich Harden has yet to suffer a loss this season and it is for very good reason. He is pitching great, posting a 2.85 ERA on the season while six of his eight starts have been quality outings. One of the non-quality efforts was simply due to lack of innings as he allowed no runs in five innings against Boston. Harden has a 1.17 ERA and 0.65 WHIP in three career starts against the Giants and he is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in five night starts this season.
Matt Cain pitched a very good game last time out against Washington but that offense is not a very strong one. He had his share of bad luck last season due to poor run production from his offense but this season it is due to poor pitching. He had had his struggles at home, posting a 4.47 ERA but even less impressive is the 1.48 WHIP. Even this season the offense is not giving him much as the Giants have scored four runs or fewer in 12 of his 14 starts on the season and averaging only 3.8 rpg. Play Oakland As 1.5 Units
Larry Ness
New York Yankees @ Houston Astros
PICK: Houston Astros
The Yankees visited Houston for the first-time ever last night and won 2-1 on Jeter's eighth-inning HR. They have now won seven of 10 but at 35-33, are still six games back of the Red Sox and even 4 1/2-games behind those pesky Rays in the AL East. Mike Mussina takes the mound tonight for New York and after a slow start (1-3 with a 5.75 ERA), the veteran has gone 8-1 with a 3.11 ERA of his last 10 starts (Yanks are 8-2). However, despite the Yanks owning MLB's best all-time interleague record, Mussina has not fared well in NL parks as of late, going 1-4 with a 5.95 ERA over his last seven interleague road starts. The Astros are not playing well right now, as last night's loss was the their 12th in their last 15 games. However, with Wandy Rodriguez on the mound at home, the team is always "worth a look." Most will remember that Wandy have a rather interesting '07 season, with the Astros going 5-11 in his road starts last year (6.37 ERA) but 11-4 in his home starts (2.94). It's been more of the same in '08, although he missed over a month while on the DL. Rodriguez has made just seven starts in '08, posting a 4.02 road ERA (three starts) but an 0.72 home ERA (four starts). His most recent home start was to say the least, odd . Last Sunday vs St Louis, he allowed only two hits and no runs through six innings before allowing five unearned runs in the seventh (hit two batters and added a wild pitch!). If the Astros were playing better, I'd make this a bigger play. However, Rodriguez has been so good at home plus after going 5-14 on the road vs lefties last year, the Yanks are 5-6 vs them this year away from Yankee Stadium (averaging a measly 3.7 RPG). Given all that, the Astros are worth a shot with lefty Wandy Rodriguez on the mound.
Stephen Nover
Colorado Rockies @ Chicago White Sox
PICK: Over
Whenever Colorado's Jorge De La Rosa takes the mound two things immediately come to mind - fading the Rockies and playing the 'over.'
In this case, I don't care to lay such a high price on Chicago even though the White Sox are playing well and the Rockies aren't. But I will go 'over' the total.
De La Rosa may be the worst pitcher in baseball. He has an 8.13 ERA. The White Sox are familiar with De La Rosa having faced him when he was toiling for Kansas City.
Chicago is on a hitting tear at home. The White Sox have scored 66 runs in their last eight home games, an average of 8.2 runs per contest. The 'over' is 6-1-1 in these games. During the summer, when the weather heats up like it is now in Chicago, U.S. Cellular Field becomes a very good hitter's park.
The Rockies' offense is picking up with the return of star outfielder Matt Holliday. Rookie Ian Stewart is providing pop from the middle infield that has lacked power all season.
White Sox starter John Danks is decent, but not outstanding. He has a 5.31 ERA in four starts versus National League clubs.
"Cowboy" Joe West is slated to be the home plate umpire. The 'over' has cashed nine of 13 times this season when West has been behind the plate.
Frank Rosenthal
954 JAYS-165
958 REDS-140
959 FISH OVER 9 -120
961 ROCKIES+170
968 ASTROS+110
971 RANGERS OVER 9 -120
973 KC+160
976 ANGELS-170
980 SEATTLE-195
Terron Chapman
Philadelphia Phillies vs. St Louis Cardinals
Play: St Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals were on the wrong end of 20-2 drubbing last night at the hands of the Phillies. Even though we backed the Phillies, we never would have thought that Todd Wellemeyer, the NL pither of the month in May would be tagged for 8 earned runs including three straight home runs in only 3 1/3 innings pitched.
With that said we'll play against the Phillies this afternoon after an offensive performance like that. It will be hard for the Phillies to match that performance this afternoon and we can expect the Cardinals to be motivated to bounce back after being embarassed in front of their home fans. We can also hold our hat on the fact that in game 2 after a loss this season the Cardinals are a sparkling 11-0.
Kyle Lohse will toe the rubber for the Cardinals against a familiar foe. Lohse spent some time last season with the Phillies before signing as a free agent with the Cardinals in the offseason. The Cardinals are glad he did as Lohse has been solid all season comprising a record of 7-2 with a 2.65 ERA. He held the Phillies to six hits and no earned runs in a 2-1 win while he was with Cincy last year. Lohse is 0-1 with a 1.40 ERA in three career starts against the Phillies.
Adam Eaton gets the call for the Phillies. Eaton is 0-2 on the road this season with a 5.26 ERA. The Phillies are only 2-5 in Eaton's start away from home. Eaton is 1-4 with a 6.82 ERA in seven career starts against the Cardinals. The Cardinals are 4-0 in Lohse's last 4 starts as a pup. The Cardinals are in prime position for a bounce back game. Play on the St. Louis Cardinals for 1 unit.
Mike Anthony
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Baltimore Orioles
Play: Pittsburgh Pirates
I loved the Orioles last night, but tonight is a different story. Last night we had a clear pitching advantage. I also told you how well the Orioles hit at home, this is a team that was on the road so long that they almost forgot what home looked like. Zach Duke is a guy on the hand that I have always loved who does well for me. He goes out there and knows how to throw. Just picture a Tom Glavine with more velocity. Zach’s ERA has been going down for a month now. His ERA sits at 4.10 but it was over 5. He is also 2-1 in his last three starts which is a good sign. The Pirates can hit, just look at last night’s box score. When they get a well-pitched game they normally win, even if it is on the road.
Winners Inc. Guaranteed Selections
5000* BASEBALL WINNER
Toronto w/Halladay -168
Computer Crushers Guaranteed Selections
5000 UNIT BASEBALL CRUSHER WINNER
Arizona w/Johnson -166