Sports Gambling Hotline
With the Denver Nuggets trying to keep their grip on the 8th slot in the Western Conference, we have to lay the road wood tonight as Denver takes on a Seattle team that has been gassed for a few weeks now.
Seattle has lost their last 6 games, and they have also dropped 16 of their last 17 straight up. The points haven't really helped much either, as the Sonics are just 5-9-2 against the spread their last 16 games, and have failed their last 3 - losing by double-digits in all 3!
This is the start of a crucial 4-game road trip that will feature stops in Golden State and Utah before Denver comes back home to close the regular season out, so the Nuggets better take advantage of this stop against one of the west's door-mats.
The Nuggets have won and covered all 3 series meetings this year, and they have won 6 of the last 7 meetings both straight up, and against the spread dating back to last year.
Lay the wood as Denver rolls.
Play on the Nuggets.
4* DENVER
Karl Garrett
Huge showdown in the Big Easy tonight as Golden State takes on New Orleans.
Both teams had Saturday idle, so fatigue should be no factor in this one. The G-Man is going to ride the host Hornets minus a few points, as it is about time the home team stepped up in this rivalry.
Thus far, the visitor has been the outright winner the last 3 times these teams have played, and overall the Warriors are a solid 4-1 both straight up, and against the spread the last 5 times these teams have met.
There is a chance this could be a first-round matchup, so I would think New Orleans would want to establish the fact that they can indeed handle Golden State's gig.
The Hornets come in having won 4 in a row, and 9 of their last 10 straight up, while going 5-0-1 against the spread in that span when laying single digits.
The Warriors have been a poor dog play recently, failing their last pair, and 3 of their last 4 in the underdog role.
Have to lay the home wood with New Orleans to flex their muscles here.
4* NEW ORLEANS
Joel Tyson
No problem laying the run and a half here today as the Padres welcome in the Dodgers.
The Dodgers have yet to find substantial offensive output, and today they must face possibly the most dominating pitcher in baseball.
San Diego will call upon 6 foot 10 inch Chris Young, who led the major leagues both of the last two years in opponent batting average. Young is currently 1-0 this year, and has already flashed a sign that his dominance will continue carrying a 1.59 ERA thus far. In 2006 Young allowed batters just a .206 batting average, and then followed this up in 2007 allowing hitters to hit just .194 against him. In San Diego last year the tall pitcher held a major league low 1.69 ERA in 13 starts.
Not only are the Dodger hitters struggling heading into today's match up, but starting pitcher Derek Low has had little success versus the Padres. Lowe has started seven times at Petco Park, and has yet to come out victorious. Lowe struggled on the road last year overall, as he went just 6-8, while posting a 4.19 ERA, in 18 starts on the highway.
Play the Padres to win and cover the run line today.
3* PADRES
Jeff Benton
For Sunday, we’ll return to the diamond and take another big underdog, backing the White Sox at Detroit in Sunday Night Baseball.
To say the Tigers (0-5) have gotten off to a disappointing start is an understatement. When their owner opened his pocketbook over the winter to lure Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins, the Tigers were immediately thought of as a legitimate World Series contender. And Detroit might still be – obviously, it’s very early in the season. But with the way they’re playing right now – and subsequently pressing, particularly on offense – and with their bullpen still a huge question mark, there’s no way the Tigers can be laying this kind of price, especially against a veteran pitcher like Chicago’s Mark Buehrle, who has had a lot of success at Comerica Park in recent years, posting a 3.38 ERA in his last six outings in Motown. That includes two outings last year when he gave up a total of four runs and 14 hits in 15 innings (2.40 ERA).
As for Tigers ace Justin Verlander, obviously, he’s a stud with no-hit stuff. However, he’s really struggled in his career against the White Sox, going 1-4 with a 5.96 ERA in eight starts, with Detroit losing six of those eight outings. The hard-throwing strikeout pitcher has proven to be very hittable against the White Sox, who have racked up 49 hits and whiffed just 30 times in 45 1/3 innings against Verlander. Throw in the fact that Verlander gave up four runs in six innings in his debut Monday, with Detroit losing 5-4 to the Royals at home, and I’ll take the plus money with Dye, Konerko, Thome, Swisher and the frightening White Sox lineup.
(Based on a 1* to 10* rating system)
4* CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Matt Rivers
For Sunday lay the number with Ben Sheets and the Brewers.
I really have no idea how Barry Zito has regressed to where he has but the lefty is at the very best a mere shell of his former self and the San Francisco Giants are a horrific overall club right now. The Southpaw does not have much at all in the tanka nd will not fool anybody today.
The G-Men are probably the least talented team in all of baseball and they are on the road here against a bona fide stud in Sheets and a Brew Crew team that should win at least 85 games this season and compete for the NL Central crown with the Cubs.
Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, JJ Hardy, Bill Hall, Ricky Weeks and the rest of Ned Yost's squad learned a ton from folding down the stretch last season and now, not only have the talent to win ballgames, but also have the experience of failing and picking themselves up.
Sheets, when healthy, is as good as they come and showed that in the opener in Wrigley. The former Olympian is nasty and there is no reason to believe that the extremely weak hitting Giants should be able to get a hit, no less a run today.
Even if Zito shows a little flash from the past it will not be enough as Milwaukee at Miller Park will plate some runs and I really am not so sure about San Francisco doing anything at all with the sticks against Sheets!
Milwaukee Brewers
Tony Weston
Now we turn to the American League where the Red Sox hook up with the Blue Jays in Toronto.
This should be a stellar pitching matchup as the Red Sox Josh Beckett
returns from the disabled list and jumps into the thick of things, facing
the Blue Jays and ace Roy Halladay.
Beckett went 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA last season and was untouchable in the
postseason, going 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA to help the Red Sox win their second
World Series in four seasons. And now he's called on to help Boston avoid a
sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays. Toronto blew out the Sox 10-2 on
Saturday and have outscored them 16-5 in the first two games.
Halladay was good and not great in the season opener in New York on Tuesday,
giving up three runs on seven hits in seven innings and got saddled with the
3-2 loss. And while he was dominant in Toronto, the Red Sox won both times
they faced him north of the border, 5-3 and 8-0. In fact, the Blue Jays are
just 1-5 in Halladay's last six against the BoSox.
With the way the Red Sox have gotten to Halladay and the way they have lost
the first two games of this series, look for Boston's offense to come out
focused in this one. Not many teams are going to sweep the Red Sox and I
don't see it happening in this one.
Go with the Sox on this one.
3* RED SOX (1* to 5* Scale)
Jake Timlin
Lower then expect price today at Camden I say back the Mariners. For Seattle today was suppose to be a home coming game for Bedard, but do to an injury the Mariners now will counter with Hernandez who lets face it is just as good and thanks to facing Baltimore’s Guthrie who was bombed in this first start of the year allowing 6 runs & 9 hits in 5 1/3 innings. Well look for the Orioles righty to get roughed up today as the Mariners who are off to a slow start at the plate will wake up today. Flat out the Orioles are not as good as their early record and now facing good pitching their weakness will show. Take the Mariners behind Bedard for the road win.
Big Al
At 7:05pm ET our selection is on the Seattle Mariners over the Baltimore Orioles. When the Orioles shipped their southpaw ace Erik Bedard to the Mariners in the off-season, coupled with the departure of Johan Santana from the Twins to the Mets, Seattle now finds themselves with the best lefthanded starter in the American League. Bedard could be the upgrade that finally puts this promising Seattle squad over the top and gets them an AL West Pennant. Bedard's departure also means that young Adam Loewen will now have to carry the load as Baltimore's #1 southpaw starter so perhaps it is appropriate that his first start of the 2008 season is against Bedard's Mariner team, even if it's not against Bedard himself who will get the call on Sunday. Unfortunately, although he has loads of talent, Loewen seems woefully unprepared and experienced to lead this under-powered offense against a stacked Mariners squad as he was limited to only six games and just over thirty innings in 2007 and had a very rough time in spring training. Seattle will counter in this game with veteran righthander Miguel Batista who may be a #5 starter this year due to the arrival of Bedard and Carlos Silva (from Minnesota), but was the Mariners' wins leader in 2007 with sixteen. And the versatile Batista can fill in as a closer for the injured JJ Putz as well, and in fact he did just that last Wednesday and picked up the save against the Rangers in that game. Seattle dominated the O's in 2007, taking seven of nine games overall and four of the six games played at Camden Yards.
Seattle Mariners
Armvin Sports
MLB
Houston Astros 178
NHL
New Jersey -130
Cappers Access
Brewers -1- (RL)
Blue Jays
Astros
Harris Sports
San Francisco Giants
WildBill
Detroit Tigers
Jeff Scott Sports
Seattle Mariners Under 8.5 3
USA Sports Consulting
San Francisco Giants
Insiders Sports Report
Tampa Bay/N.Y. Yankees (MLB) UNDER 9.5
TOTALS 4U
DENVER/SEATTLE UNDER 231
HUDDLE UP SPORTS
Phoenix -5'
RAZOR SHARP SPORTS
HOUSTON/LA CLIPPERS OVER 185
TV HOTLINE
COLORADO -155
BIG TIME SPORTS
CHISOX /TIGERS UNDER 9
#1 SPORTS
DENVER NUGGETS - 12
VEGAS STEAMLINE
Milwaukee/Indiana UNDER 217
MIKE WYNN
Boston w/Beckett Pk
DARK HORSE SPORTS
MLB - Florida +130
Platinum Plays
HORNETS - 6
ARTHUR RALPH
Golden State/Phoenix Over
GAMBLERS DATA
Arizona-Colorado Over 9.5
Big Time Sports
Tigers Under
Dark Horse Sports
Marlins
Bob Donahue
Rockies
TV Hotline
Rockies
Glen Mcgrew
Twins
JEFF SCOTT
Houston/ Clippers UNDER 184.5: The Rockets are playing excellent defense right now, allowing just 89.2 ppg over their last 5 games, including just 83.3 ppg over their last 3 games. They now take on a Clippers team that is putting up just 94.1 ppg overall and 93.1 ppg at home. The Rockets have had their own problems scoring lately, as they are averaging just 91.4 ppg over their last 5. The Under is 6-1 in Rockets last 7 games as a road favorite, while the Under is 20-7-1 in Clippers last 28 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600. This game should have little problems falling below the number.
WILD BILL
Tigers -170 (5 units)
Indians +130 (2 units)
Phillies -125 (1 unit)
Colorado -145 (1 unit)
Padres -145 (1 unit)
Yankees -175 (5 units)
Over 8 1/2 Royals-Twins (1 unit)
Royals +120 (4 units)
INSIDER SPORTS REPORT
Tampa Bay/N.Y. Yankees UNDER 9.5
Priceless Picks
1 Unit on Houston Rockets -8
The Clippers are awful. We'll lay the points on Houston as the Rockets win easily by double digits. Houston is 17-3 ATS versus poor pressure defensive teams - forcing <=14 turnovers/game - 2nd half of the season this season and 8-0 ATS in road games after game where they allowed a shooting pct. of 35% or less over the last 3 seasons. The Clippers are just 11-25 ATS as a home underdog over the last 2 seasons and 5-17 ATS versus good rebounding teams - outrebounding opponents by 3+ per game over the last 2 seasons. LA has lost 12 of its last 14 games and they'll go down big again tonight. Lay the number.