William Kidd Guaranteed Selections
QUADRUPLE BASEBALL WINNER
Texas w/Gabbard -131
Winners Inc. Guaranteed Selections
TOP RATED BASEBALL WINNER
NY YANKEES w/Wang -150
The Fat Jack
Boston -8
The Boston Game To Go Over The Total Of 174
Ross Benjamin
San Diego (Wolf) @ Seattle (Bedard)
Play On: Seattle
In spite of not getting good results the Mariners are hitting a sizzling .333 at home versus left-handed pitching this season. Contrarily the Padres have hit an ice cold .212 as a team versus left-handed pitching this season. The Padres are a pathetic 2-10 versus a left-handed starting pitcher this season. San Diego has struggled mightily on the road in 2008 losing 17 of 24 in that role. The Seattle starter Bedard enters the game in good form off his last 4 starts and in 3 home starts this season has posted a brilliant 1.45 ERA. The San Diego starter Wolfe enters the game in horrible form off of his last 4 starts posting a 2.05 WHIP and a 8.55 ERA all resulting in San Diego losses. Wolf is 1-4 in his team starts on the road this season with a lofty 6.35 ERA.
Play on the Seattle Mariners
Tony Mathews
Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers
Selection: Texas Rangers -135
Explanation: We will side with the Texas Rangers as they face-off against the Houston Astros in Sunday's MLB contest.
The Houston Astros will use starting pitcher Brandon Backe. Brandon Backe has struggled this season. In fact, Brandon Backe has a 4.62 ERA on the season. We see Brandon Backe having another bad game today.
The Texas Rangers will use starting pitcher Kason Gabbard. Kason Gabbard has pitched well this season. In fact, Kason Gabbard.has a 2.12 ERA on the season. In addition, Kason Gabbard has a 1.64 ERA in his last 3 starts. We see Kason Gabbard pitching another great game today.
The Texas Rangers are 3-8 in their last 11 meetings against the Houston Astros (when playing in Texas), and we expect them to get another win today.
Take the Texas Rangers
Matt Fargo
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Play: Toronto Blue Jays
I was on Toronto yesterday and there is no reason to jump off today especially when the pitching edge is even greater. Toronto took Game Two of this series last night behind a solid effort from A.J. Burnett. The Blue Jays have now won five of their last six games and the offense got things going again last night as predicted. Toronto has averaged just three rpg over its last 10 games but has scored five or more in three of its last five. Even better, the pitching has been outstanding.
The loss last night dropped the Phillies to 7-7 over their last 14 games and they remain inconsistent. The offense was held in check after the bats produced 6.5 rpg in their previous four games and the Phillies are now hitting just .249 over their last 10 games. This includes a .232 average against right-handed pitching. The bullpen is one of the best in baseball but the Phillies are getting an ERA of just 4.72 from their starters including a rugged 5.74 ERA over their last 10 games.
Arguably one of the best surprises in baseball has been the performance of Shawn Marcum. He has a 2.22 ERA and 0.81 WHIP on the season while seven of his eight starts have been quality efforts. He is not going to overpower anyone so the fact that he has gone over 100 pitches in his last seven starts mean little. Toronto has won all three of his road starts where he has a 1.66 ERA and Toronto is 8-0 against the money line as a road underdog of +100 to +150 over the last two seasons with Marcum on the hill.
Kyle Kendrick has been doing some good things as well as he has put together four straight quality starts, allowing exactly three runs in each. While they have been quality, they have not exactly been dominating performances and his last one was pretty shaky as he walked a season high four batters. Overall, he has a 1.60 WHIP on the season including 1.61 over his last three starts so he is putting runners on. His luck runs out here as Toronto keep the bats rolling along. Play Toronto Blue Jays 1.5 Units
HotLocksports
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels
The Angels are 17-5 L 22 Interleague games while the Dogers are 11-30 L 41. At home the Angels are 11-2 in Interleague. Both Pitchers were rocked the last time out with Lowe demonstrating the least control with his 1.78 WHIP. The Home team is 5-1 in Davis's L 6 games behind home plate. The Dodgers grabbed a win last night and this series is even now 1-1. The starters are even in our opinion so we give the nod to the Angels in some key areas, Power, Defense and depth! Angels today for 3 units!
John Fina
Selection: Detroit/Arizona Over 10
Today we expect a high-scoring game as the Detroit Tigers do battle with the Arizona Diamondbacks. One reason why we expect a high-scoring game is because both these teams will be sending to the mound starting pitchers who have struggled as of late. This says it all... The Detroit Tigers Starting Pitcher (Nate Robertson) has a 4.74 ERA in his last 3 starts, while Arizona Diamondbacks Starting Pitcher (Randy Johnson) has a 8.40 ERA in his last 3 starts. As you can see, both these pitchers have struggled as of late. We expect to see another high-scoring game today!
Take the Detroit Tigers/Arizona Diamondbacks Over 10
THE POWER INDEX
NBA
Boston* 8 over Cleveland
NHL
Pittsburgh* (-159) .5 over Philadelphia (+159)
DCI
NBA
Eastern Conference Semifinals
Game 7, best-of-7
BOSTON 95, Cleveland 87
NHL
Western Conference Finals
Game 5, best-of-7
DETROIT 3, Dallas 2
Sports Gambling Hotline
We have to believe that this Cleveland-Boston Game Seven is going to be played at a snail's pace, and the points are going to be hard to come by once again.
Friday night's game featured a combined 143-points, as the team's played nearly 40-points UNDER the linesmaker's projection!
Hard to make a case for the OVER in this one, as 4 of the 6 meetings in this series have played LOW.
Cleveland comes into this one on a 13-5 UNDER run their last 18 games, while Boston has played below the posted price in 8 of their last 11 games at home.
With all of the numbers pointing towards a defensive stale-mate, look for the Cavaliers and the Celtics to have a hard time getting open looks, and look for this game to play UNDER the posted total.
Play on the LOW.
3* UNDER
Bobby Maxwell
We're out west with the Angles to get the best of their crosstown rival Dodgers in Anaheim.
These two teams have split the first two games of this series and Saturday's win by the Dodgers snapped a six-game losing streak to the crosstown rival Angels. Don't look for the Dodgers to make it two in a row as the Angels send Jered Weaver (2-5, 4.86 ERA) to the hill to face Derek Lowe (2-3, 4.62).
The Dodgers are just 3-6 in their last nine games and 1-4 on Sundays, 2-5 against right-handed starters and 2-5 against teams with a winning record. On the flip side, the Angels are 5-3 in their last eight at home and 15-7 in Weaver's last 22 home outings.
Weaver went out and dominated the White Sox on Tuesday, allowing just one hit and two walks over seven scoreless innings, winning 2-0. Weaver improved to 1-2 at home with a 2.00 ERA in four home outings this season.
Weaver crushed the Dodgers twice last season, allowing two runs on nine hits in 12 innings of a 6-2 win at home and a 3-0 win at Dodger Stadium.
On the opposite side, Derek Lowe (2-3, 4.62) is 0-2 with an 8.27 ERA in his last three starts and he is 0-2 with a 5.47 ERA in his last five on the road. This guy is struggling and the Angels will expose it today.
Go ahead and lay the relatively small chalk and play the Angels in this one.
3* L.A. ANGELS
TONY WESTON
After getting easy wins over the Astros on Friday and Saturday the Rangers will make it three in a row behind their best pitcher Kason Gabbard. Gabbard is quietly putting together a strong season with a 2.12 ERA. Despite the Rangers being 5-1 in his six starts this year, Gabbard is only 1-0 with a lot of no decisions.
In fact, after picking up a win in his first start of the year, Gabbard has five straight no decisions. However, in that five-game stretch he?s only given up seven total earned runs in 22 2/3 innings of work.
The Rangers come into this game absolutely red hot after a stretch where they went 2-12. Since that stretch, from April 11 to April 24, the Rangers are 15-6, including a 9-2 mark their last 11 games.
Texas will continue its hot streak behind Gabbard.
Take Gabbard and take the Rangers at home.
3* RANGERS
JAKE TIMLIN
Indians & Reds Under.
Thanks to pitching look Under in Cincinnati today. Yep thanks to Lee and Volquez who combine for an ERA of 1.79 for the year the Under looks like a solid play here today. Especially when you factor that Cleveland?s offense is in a major slump batting just .218 over their last 10 games that has resulted in 9 of their last 10 games to stay low. Now factor in that for Lee 6 of this 7 starts this year have stayed low while 2 of the last 3 for Volquez have gone Under as well and there is not expectations for many runs today. Bottom line thanks to a pair of solid starters and one bad offense look for a low scoring game in Cincinnati.
MATT RIVERS
For Sunday let's take a stab with a rare total and an under at the Great American Ballpark.
I am not stupid and do realize that going under this low number is asking a lot no matter who is pitching but the way Cliff Lee and Edinson Volquez have been all season long just makes me believe that we are going to see goosegg after goosegg and a total pitchers' dual.
Lee has finally reached that stud potential after an underachieving and terrible 2007 and has been by far the best pitcher in the game. The lefty has been lights out in every single start and has an ERA as miniscule as any I have ever seen. Besides allowing three runs in one six inning quality outing this guy has given up pretty much literally nothing at all. I also have no issues ever with a southpaw against this Cincinnati squad led by powerful lefties in Griffey and Dunn.
Meanwhile Volquez has proven to be a total gem himself. The former Ranger has come over and done nothing but hurl unreal outing after unreal outing. The righty never allows more than one run and should be fine once again today on his comfortable mound.
Going low on a total at around 7 1/2 is a lot to ask in a hitters' ballpark but the pitchers' will hit as this is a National League field and until either of these hurlers allow anything this season the under is the only way to go today. If it is 1-1 or 2-2 in the 8th inning and the bullpens blow up to kill us so be it but both starters will dominate and therefore I'm all for the low.
Honestly, if this total was 4 1/2 I couldn't play the over as either of these pitchers, if not both, could throw a complete game shutout today