Drew Gordon
Colorado -130 at CINCINNATI
I know early on there were plenty of reasons to fade the Rockies Ubaldo Jimenez, especially on the road. But that time has come and gone, as the young righty has clearly turned a corner, going 5-3 with a 2.28 ERA over his last 9 starts! That stretch includes rock-solid efforts in his last two starts on the highway, allowing 3 runs over his last 13 innings away, striking out 15 in the process!
Moreover, while the Reds Josh Fogg did get the win in his last start, I'm not nearly convinced. He's been far too inconsisent for my liking, and his career numbers against his former team hardly inspire confidence, going 3-2 with an average 4.54 ERA in 6 starts against his former team. That leads me to my final point, Fogg is catching this Rockies offense at precisely the wrong time.
We knew eventually the Rockies bats would come alive, and its safe to say their offense is very much alive right now, batting .373 and averaging 7.2 runs per game over their last 9! They're absolutely crushing right-handed pitching, batting a blistering .354 against them over their last 10, which should send up a red flag for any and all Reds-backers! Reds meanwhile are batting just .239 at home against righties, averaging 4.2 runs in that spot.
Bottom line, its time to give the Rockies Jimenez his due, as he's been nothing short of excellent over the last month and a half. Couple that with the Rockies recent surge at the plate, and you've got a deadly/winning combo in this afternoon's match up with Cincinnati. Rockies roll!
Take Colorado behind Jimenez over Cincinnati and Fogg in afternoon MLB action.
2♦ COLORADO
Michael Cannon
San Diego -125 at PITTSBURGH
Take the Padres as the road chalk this afternoon over the Pirates.
This should be a good pitching matchup with Jake Peavy starting opposite Paul Maholm.
But I like the Padres to get it done behind Peavy, who is 4-0 with a 1.30 ERA in his last five starts against the Pirates.
Maholm has been good for Pittsburgh as well, but with the Bucs shipping Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Yankees you have to wonder about their collective mindset right now. Is this going to be the start of the fire-sale, who's going to be dealt next, etc.?
Take the Padres as they grab the road win.
3♦ SAN DIEGO
Chris Jordan
Anaheim -140 at BALTIMORE
Never a big fan of taking a team from the West Coast, visiting a team on the East Coast. It’s simply a tough chore every time around. But these Halos are as good as it gets, having won four straight and nine of 10. Anaheim owns the best record in the majors and has widened its AL West-margin to a whopping 10-1/2 games over Texas.
On top of that, we’re going to side against an Orioles team that has lost a season-high six straight after yesterday’s setback to the Angels, and 15 consecutive Sunday losses. Makes for an easy outing for Ervin Santana, who has been stellar on the highway en route to his 11-4 mark this season. The right-hander is 8-1 with a 3.44 ERA in 12 road starts this season, going 4-0 in six outings since losing at Toronto on May 22.
Anaheim is an easy play here boys, and we’ll go ahead an list Garrett Olson as well, as the left-hander is 1-4 with an 8.62 ERA in his last eight games.
3♦ ANGELS
LT Profits
Cleveland Indians -105
The Cleveland Indians have been a major disappointment, but a win over the Minnesota Twins today would move them to nine games behind the Twins in the loss column, at least showing that the Tribe have a pulse.
Besides, this is cheap price for the Indians at home. Sure, Nick Blackburn has had some nice moments for the Twins, but the bottom line is that he is only 2-4 with a 4.83 ERA on the road, so this line appears to give him too much respect. Also, there has been virtually no difference in these offenses the last 10 games, with Cleveland hitting .283 as a team in the last 10 games and Minnesota batting .282 over this same span.
Now Jeremy Sowers has been one of the worst pitchers in the majors this season, and he is probably the primary reason this line is close to a pick. However, he has looked a bit better in his last two starts and he also does have Quality Stats in each of his last two appearances vs. the Twins.
Besides, Minnesota is just 22-28 on the road, so we will stay home with the Indians at this price.
Pick: Indians -105
Texas Rangers +110
After stumbling out of the All-Star break, the Texas Rangers have exploded for 31 runs in the last 10 games and we look for that onslaught to continue as small underdogs today vs. the Oakland Athletics.
Dana Eveland has been a pleasant surprise for the Athletics, but it appears that his bubble has burst and he is regressing to his normal mediocre level. Eveland has gone four straight outings without recording a Quality Start, and he has a 5.17 ERA and a disgusting 2.17 WHIP over his last three starts. The hot-hitting Rangers are probably the last team he wants to face right now.
Eric Hurley has shown promise in his brief stint in the majors this year, allowing two runs or less in his last three starts. It certainly helps that he is making his return to the bigs vs. a weak-hitting Oakland lineup that is batting a woeful .219 as a team over the last 10 games. The fact that the Athletics have never faced him before is an added plus.
We will take the superior offensive club as an underdog in this matchup of young hurlers.
Pick: Rangers +110
Larry Ness
Houston Astros @ Milwaukee Brewers
PICK: Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers, not noted as a good road team, returned from the All Star break to go 7-0 on a road trip (team's 14-5 mark on the road since June 11 is a ML-best!) but then returned home to Miller Park on Friday, only to lose to the "sad-sack" Astros, 3-1. The Brewers were in danger of dropping a second straight game to Houston last night but rallied from a 4-2 deficit with two runs in both the 7th and 8th innings, for a 6-4 win. Milwaukee's now won EIGHT of nine since the break and moved into a first-place tie with the Cubs in the NL Central. With the Cubs coming to town tomorrow to open a four-game series, the Brewers surely don't want a slip-up here. Jeff Suppan will get the start for Milwaukee and he's again pitching well here in Miller Park for the Brewers. In his first season with Milwaukee (2007), Suppan went just 12-12 with a 4.62 but the Brewers were 12-5 (3.87 ERA) in his home starts, compared to just 6-11 (5.38 ERA) in his road starts. Suppan just returned from the 15-day DL (elbow irritation) and looked pretty good, allowing three ERs over seven innings at St Louis last Tuesday. His road ERA is 5.79 this year (team is 6-5) but his home ERA is just 3.21 (team is 5-3). The Astros will counter with the newly acquired Randy Wolf. I'm still confused as to what they saw in Wolf's performance this year with the Padres, to warrant any interest. Wolf lost SIX of his last seven starts for San Diego (6.94 ERA), leaving him 6-10 with a 4.74 ERA on the season. In 10 road starts in '08, he's gone 1-6 with a 6.63 ERA, as the Padres lost NINE of the 10 games. Those numbers look even worse when one considers that the Brewers are an impressive 22-11 vs lefties this year, including a downright 'scary' 11-1 mark in day games (averaging 7.7 RPG!). Look out below. Take the Brewers.
Tony Karpinski
New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
Play: Over
Overall for the Yankees, the under is on streaks of 21-8-2 overall, 7-1 on the highway and 28-11-1 against the A.L. East. For Boston, the under is 8-4-2 in its last 14 home games against teams with a winning record and 5-2 overall. In this rivalry, the over is on runs of 23-7 at Fenway Park, 5-0 at night in Boston. Look for hot Yankees bats to continue and the Red Sox to hit Ponson at home after struggling to score the past 2 days. Play on the OVER
Matty O'Shea
STL (+165) vs NYM
Both starting pitchers will be expected to go deep into this game after Saturday night's 14-inning marathon. The Cardinals got the upper hand in that game on a two-run homer by Albert Pujols for a 10-8 victory, ending their season-high five-game losing streak and giving them some solid momentum heading into the series finale. They will have ace Kyle Lohse in the mound, and he has not suffered a loss since May 8th at Colorado. St. Louis has gone 11-3 in Lohse's starts since then while New York's Johan Santana has not had nearly the same luck. The Mets have dropped seven of Santana's last nine starts, including four of five at home. He has also been hit rather hard since the All-Star break, surrendering 14 hits and seven runs - including three homers - in just 12 innings of work. That's why I'm taking a shot on the Cards at a great price as my Double Dime NL Underdog Play O' the Week.
King Creole
TEX (+110) vs OAK 2** BEST BET on: TEXAS RANGERS
The host Oakland A's are in the midst of a massive FREE FALL as they have lost each of the first tow games of this series.... and NINE of their last TEN games overall. And the best news is that we have a "play ON" situation for a 'SWEEPING DOG" on Sunday afternoon. The highly profitable "Sweeping Dog" System tells us to play ON a road Underdog if they have won EACH of the first two games of a series... as long as they were priced as a dog in each of those first two games. And since the HOT Rangers were priced as Dogs of +166 and +105 in the first two games of this series, we have a qualifying situation on Sunday.
With the winds blowing straight OUT to Center Field this afternoon )14+ MPH), the big-time hitting advantage for the Rangers is magnified even more on Sunday. Oakland has 3 big sticks still on the DL in Thomas, Chavez, and Mike Sweeney. Their top hitter (Ryan Sweeney) did not play on Saturday (finger) and his status is also up in the air for this third game of the series. This Oakland/Texas series has been pretty one-sided for 2+ seasons now. Texas is 9-3 in the last 12 meetings... and 5-1 "In THIS Park".
We know all about Dana Eveland of the Okaland A's as he is one of the pitchers on the fantasy baseball teams of Speedee's master. And his recent numbers are prime "play AGAINST" material. We start off with the fact that he has allowed more WALKS (13) than STRIKEOUTS (9) in his last 3 starts. This is usually a pretty good indicator of potential "Blow Up" material. Eveland's ERA in those last three starts is 5.17 and opponents are hitting .425 vs him. He has not made it to the 6th inning in ANY of his last 4 starts. And he already face the Rangers once this season (back in May)... and lost 6-4. He's also a PERFECT 0-5 in his last 5 starts against the better teams (> .500) in the American League. Meanwhile, young Eric Hurley has looked very sharp in each of his last three starts, and hasn't given up more than TWO earned runs in any of 'em (2.70 ERA). There's always a clear-cut advantage for a pitcher who has NEVER faced the opponent he is going against... and that's the case for the youngster this afternoon.
SUNDAYS are not a good day of the week for the Athletics (0-4 last 4) while it certainly IS for the Rangers (4-0 last 4). Texas is also 12-3 when facing starting pitchers with high WHIPS of 1/30 or higher.... and 5-1 in Game Three of a series. Oakland is a PERFECT 0-7 in Game Three of a series... 1-6 in their last 7 games vs righty starters... and 1-9 in their last 10 vs winning teams. The WRONG team is favored on Sunday afternoon. We'll run with the SWEEPING DOG!
Stan Sharp
CHC -1.5 (+120) vs FLA
Stan is Betting the CHICAGO CUBS (-1.5 RUNS) today. Stan notes that Chicago starter Jason Marquis is 19-6 in Day Games the last 2 seasons winning by an average of 2 runs or more. Also note that the Cubs are 16-3 in home games following scoring 3 runs or less 2 straight games this season winning those games by an average of 3 runs or more. TAKE THE CHICAGO CUBS (-1.5 RUNS) as STAN'S MISMATCH BIG BET OF THE WEEK and make them a SINGLE DIME PLAY
Brian Graves
Pick: Colorado -125
The Reds have just about reached the quitting stage of the season and on the other side Colorado has started playing like the team that made history last September. For the past week the numbers are staggering as Colorado has 4 players hitting better than .500 playing everyday. That spells doom for an average pitcher like Fogg on his best day. Take Colorado to win big!
Pick: Boston -175
All signs point to the Sox tonight and I love the fact this is the Sunday Night game on ESPN. Ponson gets hammered by Boston and especially Big Papi with a +6 ERA in his career. The Yankees have won 8 in a row so the streak is due to come crashing down and the Sox couldn't get a better pitching matchup. Girardi is likely to rest Giambi or Damon and those guys are getting on base at a .400 clip. Lester just finished a dominant shutout of the Yanks in New York before the All-Star break and has been the Red Sox most consistent starter as of late. Look for Lester to go deep into the game and for Papelbon to even be called on in the 8th if necessary. I doubt it will be as the Red Sox BOMB the Bombers
DutchMaster
St. Louis
Templer's Sports Picks
NY Mets
JIM'S HOT PICKS
NY Mets
CT Sports Picks
LA Angels
Guido's Sports Page
San Diego/Pittsburgh Over 7.5
The Sports Scholar
Pittsburgh
Online Sports Winners
Chi Cubs
lasvegassportsadvisors
Arizona
Frank Patron
Rockies -130
Global Sports Picks
DBACKS/GIANTS UNDER 8
Donald Tran
Texas at Oakland Over
Jennifer Barry
DBacks -145
Chad Jordan
Padres -120
Insider Sports Report
White Sox/Detroit UNDER
MIKE WYNN
Cincinnati/Colorado Over
ROCCO SPACAMURO
100* Blue Jays
THE VEGAS STEAMLINE
SAN DIEGO/PITTSBURGH OVER
COMPUTER SPORTS
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
ARTHUR RALPH
LA Dodgers
JAKE TIMLIN
Diamondbacks
JOHN FINA
Athletics
PLATINUM PLAYS
WHITE SOX
DR VEGAS
Cleveland
BIG TIME SPORTS
ANGELS/ORIOLES OVER 9.5
TONY MATHEWS
Nationals
SOUTHSIDE SPORTS
MILWAUKEE
Fast Eddie Sports
San Jose
MIGHTY QUINN
Sabercats
ARMVIN SPORTS
Detroit Tigers -119
Baltimore Orioles +129
RAZOR SHARP
TEXAS/OAKLAND OVER
#1 SPORTS
TEXAS/OAKLAND OVER
TOTALS 4 U
YANKEES/RED SOX OVER 10
Glen Mcgrew
DBacks
CAPPERS ACCESS
Tigers
Yankees
Jack Clayton
Diamondbacks
Matty O'Shea
Soul -3.5
floridabookybusters
Cleveland -1.5
Mike Volpe
Boston
Paul Leiner
10* Twins -105
PowerPlayWins
Rays -130
Gamblers Data
Red Sox -152
MIKE NERI SPORTS
Padres -125
HOT LOCK SPORTS
Angels -142
Brandon Banks
Pirates +109
David Page
Pirates +109
Silvas Sports
Angels -145
Joey Hannigan
White Sox +104
VERNON CROY
Detroit
Frank Rosenthal
951 CARDS UNDER 7.5
953 ROCKIES-120
955 PADRES-115
UNDER 7.5
957 BRAVES+125
961 FISH UNDER 10
963 DBACKS-140
971 CWS+110
973 ANGELS-135
979 YANKS+165
OVER 10
Matt Fargo **86% American League Game of the Year**
Two teams that are going in complete opposite directions square off again tonight. The Orioles are now a season-high seven games under .500 after losing their fifth straight and 14th in their last 18. The recent homestand has been a disaster as Baltimore is 3-7 and it has dropped nine of its last 12 games at Camden Yards to drop to 28-23. Pitching has been an absolute disaster as the ERA from the starters is a whopping 8.35 over the last 10 games while allowing 6.7 rpg over that span. Baltimore is now 1-9 in its last 10 against the A.L. West.
While the Orioles are losing, the Angels are winning and starting to run away with the American League West. They have won four straight and nine of their last 10 games to remain 10.5 games over the Rangers. Los Angeles is 33-18 on the road which is the best road record in all of baseball and by a wide margin. The Angels have a 3.52 ERA away from home which is also best in baseball. Los Angeles is 14-3 in its last 17 games as a road favorite between -110 to -150.
Ervin Santana can consider this season a turnaround season simply because he has been able to cure his road pitching woes. He is 8-1 with a 3.44 ERA in 12 starts which is remarkable considering he went 1-10 with an 8.38 ERA last season and posted a 5.95 ERA in 2006. He has tossed two straight quality starts and his K/BB ratio is a solid 18:2. In five career starts against the Orioles, he is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA. The Angels are 8-1 in his last nine starts as a favorite between -110 to -150.
Baltimore sends another one of its battered and beaten starters to the hill as now it is Garrett Olsen's turn. He has been horrendous after a very good start to the season. Through his first eight starts, Olsen posted a 3.86 ERA which included four quality outings. In his eight starts since then, he posted an 8.62 ERA with not a single quality start in the mix. Olson has given up no less than five runs in any of his starts in July. The Orioles are 1-6 in Olson's last seven starts as an underdog of +110 to +150. The Angels roll once again. Play Los Angeles Angels 5 Units
Sports Pro Unlimited
STL +171
CHC -160
CIN +117
MIL -157
MIN -105
LAA -142 POD
SportsKingz
DODGERS -150
ANGELS -160
ST. LOUIS +170
TAMPA BAY -140
MINNESOTA -110