ANTHONY CAPONE
Play: 1 * WASHINGTON REDSKINS -6
After looking very closely at the Depth Charts for this Match up the Skins are Absolutely loaded .At some positions 3 Deep .The Only position that the Colts really go 2 Deep in with some talent is at their slot position with Jacob Tamme from Kentucky .He holds the Wildcat record for most receiving yards .He will also see some time at tight end . Other than that the Skins hold all the edges in this one with almost every pertinent position backed up by a player that has previous NFL experience .Even with Clinton Portis and Jason Taylor sitting this one out the Skins will still control this one on Defense as their secondary might be the best in the NFL .On the Offensive side I don't expect to see much of Jason Cambell at QB , but I'll take Colt Brennan over anyone the Colts have backing up Manning .I would say James Thrash and Devin Thomas are two pretty good backups at wideout and the Skins will have a field day passing against a weak 2nd and 3rd string secondary for the Colts .This line should be 10 + and I'll gladly lay the 6 and cash this ticket .
Oddswiz
Indianapolis Colts vs. Washington Redskins
Play: Under
While the NFL pre season will generally have it's spots with which we can find an edge and jump in for a play or two, this game isn't one of them. Certainly, it would be nice for the Redskins to come away with a big win on the day two of it's greats are honored, Darrell Green and Art Monk. It would seem to be a good spot for them as well, taking on a Colts team and Tony Dungy, who simply doesn't care about winning in the pre season. Particularly in the first week. While Jim Zorn starts his reign as the Skins top dog, and hey, what new coach doesn't want to start off with a win. But let's not forget, this is already reflected in the line as the Skins opened -5 and have been bet up to -6. Let's also not forget that the Skins aren't dressing many of their vets. Sure, the Vets wouldn't play more than a few series anyways, but now, they won't play at all. So we'll make a small play here on the under for the following reasons. One, scoring tends to be low in the NFL pre season to begin with. Lot's of new plays to run, lots of experimenting, and more of a focus on getting a good look at players rather than putting the ball in the end zone. The Skins have scored more than 17 points in a pre season game just once in 3 years. Lastly, so far, the public is betting this game over. So, why not buck the public here for the first time this year. Just a lean though, to get things started. There will be far better opportunities to come.
Scott Ferrall
INDY +6.5 - Just because Peyton isn't playing doesn't mean the Colts aren't better than the Skins. Indy is always tough early--they don't mess around. I don't care who's playing for either side--take Dungy's boys
James Patrick Sports
Colts vs. Redskins
Our selection in NFL Pre-Season action is Washington Redskins.
ATS Consultants
Newsletter Plays
Atlanta over Milwaukee - Preferred Play (2 units)
Under in the Toronto/Texas game - Preferred Play
Over in the Colorado/Florida game - Preferred Play
Marc Lawrence
Play On: Tampa Bay w/Shields
James Shields and the Rays wrap up a three game set with the Tigers at the Trop Sunday afternoon in Tampa. Shields has been stellar this season, especially at home where he is 11-1 with a 2.16 ERA. He's also 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA during the day this year. To top it off, Shields is unbeaten in his two MLB career team starts with a 2.25 ERA against Detroit. The bottom line is there are simply too many good numbers to overlook here today. Stay at home with Shields and the Rays here today.
Ross Benjamin
Detroit @ Tampa Bay
Pick: Under 8.5
The Rays have gone under the total in 9 of their last 10 games. The Tampa starter Shields has an excellent 2.16 ERA, a 0.88 WHIP, and a better than 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio in 12 home starts. The Detroit starter Galarraga has posted a stellar 2.60 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 11 road starts. In 5 day game starts Galarraga has an excellent 1.20 ERA. Gallaraga has gone under the total in his last 7 starts when pitching on 4 days of rest. This one has all the makings of a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel. Play on under the total as my free selection of the day.
Bobby Maxwell
Arizona at L.A. DODGERS -120
We're going with the home team Dodgers in this one behind Jason Johnson (1-0, 1.38 ERA) who make a great impression in a Los Angeles uniform on Tuesday when he blanked San Francisco on five hits for six innings of a 2-0 win. We have faith in him to follow it up with another strong show today.
Johnson has seen the D'Backs a few times and has a 2.74 ERA in four career appearances and 23 innings of work. He should be able to shut down the Arizona lineup as the Dodgers pitchers have been dominant on this current homestand.
Doug Davis (4-5, 3.86 ERA) is on the mound for Arizona and the D'Backs had dropped four straight starts of his before Tuesday's performance against the Padres when he went 7 2/3 innings of a 3-0 win in San Diego. In nine innings against the Dodgers this season, Davis has allowed seven runs in two starts and he's split the two games.
Both teams have been playing well lately with the D'Backs having a great roadtrip and the Dodgers having a solid homestand. The addition of Manny Ramirez will work out for the Dodgers and expect Manny to do some damage against the lefty Davis.
We're playing the Dodgers today to get the win in front of the home fans.
3♦ L.A. DODGERS
Brian Gabrielle
Last Week: We won our +700 straight-up bet when Jimmie Johnson won the bizarre, tire-marred race at the Brickyard, but unfortunately we lost our head-to-head bet when Brian Vickers's engine exploded early in the race, and he finished 42nd. For the week, then, we lost 0.17 units on 1.5 units wagered; for the season, we've profited 4.78 units on 29 units wagered, a return of 16.5%, and we've given you winning weeks in 15 of 20 events. (Note that if you'd eschewed the relatively conservative betting pattern we outline below, and simply bet one unit per wager we recommend, last week you'd have won three units on four units wagered, a return of 75%; for the season, that would leave you with a profit of 8.99 units on 79 units wagered, a return of 11.4%. But there's clearly a bit more week-to-week risk associated with that strategy.)
Take Denny Hamlin (+600), 1/6th unit. This weekend it's back to Pocono, that crazy tri-cornered hat of a track in rural Pennsylvania. In five career starts at Pocono, Hamlin has two wins and has never finished worse than sixth. Back in June, in the first Car of Tomorrow race at this track, Hamlin was third. And he also finished third at Indy last weekend, another very fast, shallow-banked, brake-intensive track.
Take Jimmie Johnson (+600), 1/6th unit. I'll also go with last weekend's race winner. The No. 48 team has been the best on the circuit over the past month or so, and like Hamlin, he has two career wins at Pocono. He finished sixth here in the CoT back in June, and the fact that he had the day's dominant car at Indy means he's going to have something for the rest of the Smokeless Set on Sunday.
Take Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1200), 1/6th unit. I was tempted to go with favorite Kasey Kahne (+500) in this spot, because Pocono is definitely a track that recently has lent itself to sweeps (Johnson swept here in '04, Hamlin did it in '06). But that's a pretty steep price to pay for a guy who didn't look all that strong at Indy last week, so instead I'm going to with Little-E, who's never won at this track but did finish second in this race last season and fourth in the CoT here back in June.
In this week's head-to-head match-up, take Hamlin over Kyle Busch (-135), 1 unit. I know, I know, the series point leader, the guy who's already won a whopping seven events in 2007, is a relatively major underdog? It's true, and there's a reason for it: Busch wasn't very good in the first Pocono race even before he wrecked out and finished 43rd, and despite the fact that he led 14 laps at Indy last weekend, he didn't have a great car and was easily passed nearly every time tire strategy put him out front. He finished 15th. Now, this could easily bite my butt, because Busch has won at just about every track type under the sun in '08. But I like Hamlin to be in the top five Sunday, and I'm not sure I can say that about Busch.
Dwayne Bryant
Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins
Pick: Minnesota Twins -174
I love that Cleveland won last night's game, 5-1. For me, it doesn't matter if Liriano or Perkins pitches for the Twins. They're both lefties and that is what counts here. The Indians are batting just .213 and scoring 3.3 runs per game on the road against lefty starters. On the other side, Minnesota is batting .295 and scoring 5.98 runs per game at home against righty starters. The Twins are also batting .299 and scoring 6.03 runs per game against righty starters when coming off a loss.
Take Minnesota
Jeff Scott Sports
2 UNIT PLAYS
Florida / Colorado Over 9.5
The Over is 6-1-1 in Rockies last 8 road games with the total set at 9.0-10.5 and 5-1-1 in Rockies last 7 games vs. a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30, while the Over is 29-9-3 in Marlins last 41 during game 4 of a series and 33-13-2 in Olsens last 48 starts with 4 days of rest, plus the Over is 6-0 in Drakes last 6 games behind home plate vs. Florida. Whe all know that Rockie home games are normally high scoring, but on this current 9 game road trip their games have averaged 9.8 rpg, with 5 of the 9 games scoring 10 or more runs. The Rockies have scored 6.5 rpg in their last 14 overall and 5.8 rpg vs lefty starters on the year. The Florida offense has been solid of late as they are averaging 5.3 rpg in their last 8, plus they have scored 8.1 rpg vs teh Rockies on the year. Glendon Rusch owns a 6.28 ERA on the road and a 4.78 ERA in his 5 starts on the year. He also has a 4.73 ERA vs the Marlins in his career. Scott Olsen comes in struggling a bit as he own a 6.06 ERA in his last 5 starts overall, plus he owns an 11.09 ERA in 4 career starts vs the Rockies, including a 15.00 ERA in his last 3 starts vs them. Granted the majority of the season series has been played at Colorado, but this series has averaged 15.4 rpg on the year. Today we a have a couple of struggling pitchers going up against two solid offenses and the result should be a games that puts 10+ runs on the board with ease.
I ALSO LIKE
NY Yanks/ LA Angels Under 9.5
John Fina
Selection: New York Mets -135
Put us down on the New York Mets (-135) for our Free MLB Selection on Sunday. Today the New York Mets will be on the road as they take on the Houston Astros. One reason why we will side with the New York Mets is because they will be sending to the mound the much better starting pitcher. This says it all... The New York Mets Starting Pitcher (Oliver Perez) has a 1.83 ERA in his last 3 starts, while Houston Astros Starting Pitcher (Randy Wolf) has a 7.80 ERA in his last 3 starts. As you can see, the New York Mets will be sending to the mound the much better starting pitcher. The New York Mets are 4-1 in their last 5 meetings against the Houston Astros, and should be able to get another win tonight! Take the New York Mets!
Carlo Campanella
Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers
Prediction: Over
Arizona has gone "Over" the Total in 17 of 24 games this season against NL teams allowing 4.3 RUns per game or less. Expect another high scoring affair as both starting pitchers- Doug Davis and Jason Johnson- are coming off starts which they did not allow an Earned Run! Previous to that Davis had allowed 8 Earned Runs in 10 Innings Pitched while Johnson allowed an even worse 11 Earned Runs in his previous 10 innings of work!
7* Play On OVER
Big Al Mcmordie
Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays
Prediction: Tampa Bay Rays
At 1:40 pm, our member selection is on the Tampa Bay Rays over Detroit. I've been on the Tigers a lot this season behind their rookie, Armando Galarraga, but I'm going to fade Jim Leyland's crew this afternoon. After all, Tampa Bay has excelled at home at Tropicana Field, and Detroit has under-performed vs. right-handed starters this year, going just 34-46 overall. Moreover, Tampa Bay is a spectacular 18-1 when priced as a home favorite of -150 to -200 (currently, the Rays are favored -155 over Detroit). James Shields is 7-1 in his 12 home starts this season with a super 2.16 ERA. Take Tampa Bay.
Black Magic Sports
1 Unit on Kansas City Royals -114
I’ll back Zach Greinke over Clayton Richard any day in this pitching contest. The Royals are starting to swing the bats well, putting up 9 runs on 19 hits against the White Sox last night. That taxed Chicago’s bullpen, and Richard will be out by the end of the fifth inning Sunday so the Sox are in serious trouble with their bullpen situation. In eight home starts, Greinke has gone 3-1 with a stellar 2.95 ERA for the Royals. Richard has given up 9 earned runs in the two starts he has made this season. The White Sox are 0-4 in their last 4 games as a road underdog. The Royals are 4-1 in Greinke’s last 5 starts as a favorite of -110 to -150. The Royals are 7-2 in Greinke’s last 9 home starts. Cash in with Kansas City as the favorite.