This Week's Best MLB Trends
By Bill McBride
Covers.com
HOT TEAM: Atlanta Braves
THIS SEASON: 34-25.
LAST WEEK: 6-1.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: Home to the Yankees for three, home to the Orioles for three.
THE SKINNY: The Braves might be the most balanced, consistent group out there in the very competitive NL East. Atlanta is two games out of first place, and though it has struggled in the division (8-11), the club is getting it done everywhere else. Martin Prado was hitting .320, Dan Uggla had 41 RBIs, and Michael Bourn had 16 steals as Atlanta concluded a weekend set against Toronto.
All seems well with a team that collapsed down the stretch last season but has rallied around that pain. And do not discount the fate of Chipper Jones in that motivation talk as well. He went on the disabled list May 24 with a left calf contusion, but returned to the lineup Sunday. His teammates see the way he has worked to get back. They respect that and every player wants to send the veteran to the postseason before he calls it a career.
COLD TEAM: Colorado Rockies
THIS SEASON: 24-34.
LAST WEEK: 2-5.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: Home to the Athletics for three, at the Tigers for three.
THE SKINNY: The Rockies have been ho-hum all season. They entered Sunday’s game against the Angels 13 games out of first place in the National League West. But last week was particularly tough, as they lost a pair to Arizona in a 24-hour span by a combined 16-1 score.
In a four-game losing streak, before Sunday’s action, the Rockies allowed 34 runs. That's not going to get it done when you trot out an inconsistent offense to support that staff, and that's what the Rockies do. Carlos Gonzalez has been tremendous. But when one player leads your team in several offensive categories, it often isn’t a good sign.
The Rockies are way out of contention, as a result, and on the mound, they don't have a pitcher with five wins yet.
OVER TEAM: Oakland Athletics
O/U THIS SEASON: 23-34-3.
O/U LAST WEEK: 5-2.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: At the Rockies for three, home to the Padres for three.
THE SKINNY: This is rare real estate for the Athletics in any season. Even in the “Moneyball” heyday, when they were winning at a great clip, it wasn’t on the strength of overwhelming offense.
Listen, Oakland will always have a huge ballpark, and a not-so-huge payroll, so more times than not, the Athletics will be an under team. But something has gotten into them lately. They beat the Rangers of all teams, 12-1, and 7-1, last week, and scored 11 runs in the first two games of the weekend series with Arizona. Not bad.
UNDER TEAM: Toronto Blue Jays
O/U THIS SEASON: 27-29-3.
O/U LAST WEEK: 2-5.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE: Home to the Nationals for three, at the Phillies for three.
THE SKINNY: Toronto has a better offense than it’s showed, but that’s not your problem. As they underachieve, it’s only helped their value as a solid under play in the late spring. Playing in National League ballparks hasn’t helped -- and notice they close this week at Philadelphia -- as the Blue Jays scored just five runs in their first two games in Atlanta. They did break out in a 12-4 win Sunday.
Things will pick up. This team, after all, has Jose Bautista (17 home runs), Edwin Encarnacion (43 RBIs), and J.P. Arencibia (seven doubles) to rely on. And keep in mind that what was perceived as a solid pitching staff has been underwhelming, and that may help turn the tide to overs, as well. Toronto began Sunday’s action 19th in both team ERA (4.09) and WHIP (1.33).
But for now, something’s a bit off throughout, and the unders have been pouring in. In their last 11 games, they posted seven unders.
Hot and Not
By Mike Rose
VegasInsider.com
Another weekend of Interleague action is in the books, and with it, the 2012 MLB season is getting closer and closer to the All Star break. Every division race is very closely contested with only the NL West deficit being more than three-games. The following is a list of the hottest and coldest teams entering the tenth week of the season.
Money-Makers
Los Angeles Dodgers (6-1, $642): The best team in all of baseball has no doubt been the Los Angeles Dodgers. Manager Don Mattingly’s squad has gotten it done at the plate and on the bump so much so that it is the best overall baseball investment to date ($1545). If not for having six Mariners pitchers combine for a no-hitter on Friday (5th time in MLB history), LA would have won all seven of its games played last week; which included an impressive four-game road sweep of the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
On The Docket: The Dodgers return home to take on the Angels and White Sox in Interleague play over the next seven days. LA’s 2-1 ($100) versus the AL this season, but stands a bankroll depleting 12-21 (-$1040) the L/3 seasons.
Arizona Diamondbacks (5-1, $377): Last year’s NL West victors have made a ton of noise lately, as manager Kirk Gibson’s squad has secured eight wins in its L/10 trips to the playing field. In doing so, the Snakes find themselves just $149 away from being in the green for their betting backers on the year. By pulling off the Interleague sweep of the Oakland A’s, Arizona slithered its way back to being a .500 ball club. The bats finally waking up paired with some stellar starting pitching has the D-Backs looking on the up and up!
On The Docket: We’ll get a much clearer picture as to the true caliber of this season turnaround this upcoming week with Arizona set to play six against the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels; all on the road (15-14, $257).
Los Angeles Angels (4-2, $103): Though the return on investment was hardly anything for those backing the Angels to brag about last week, manager Mike Scioscia’s squad made a huge statement to the rest of the league that they’re readily able to mash with anybody after combining to score 28 runs in their three-game Interleague sweep of the Rockies at Coors Field. Mark Trumbo is swinging an incredibly hot bat (2 multi HR games last week), while rookie Mike Trout’s insertion at the top of the line-up has paid immediate dividends; the rookie has raked multi-hit games in seven of nine.
On The Docket: The Halos will play the first leg of the “Freeway Series” at Chavez Ravine to start the week before returning home to battle the resurgent Diamondbacks. Anaheim is 4-2 ($120) against the NL this season and 28-14 ($1240) the L/3 seasons.
Honorable Mentions: Pittsburgh Pirates (5-1, $490), Atlanta Braves (5-1, $489), Washington Nationals (5-1, $454), New York Yankees (5-1, $357), Tampa Bay Rays (4-2, $248), Milwaukee Brewers (4-2, $103)
Money-Burners
Miami Marlins (0-6, -$740): So after sweeping the NL East leading Washington Nationals at home and following it up by taking two of three from the Phillies at CBP, Manager Ozzie Guillen’s Fish go out and drop all six of their home matchups against the Braves and Rays last week. This club is as schizophrenic as it gets! The offense is largely to blame as it scored an average of just 1.7 runs per game throughout their second six-game losing streak of the season.
On The Docket: Miami will look to right the ship and improve upon its embarrassing 16-16 home record (-$656) against Boston for three before invading Tropicana Field to close out its Interleague encounters with the Rays; the Marlins check in 15-13 ($234) on the road.
Colorado Rockies (1-5, -$385): The Rockies looked to have turned the corner heading into last week’s action after securing wins in seven of eight, but after shutting the D-Backs out 4-0 in the series opener last Monday, manager Jim Tracy’s outfit dropped each of its next five. In doing so, Colorado sits nine-games under .500 and a whopping 14-games out of first place in the NL West. The whitewashing the Angels just handed them could be the beginning of the end for this teams coaching staff.
On The Docket: The Rockies will attempt to get off the schneid against an Oakland team that also just got swept in Interleague play before making a trip to Motown to battle what could be a reinvigorated Tigers outfit; Colorado’s 0-6 (-$759) vs. the AL to date!
Philadelphia Phillies (1-5, -$359): What on god’s green earth has happened to the Phillies home field advantage at Citizen’s Bank? In dropping all four to the Dodgers earlier in the week, manager Charlie Manuel’s squad fell to 12-19 in front of their hometown faithful. In doing so, it has cost their betting backers a whopping $1,605 on the year. This club won better than 64 percent of its home games the last two seasons! If Jimmy Rollins and his mates can’t figure things out in their own backyard, this club has no shot of heading back to the playoffs for the sixth straight season.
On The Docket: Thankfully the Phillies are on the road this week where they’ll look to get the best of the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays; they’ve won 17 of 31 as visitors ($237) to date.
Dishonorable Mentions: Boston Red Sox (1-5, -$611), Kansas City Royals (1-5, -$507), New York Mets (1-6, -$503), Chicago Cubs (2-5, -$227), San Diego Padres (2-4, -$159)