Armvin Sports
Texas Rangers +116
PlusLineSports Daily Baseball Selection
Chicago Cubs Runline -1.5
VEGAS SPORTS PICS
Chicago Cubs -155**
Cincinnati -110**
Texas +110**
JEFF BENTON
I backed Barry Zito and San Francisco with a paid selection on Wednesday, and they delivered an easy 4-1 victory. I mentioned in my analysis that there was absolutely no justification for the Indians, whose record is nearly identical to the Giants and who were not starting C.C. Sabathia, to be laying the kind of price they were last night. Well, same premise applies here. Yes, Cleveland is going with Cliff Lee here, and yes, Lee is 10-1 with a 2.45 ERA. But the Tribe are just 3-2 in his five home starts, and Lee has shown cracks recently.
Also, it's not like San Francisco is handing the ball to some scrub; Matt Cain is a quality hurler, and after a rough start to his season, he's turning things around of late, going 2-1, 2.95 ERA in last three starts, with both wins coming on the road. In fact, Cain has had a quality start in four of his last five on the road.
Bottom line: The Indians have now dropped three in a row and six of their last eight, and they're 4-11 in their last 15 interleague games. At the same time, San Francisco has won 11 of its last 15 on the highway, and its road record (20-20) is now identical to Cleveland's home mark (20-20). Ridiculous value on the visitor in this one.
3♦ SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
TONY WESTON
Over on the Yankees-Pirates game in Pittsburgh
The total for tonight is set at 9 and both teams will blow right past that. Consider that in the first two games of the series the teams have totaled 17 then 10 runs.
Also keep in mind that in the Yankees last four games on the road they've combined to total in the double digits each time out as they?ve averaged 13 runs a game.
The Pirates have also been apt to high-scoring games at home recently as they've totaled, on average, more than 12 runs a game (12.25).
These two will light things up again and go way past that nine runs.
Take the over easy on this one.
3♦ YANKEES-PIRATES OVER
MATT RIVERS
For Thursday take the A's on the run-line.
Adam Eaton has not been terrible of late but the righty is far from what he used to be with the Padres and will allow too many runs today to give his reeling Phils a chance.
When it comes to talent Charlie Manuel's lineup quite possibly may be second to none.
Rollins, Utley and Howard are as good as they come and throw in Burrell and a few others and this Philadelphia team can mash with the best of them. But right now for whatever reason the Phillies are awful. They don't hit, they don't move runners over and overall have been horrific for the last few weeks and if not for the Mets and Braves being just as bad would be far from the top in the NL East.
The A's continue to overachieve this season despite not having a bunch of blue chip players and at home are perenially pretty good. Factor this in with their ace in Rich Harden on the hill against the struggling Phils and there is no reason we will not see a 6-1 type of an Athletics victory thanks to yet another solid Harden outing.
When healthy the Oakland starter is as good as they get. The guy has all of the stuff and today should be flat out too good.
Dave Cokin.
MIN Twins and SD Padres
Take MIN Twins
I finally lost my daily free opinion Wednesday following nine straight winners. New run begins today! Josh Banks has been tremendous for the Padres since his recall. He was basically called up as an emergency fill-in and has pitched his way into a regular rotation spot. This is a pretty big shock to me, as Banks had never exhibited the type of stuff that would play well at the big league level. Fact is, I'm still not convinced, whereas I'm of the belief that what we're seeing from Twins righty Scott Baker is absolutely the real deal. I'm going to back the guy I'm more sure of here, and that makes Baker and the Twins the choice.
Jim Feist.
SF Giants and CLE Indians
Take Under
A couple of weak offensive teams meet, along with two above average pitchers. Cleveland simply hasn't hit the ball all season, and they are on a 4-2 run under the total. Slugger Victor Martinez hit 25 homers last year and has zero this season! The Giants are on a 6-3-1 run under the total. Starters Matt Cain and Cliff Lee have been impressive all season and they have ERAs under 3 their last 3 starts. Don't look for much offense, Play the Giants/Indians under the total!
Rocco Spacamuro
100* Spain +115
TONY MATHEWS
Minnesota Twins vs. San Diego Padres
Selection: Minnesota/San Diego Under 8
Explanation: We expect a low-scoring game as the Minnesota Twins face-off against the San Diego Padres in Thursday's MLB contest.
The Minnesota Twins will use starting pitcher Scott Baker. Scott Baker has pitched very well this season. In fact, Scott Baker has a 3.47 ERA this season. In addition, Scott Baker has a 2.37 ERA in his last 3 starts. We see Scott Baker pitching another great game today.
The San Diego Padres will use starting pitcher Josh Banks. Josh Banks has also pitched very well this season. In fact, Josh Banks has a 1.62 ERA on the season. We see Josh Banks pitching another great game today.
The bottom line, we see a low-scoring game today!
Take the Minnesota Twins/San Diego Padres Under 8
ROSS BENJAMIN
Yankees @ Pittsburgh
Play On: Pittsburgh +125
The Yankees are just 12-24 in their last 36 games on the road versus a left-handed starting pitcher. The Pirates are a solid 24-17 at home this season and 11-5 in their last 16 at home versus a team with a winning percentage of better than .500. The Pittsburgh starter Paul Maholm is 10-2 with his last 12 team starts at home including a perfect 7-0 versus a team with a winning percentage of better than .500. Play on the Pittsburgh Pirates
TRIPLE THREAT SPORTS
NY Yankees over Pittsburgh
Mike Mussina has been excellent this season and especially on the road, and his road numbers outweigh the admittedly strong numbers for Pirates starter Maholm here. Also, Yanks won 10-0 yesterday, and the last time they posted a double digit win they came back to beat the same team 8-0 the next day. Yankes are hot, and stay that way.
JOHN FINA
Selection: Cincinnati Reds -115
Today the Cincinnati Reds will be on the road as they take on the Toronto Blue Jays. We will side with the Cincinnati Reds! One reason why we will side with the Cincinnati Reds is because they will be sending to the mound the much better starting pitcher. This says it all... The Cincinnati Reds Starting Pitcher (Edinson Volquez) has a 1.71 ERA this season, while Toronto Blue Jays Starting Pitcher (Jesse Litsch) has a 4.06 ERA this season. As you can see, the Cincinnati Reds will have the much better starting pitcher on the mound. We see the Cincinnati Reds getting another win tonight! Take the Cincinnati Reds!
Vegas Experts
San Francisco Giants at Cleveland Indians
Look for Cleveland to get back on track this evening behind the one reliable commodity they have left - southpaw Cliff Lee. Lee is unbeaten at home this year and has a 2.00 ERA here at Progressive Field, not to mention the Tribe has won all seven of his starts this season when the total is either 8 or 8.5. While Lee remains one of the best pitchers in baseball, Matt Cain remains one of the worst. The Giants have lost 33 of his last 48 starts overall, including 22 of 32 at night.
Play on: Cleveland
Matt Fargo
Chicago White Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Play: Los Angeles Dodgers
I will be riding the Dodgers once again. The pitching has been solid yet again at home, posting a 3.36 ERA which is best in the National League following the four-hit shutout last night from Eric Stults. The bullpen has been the main reason for the solid pitching as that ERA is at 2.65 and now they are coming off a day of rest. The bats are hitting at a .269 clip at Dodger Stadium while of late, they have averaged 4.8 rpg over their last nine games after scoring a total of 11 runs in the previous five games.
The White Sox are struggling away from home this season and this current road trip has not helped. They are 1-4 on this trip and prior to the win on Tuesday, they had dropped nine straight games on the road and are now a dismal 1-10 over their last 11 games away from home. Chicago is hitting .253 on the road and it is averaging a mere 4.0 rpg away from home which is 21st in the Majors. The White Sox have averaged 3.4 rpg over the last five games and they are hitting only .236 against lefties this season.
Clayton Kershaw will look to redeem himself following a below average performance last time out against the Indians. He allowed four runs in just five innings and that came after giving up two runs or fewer in three straight outings. Of his six starts this season, three have been during the day and three have come at night. He has a 6.43 ERA at night while posting a 2.40 ERA during daylight hours. He remains winless but can breakthrough here backed by some solid run support.
Chicago counters with John Danks who has been very solid this season but is still a little inconsistent. Nine of his 15 starts have been quality outings and the reason more have not is due to the fact he has not been able to last long in a lot of games. He has gone past six innings only once in his last 10 starts. Also, the White Sox do not score a lot of runs for him as they are averaging just 4.0 rpg in those 15 starts. Despite allowing just one run over his last two starts, Chicago dropped both games. Play Los Angeles Dodgers 1.5 Units