THURSDAY SERVICE PLAYS

Steve Janus

St Louis Cardinals vs. Atlanta Braves
Play: St Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals are getting hot again. They've won 8 of their last 9 as a road favorite and 7 games in a row against a team with a losing record. St. Louis is also 4-1 in Joel Pineiro's last 5 starts for them. The Braves are certainly in rebuild-mode after trading away Mark Teixeira, which won't help the fact that they've lost 4 game in a row and 10 of their last 11 home games against teams with a winning record.

Nelly

Los Angeles Angels + over New York Yankees

The Angels are an incredible 19-7 against left-handed starters this season and 35-19 in road games. Despite those remarkable records the team with the best record in baseball continues to get little respect against the big-name teams like the Yankees. Los Angeles won seven of nine meetings between these teams in 2007 including going 4-2 in New York and the Angels are coming off a series win in Boston. Andy Pettitte has been a worse pitcher at home this season and Jon Garland has produced a 6-2 record in his road starts this season. The Angels have more road wins than the Yankees have home wins and there is value with the superior team as a road underdog tonight.

Jimmy The Moose

Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee Brewers
Prediction: Chicago Cubs

With another win in Milwaukee last night the Cubs have now won 4 in a row. The Cubs are 51-23 in their last 54 games as a favoroite. Chicago has won 6 of their last 8 games vs. a team with a winning record. Harden is on the mound this afternoon looking for his first win in a Chicago uniform and he'll pick it up today. Harden has striked out 10 batters in his last 3 starts and has a 1.04 ERA in his 3 starts as a Cub. The Brewers have lost 4 straight and 5 of their last 6. Milwaukee had been playing great before this series with the Cubs. This afternoon they send Bush to the mound and although he's pitched well of late he struggles vs. Chicago. Milwaukee has lost his last 5 starts vs. the Cubs. Chicago has won 5 of their last 6 trips to Milwaukee. Play on the Chicago Cubs -.

Scott Ferrall

Cleveland +125 with Carmona the snag over Verlander and the Tigers--Tigers players have to be pissed they traded Pudge to the Yanks for lousy Kyle Farnsworth

LA Dodgers -105 over Arizona--Derek Lowe beats Brandon Webb in the opener of this huge series

Atlanta +110 over St.Louis--Mike Hampton actually looked great in his first start of the season last week for the Braves and he'll beat Piniero here

Frank Jordan

Arizona D-Backs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Play: Under

Brandon Webb and Derek Lowe each have an era under 4 and are on top of their game of late. Look for both starters to be baffeling the hitters in a low scoring affair. Play the Under

Jeff Hochman

Arizona D-Backs vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Play: Over

When you see a O/U of 6.5 in MLB it's almost like a 4.5 O/U in Hockey. Ask yourself, will both teams score at least 2 goals or 3 runs each.

In both cases odds-makers hate this line. They rather set it at 7u for MLB and 5u for NHL. Nearly 7 out of every 10 MLB games both teams score at least 3 runs. Heck, all MLB teams average between 3.3 to 5.7 runs per game. I have a feeling there will be more runs scored than people think as one of the two starters will not have his "A" game.

Chris Jordan

Detroit -130 at CLEVELAND

These two pitchers met on April 17, and though Justin Verlander has pitched against the Tribe two times since, you simply never forget losing to a specific pitcher when you meet him later in the season. Thus, we’re taking the Tigers with Verlander over the Indians with Carmona in this pitching rematch. It’s the perfect time, too, as Verlander has seemingly found his stuff once again and has been pitching well the past two months.

That, of course, is despite his last outing, which saw him get bombed by the White Sox last Saturday. It was the first time since May 31 he allowed more than three earned runs in a game, and he is 4-1 in July, including a win over these Tigers back on July 8. It’s a small complimentary play, so let’s not get too excited with this matinee cash, but we will take Verlander and company in this one.

3♦ TIGERS

Bobby Maxwell

L.A. Angels +150 at N.Y. YANKEES

Today we've got a great matchup to play as our comp winner when we go with the red-hot Angels to take care of the Yankees in New York.

This should be a good matchup as the Angels always seem to give the Yankees fits and Los Angeles looks like it has positioned itself as the top team in the American League after the acquisition of Mark Texiera.

The Angels have gone 42-20 in their last 62 games overall and come into New York off a sweep at Fenway Park over the Red Sox. Meanwhile they're playing a Yankees' team that is 11-2 in their last 13 home games.

Jon Garland (9-6, 4.30 ERA) is on the hill for Los Angeles and he's 6-2 on the road this season. Last year, as a starter for the White Sox, he faced the Yankees three times and was brilliant twice and got destroyed once. Back on Aug. 2 he gave up eight runs on nine hits in just 1.1 innings.

The Yankees have Andy Pettitte (12-7, 3.76) going tonight and this guy has been roughed up in three of his last five starts against Los Angeles. Last year he faced them on July 6 and gave up eight runs on 10 hits in five innings in New York. Although he did rebound to beat them in August in Los Angeles.

We're taking the best road team in baseball in the Angels toinght. Play Los Angeles.

3♦ L.A. ANGELS

TONY WESTON

Alright, so I admit that I'm in a funk right now. The Brewers just went away after the Cubs got over on them Monday and didn't even come close to beating Chicago last night.

We take a loss and are now 32-18 our last 50 Comp Plays. We're turning that around tonight, however, as we're drilling this thing out of the ballpark as we're going with the over on the Diamondbacks-Dodgers.

The teams have played eight times this season and the over is 6-2 in that stretch, including 4-1 their last five games. So far in the two games the teams have played in Los Angeles the over is 2-0.
Also, consider that the over is 7-1 in the Diamondbacks last eight games and is 9-1 in Arizona's last 10 games on the road.

The over is also 4-1 in the Diamondbacks last five games that Brandon Webb has started, including 3-0 his last three starts.

The total for tonight is set at about 6 1/2 and the teams will blow right past that.

Take the over easily tonight.

3♦ DIAMONDBACKS-DODGERS OVER

JIM FEIST

Justin Verlander has been a far cry from the pitcher that went 18-6 in 2007. Verlander is 8-10 this season with a 4.29 era. Verlander had a rough outing last time out with a four inning, nine hit, seven earned run loss to the White Sox. Justin has also not fared well against the Indians with a 4-7 lifetime mark and 6.27 era. Furthermore, he's 1-5 with a 8.91 era at Jacobs field. Fausto Carmona also has had a big drop off from his 19-9 record in 2007. However, he's 2-1 against the Tigers the last two seasons including a nifty one earned run performance this season for the win. We'll take the Indians here on Thursday against a pitcher they have hit very hard over his career.

DAVE COKIN

Justin Verlander was roughed up in his most recent start. But prior to that the Tigers ace had a run of nine straight starts giving up three or fewer runs. Fausto Carmona was awful in his first start back from the DL for the Indians, and he's going to have to prove to me he's anything close to the dominant pitcher we saw last season. Until that time, he's someone I'll fade. Put me down for a play on Verlander and the Tigers.

TONY MATHEWS

Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Selection: Chicago/Milwaukee Under 7.5

The Chicago Cubs will use starting pitcher Rich Harden. Rich Harden has been pitching very well as of late. In fact, Rich Harden has a 1.04 ERA in his last 3 starts. We see Rich Harden pitching another great game today.

The Milwaukee Brewers will use starting pitcher David Bush. David Bush has also been pitching very well as of late. In fact, David Bush has a 2.14 ERA in his last 3 starts. We see David Bush pitching another great game today.

The bottom line, we see very little scoring in today's game.

Take the Chicago Cubs/Milwaukee Brewers Under 7.5

MATT RIVERS

For Thursday take the Brewers at home.

Rich Harden is an absolute stud and a guy that when on is as lights out as lights out can ever get. If that is the case today then it is going to be extremely hard to beat the first place Cubs but overall I have no issues with Ned Yost's Brewers at Miller Park and will take my chances in this spot.

Harden has not really gone deep into games this season and with closer Kerry Wood out there are some issues in Lou Pinella's bullpen. I can see another five or six inning outing from Harden and a tight game but the road proving to be a little much today for the boys from the Windy City.

David Bush has been very good of late for Milwaukee, save that mediocre last start at home against the Astros thanks to a dismal fifth inning, and is a guy that is just much better at home than on the road. Bush' is a sinkerballer and it seems to really do its thing on his home mound for whatever reason.

Do not sleep on the Brewers. This team did not look good in the first few games of this series but the talent is there as we have seen over the past few months. Prince, Braun, Weeks, Hardy, Hall and the rest of the Brew Crew are really really good and at this solid value at home I am fine about backing them against a very good Cubs' team but not what I consider a great team and especially not away from Wrigley.

JOHN FINA

Selection: Seattle/Texas Over 12

Today we see a high-scoring game as the Seattle Mariners do battle with the Texas Rangers. One reason why we expect a high-scoring game is because both these teams will send to the mound struggling starting pitchers. This says it all... The Seattle Mariners Starting Pitcher (R.A. Dickey) has a 5.89 ERA in his last 3 starts, while Texas Rangers Starting Pitcher (Matt Harrison) has a 9.95 ERA in his last 3 starts. As you can see, both these starting pitchers have been struggling as of late. The Over is a Perfect 2-0 in the last two meetings between these teams, and we expect to see another high-scoring game today! Take the Seattle Mariners/Texas Rangers Over 12!