Lenny Del Genio
Oregon St. vs Stanford
Play on Oregon State
This is a series that has been dominated by the Beavers as OSU has won 6 of 7, including last year?s 23-7 decision as 13-point chalk. With this year?s meeting taking place in Palo Alto, we get a much more manageable number. Mike Reilly?s team used to be the furthest thing from a safe bet outside of Corvallis, but as last season progressed, that began to change. As road underdogs, they won outright in their last three away games last season, winning at Cal, Washington State and rival Oregon. Over the last five years, Stanford has flat out not been able to run the ball against OSU, averaging barely over 1.0 YPC in those games (four losses). The Cardinal has lost each of their last three home openers. Take Oregon State.
Andre Gomes
Cincinnati at Houston
Yesterday Roy Oswalt did what he can do better: beat the Reds and so the Astros have today the chance of winning another series against Cincinnati. Today they will send Brandon Backe, who lately has been as unpredictable as a lottary draw. Just at his sequence of runs allowed on his last four outings: 3-11-1-11!
The same can be said from his opponent today, Aaron Harang, who has been doing a bad season, with a 4-13 record, with 2-7 and 5.55 ERA on the road. Even though he comes from a quality start in his last outing against the Rockies, where he went scoreless in 6 innings, but once again he may suffer today from his consistent problem, as a letdown is possible today, after all before this quality start, he had back to back games where he allowed 8 runs in each game.
In this game, I kinda like the price of the Astros, who aren't an heavy chalk and they are the better team of the two right now, but Backe will play on his worst spot: day game! He is 3-5 and 6.39 ERA in day games this season and with this, I think it's too risky to back the Astros today.
LA Dodgers at Washington
The Dodgers continue to be in a deep hole, having lost their last six games and not even a series against the lowly Nationals has been easy enough for them to get back to the winning track. Today they expect at least not getting swept and even though this disaster, the good news for them is that the D-Backs aren't doing better than them right now. Today they will send the southpaw Clayton Kershaw (2-4, 4.11 ERA), who comes from a terrible outing in Philly, where he allowed 6 runs and 7 hits in just 4 innings. Kershaw has already faced the Nationals this season and he had a quality outing at 07/27, going scoreless in 6 innings, in a 2-0 win.
On the other side, the Nationals will send the also southpaw John Lannan, who comes from a win against the Cubs on the road! He allowed 5 runs in 6 innings, but he had an amazing run support (not usual) in a game, where the Nationals won by 13-5. The question for this game is to know if the Dodgers have value or not. They are -165 to win and that for a team which comes from six losses in a row against a weak team, but which is still 4-2 on their last 6 games with wins while being at +152, +182, +240 and +233 seems to risky to lay something on the Dodgers today.
Philadelphia at Chi. Cubs
Big series in perspective with both teams in a good moment (8-2 last 10 games), which tells us that this will be a good test for both squads. The Phillies after their amazing comeback last Tuesday, lost yesterday against the Mets by 3-6, losing the first place in the NL East. Today they will send Cole Hamels, who has been very solid lately and only the lack of run support has been avoiding more wins in Hamels record. He is just 2.05 ERA and 0.864 WHIP on his last 3 outings, which shows how good he has been lately. Besides that he faced the Cubs once this season and he has a tremendous quality start, being scoreless in 7 innings.
On the other side, the Cubs will use Ryan Dempster, but frankly he hasn't been worse than Hamels. as on his last 7 outings have always been quality ones. His sequence of runs allowed is 1-2-2-2-1-1-0, which shows the actual form of Dempster. With two pitchers in such great form, this game may be decided in very little details. Yes, the Cubs are a powerful team at home and deserve to be the favorites, but the Phillies clearly also have a shot in here.
TEXAS at LA ANGELS
The Angels haven't won a series against August 10th against the Yankees, which is the same to say that they haven't won the last five series they have played. The Rangers on the other side come with momentum, as they have swept the Royals, after being swept by the Indians at home. For this game I concentrated my analysis on the totals, where we have a line of 9,5 runs which can be easily crossed, given the spot we have for this game today.
The Angels will send Joe Garland (11-8, 4.49 ERA), who hasn't been in a good phase lately and his quality starts seem to have been achieved a long time ago. He is 6.23 ERA in his last 3 outings and on his last start, in just 4 innings against the Twins, he allowed 5 runs and 6 hits. If we look to what Garland has been doing lately, this performance wasn't surprising at all. Just look at the sequence of runs allowed by him on his last outings: 5-5-3-3-3-5. Not impressive at all.
On the other side, the Rangers will send Brandon McCarthy, who will make his second start for Texas this season. He had a nice debut against the Indians with 1 run and 3 hits allowed in 4 innings, however his 18.8 P/IP ratio revealed some problems in closing out the innings. I doubt he can manage to make back to back quality starts, especially against a potent lineup, which comes from another series loss.
So I expect both pitchers today to struggle. Garland has faced the Rangers this season in a weak outing, allowing 7 runs and 8 hits in just 5 innings and with him struggling right now, I expect him to be in deep troubles against a powerful offense of the Rangers. Curiously Texas just scored 2 and 3 runs in their last two games against the Royals, but I think this offense struggle won't continue today, as Texas is 17-5 Over after scoring and allowin 3 runs or less last 2 games since 1997. On the other side, I expect a bounce back from the offense of the Angels, especially as the Over is 5-1-1 in their last 7 home games vs RHP and against a pitcher who has just played 4 innings this season, it looks to me as a great spot to bet on the over in this game.
PLAY 1* UNIT ON OVER 9.5
LARRY NESS
Philadelphia Phillies @ Chicago Cubs
PICK: Chicago Cubs
The Phillies and Cubs open a four-game series tonight in Wrigley. Philadelphia's loss last night to the Mets dropped them a half-game behind New York in the NL East while Chicago's 2-0 win over Pittsburgh (giving the Cubs five straight wins), ups their mark to a ML-best 83-50, which gives them a six-game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central. Cole Hamels (11-8, 3.20 ERA) starts for the Phillies, while Ryan Dempster (15-5, 2.85 ERA) starts for the Cubs. While the Phillies may be 16-11 in Hamels' starts in '08, they are minus-$235 vs the moneyline with him on the mound. That's in start contrast to Chicago's mark in Dempster's starts, as the Cubs are 19-8, plus-$909 (10th-best mark among MLB starters). Dempster's been a 'monster' here in Wrigley this year (he's 12-2 with a 2.66 ERA / team is 13-3 in his starts), where the team is 49-19 (outscoring opponents 5.93 RPG-to-4.03). It's also worth noting that the Cubs are an impressive 26-13 vs lefties in '08, including a 13-4 here at Wrigley, where they've averaged 7.4 RPG. Take the Cubbies.
System Sports Guaranteed Selections
LA Dodgers w/Kershaw -161
The Nationals are 1-10 in Lannans last 11 starts versus a team with a losing record and the Nationals are 1-7 in Lannans last 8 home starts. Add it up and you have our 17-2 DOUBLE BASEBALL SYSTEM WINNER on the LA DODGERS!
Chicago Cubs w/Dempster -135
The Cubs are 14-3 in Dempsters last 17 home starts, the Cubs are 6-1 in Dempsters last 7 home starts versus a team with a winning record and the Cubs are 9-1 in their last 10 games versus a left-handed starter. Add it up and you have our 29-5 TRIPLE BASEBALL SYSTEM WINNER on the CHICAGO CUBS!
The Millionaires Club Guaranteed Selections
91% HIGH ROLLER BASEBALL WINNER
Tampa Bay w/Jackson -139
Charlie's Sports
Hit 8/9 last 500*
Wake Forest @ Baylor Over 50½ (500*)
UTEP @ Buffalo Over 58½ (30*)
Vandy +3½ (20*)
Buffalo -3 (20*)
Stanford +3 (10*)
Baylor +12 (10*) free play
Wunderdog
North Carolina State at South Carolina
Pick: Game Total UNDER 45.5
South Carolina really crumbled last season. Sure, they looked like the surprise team in the SEC when they jumped out to a 6-1 mark, reaching a #6 national ranking. But they then went on to lose five straight to finish 6-6 and did not even get a Bowl bid. Now that's a fall from grace! This may be the best Steve Spurrier team yet in Columbia. The problem is that it may not be good enough given the unreal SEC competition. The Gamecocks are returning 10 starters from a defense that was very solid last season. They should be even better this season. Their biggest problem will be finding a QB to emerge to give the offense viability. We expect the offense to struggle early. This will be a rebuilding year at NC State. They lost 47% of their letterman from a year ago, ranking them in the top 10 in the country in that category. They do return their QB, but they graduated all three wide receivers so expect some chemistry issues early on. The Gamecocks are on a 13-4 UNDER run in the first two weeks of the season. We like this one to go UNDER the total.
Paul Leiner
25* Stanford +3
10* Yankees -125
Tom Freese
Toronto at Tampa Bay
Toronto starter Jesse Litsch has allowed 4 or less runs in 15 of his 21 starts this year. The Blue Jays are 6-2 their last 8 road games and they are 5-2 their last 7 games vs. righty starters. Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson is off a phony win in his last start where he allowed twice as many base runners as innings pitched. The Rays are 8-17 the last 25 starts made by Jackson vs. a winning team. PLAY ON TORONTO +
Wildcat
Chicago Cubs
Executive Sports
250% Chicago Cubs
3Daily Winners
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Houston Texans
Play: Houston Texans +1
This is strictly situational play. Since 2000 in the final week of the preseason, home teams that started out as favorites and became home underdogs are 8-3, 72.7 percent against the spread. Houston opened as 3-point favorites and have been turned around to a single point pooch. Texans tackle Tampa Bay and cover.
Investment Playmakers Guaranteed Selections
20* National League Game of the Week
Houston Astros
20* College Football Guaranteed Selection
UTEP +3.5
Psychic Sports Picks
NCAAF
1 unit Stanford +3
DA STICK
NFL
5 units Ny Giants -2
10 units Jacksonville +3
10 units Cleveland -3
10 units New Orleans -1.5
NCAAF
5 units Vanderbilt +3.5
10 units Stanford +3
MLB
5 units Florida -117
15 units Boston +111
The over for the Wake Forest versus Baylor
looks very enticing if they mean that they
hit 8 out of 9 bets on their 500* bets. Does
anyone know if they mean 8 out of 9 or if
they mean 8 wins and 9 losses ??? I just
need to confirm if it is the first one like it
looks like and I assume it is.
==============================
Charlie's Sports
Hit 8/9 last 500*
Wake Forest @ Baylor Over 50½ (500*)
UTEP @ Buffalo Over 58½ (30*)
Vandy +3½ (20*)
Buffalo -3 (20*)
Stanford +3 (10*)
Baylor +12 (10*) free play