LARRY NESS
New York Mets @ Los Angeles Angels
PICK: Los Angeles Angels
This has to be a difficult game for the Mets to play. Willie Randolph's firing cannot come as a surprise but the timing of it can surely be questioned. About two hours after the Mets beat the Angels last night in Anaheim (shortly after midnight, according to reports), Randolph was let go. And so it goes in the big leagues. Johan Santana will take the mound for the Mets and his first season in New York has not been a unqualified success. He was "booed off" the Shea Stadium mound in a loss to Milwaukee back on April 12 but went on to go 6-1 (team was 7-1) over his next eight starts. However, in his last two outings, despite allowing just one ER in 13 innings (0.69 ERA) with 15 Ks and only four walks, the Mets have lost 2-1 and 5-4. He'll have a tough time here against the Angels, who are 13-3 this season vs lefties and while he hasn't faced the Angels since 2005, his history against them is rather mediocre (compared to his standards). He's 2-3 with a 4.05 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts) all time vs the Angels. As for the Mets, they will have their hands full with LA's John Lackey. Lackey went 19-9 (3.01 ERA) last year but began this season on the DL. However, he's shown no rust at all since his return (first start wasn't until May 14), posting a 1.83 ERA in six starts (he's 3-1 and the team is 4-2). Take the Angels.
Andre Gomes
Game: Los Angeles Lakers @ Boston Celtics
Pick: 3 units Under 191.5
Game 6 of this final with the real possibility of having a new champion today, in case Boston wins at home today. Having in account their two games at home and the heart they've showed in these last two games, the team of Boston is clearly favorite today, however, the Lakers have still a shot to at least take the decision to a Game 7. Today's lines favor Boston by 4 points and the totals line is at 191,5 points which fits in the previous lines of this series [191,5 - 195,5]. And it's exactly in the totals where we can get more value from this game. After three games at LA, today's game will be at Boston, which obligated the teams to a very long and tiring trip from the West coast to the East. For you to have an idea of how tiring was the comeback trip to Boston, the trip was six hours long and if we add more three hours which have involved all the other procedures, we have a notion of what the players needed to pass. To make things even worse, the team of Boston was stopped in the airport thanks to a delay in their flight:
"As of 4 p.m. EDT today, the Celtics' plane was still on the ground in Los Angeles due to mechanical issues.At 5:30 p.m., Celtics radio announcer Cedric Maxwell reported on sports radio WEEI that a 757 had been flown in to take the Celtics back to Boston on a direct flight."
If we add all of this to the most important: between the Game 5 and today's game there was just one day to rest (day that was mostly used to comeback to Boston), something that will clearly cause problems to both teams today. From the last time this happened, we see two teams completely out of the game in the offense, it was in the Game 3 of this series, where the series come to LA from Boston, with just one day to rest between games. This game ended 87-81, with both teams not reaching 70% FT and in the total not even 40% FG was reached. It's also important to say that not only the physical tiredness will be important today, as the psychological tiredness starts also to be noticed, as we are not talking about a Game 3, but a Game 6, which can be the last game of this finals.
"It's a terrible turnaround," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "It's as tough as you can have. I think going West to East is tougher. Sleep patterns are messed up.
In the Games 4 and 5, the Lakers started the games with an amazing fashions, outscoring the Celtics in the first quarter by 35-14 and 39-22, which obligated Boston to play on a faster way than they were supposed to play, in order to have an edge over the Lakers. If in the Game 4 this tactic worked of just putting Garnett in the frontcourt and using a small lineup, it didn't work in the Game 5, as Boston ended up losing the game. In the Game 5, Garnett played 33:06, Powe 4:59 and PJ Brown 23:53. Well, today that won't happen for sure! First of all, it will be almost impossible to watch LA having such advantage in the beginning of the game and especially as Boston doesn't have any benefit from playing on a fast paced game against the Lakers, they won the Game 4 playing like that, but the way Boston has dominated the whole season was thanks to an amazing half court defense, obligating their opponents to shoot on very hard positions. It's also important to refer that Perkins was out in the Game 5 and even though his presence isn't guaranteed for today, Boston couldn't adapt his absence on Game 5, as Garnett was in foul trouble very early in the game.
So with the scenario of this game, we are in front of a game which will have few points, with both teams giving everything they have, but without the necessary conditions to do well in the offense, thanks to their physical and psychological tiredness, so with a line similar to the line of the previous games of the series, my bet in here is clearly the under.
Erin Rynning
Playmaker SF Giants
Louie Mayo
MLB
(5*) Under 9 Yankees -110
(3*) Under 10 Orioles -110
(1*) Tampa Bay -139
NBA
(50*) Lakers +4
WNBA
(50*) LA -11
Mr A's
Chicago Cubs at Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are 6-1 in Scott Kazmir last 7 starts, 4-0 in his last 4 at home and have won six of the lefthander?s last 7 interleague starts. Take the Rays at home. Tampa has won 22 of their last 25 games at Tropicana Field. Chicago Cubs ace Ryan Dempster has a perfect 8-0 record at home, but the Cubs are just 2-5 in right-hander's last 7 road starts.
Tampa Bay Rays - 140
NBA
Lakers at Boston
Look for the Celtics outstanding defensive play to put an end to this series and capture the NBA Championship tonight in Boston, where they are 12-1 in the playoffs. The Celtics have covered the spread in the last seven games against Los Angeles.
Boston Celtics - 4½
B!G AL's INTERLEAGUE BASEBALL GAME OF THE YEAR!
At 10:15pm our selection is on the Detroit Tigers over the San Francisco Giants. Too bad the Tigers can't be doing as well overall this season as they are in Interleague play. Going into tonight's game against San Francisco, the Tigers are 4-3 on the year against National League teams while their overall record remains well under .500 at 32-38. This will be a battle of two lefties: one veteran and one youngster as Detroit's 43-year-old Kenny Rogers takes on San Francisco's 25-year-old Jonathan Sanchez. This will mark the fourth different American League team that Rogers has pitched for in Interleague regular season play against the Giants and overall he's done pretty well going 4-1 so far. Rogers has also seen quite a resurgence lately in general, having given up only four earned runs in his last four starts covering 29 innings. Detroit also figures to fare pretty well against Sanchez as they are hitting 28 points higher against lefties vs. righties, .289 vs. 261, and are 11-5 in those games vs. lefty starters (compared to 21-33 vs. righties!). Going into tonight's game, the Tigers had won six of their last seven games and eight of their last ten. And, more impressively, the Tigers are 33-10 their last 43 Interleague games vs. the NL, and 39-20 their last 59 vs. lefties. Interleague Game of the Year on Detroit.
Michael Cannon
30 Dime –
CELTICS
Lay the points with the Celtics in Game 6 tonight over the Lakers.
This is it folks, the Celtics are your 2008 NBA Champs!
It still baffles me that the linemaker gives the Lakers this much respect at this point in the series. It’s painfully obvious that the Celtics are winning in all phases of the game, they have been better coached and they’ve risen to the occasion when called upon.
That and serious matchup problems for the Lakers make this a lock for the Celtics tonight.
Look, Pau Gasol was taken out of the series right at the opening tip in Game 1. It’s not his fault; he’s just not good enough to go against Kevin Garnett. The Big Ticket has been the main reason the Lakers have looked out of sorts on offense for long stretches in this series.
When Gasol came over the Lakers immediately had a scoring threat at center that they sorely needed. It opened up the floor for Kobe and gave him more scoring options to play off.
With Gasol being locked down, Kobe has to force the issue and his secondary options are not getting it done for him.
Boston has grabbed the cash in every game of this series and is on a 6-0 ATS run. Los Angeles has fallen into a 3-7 ATS rut in its last 10.
Now back at the Garden, the Celtics will enjoy the home court advantage and the intensity of the crowd just waiting to erupt in celebration. Couple that with the defensive intensity Boston has shown in this series and you have all the ingredients for a win and cover here.
Lay the points with the Celtics as they win the championship and cover.
5 Dime –
REDS (With Cueto as listed pitcher)
Take the Reds for the home win over the Dodgers.
The Dodgers have been playing putrid lately; losing 17 of 23 games since May 23, and have lost their last five by a combined 35-12 score. They have been limited to one or no runs in 12 of those 23 games.
The Dodgers will start Chad Billingsley, whose last win came on May 20. Los Angeles is winless in his last four starts mainly because they’ve given him just six total runs of support in those games.
Johnny Cueto will start for the Reds and he’s 2-1 with a 5.50 ERA over his last three starts, but those numbers are a bit skewered after he gave up six runs in five innings of a 10-0 loss to St. Louis in his last start.
Cueto should be able to get back on the right track against this pop gun Dodgers offense.
Take the Reds as they grab the home win.
Indian Cowboy:
Detroit Tigers @ San Francisco Giants
3 units MONEYLINE: San Francisco Giants +105
Jonathan Sanchez has pitched pretty well this season for San Francisco. San Fran is actually 11-3 in his starts this year even though he only has 6 of the wins on his record. The Tigers on the other hand are 7-7 in Kenny Rogers' starts. Sanchez has won his last 3 starts. Detroit has been playing well lately which is why we can get this game at this low of a cost, but SF has been the better team for most of the year. The Giants won last night which means they are now 7-3 in their last 10 games against teams with a losing record. The Giants have always been a good play against left handed starters and the price is right in tonight's game.
Los Angeles Lakers @ Boston Celtics
3 units (Play of the Day) TOTAL: Over 191.5
There's going to be a lot of adrenaline flowing in Game 6 tonight between the Celtics and the Lakers. The highest scoring game of the series was the last one in Boston. Boston should not struggle from the floor as much as they did at times in LA. You've heard me say a thousand times that active dogs lead to overs. LA is going to be scraping and fighting to push it to a game 7 tonight. Whether they get it done or not I don't know but I think that they stay close at least and push the game over the total in Boston tonight.
2-Minute Warning
Philadelphia Phillies
Brandon Lovell
10 Star MLB Twins -120
10 Star MLB Twins RUNLINE -1.5 +130
KBHoops
5 units LAL/Bos UNDER 191.5
Chris James Sports
3* Florida
3* Arizona
3* Cleveland
1* SD
2* Lakers
1* Lakers Under
THE GOLD SHEET'S LTS
BOSTON -4½
Rocketman Sports
Chicago Cubs vs. Tampa Bay Rays
Play: Chicago Cubs
Tampa Bay is 16-42 when playing on Tuesday last 3 years. Cubs are 6-1 their last 7 games overall. Cubs are scoring 5.5 runs per game overall this year and an amazing 6.9 runs per game against left handed starters this season. Cubs bullpen has a 3.20 ERA overall this year and a 3.19 ERA on the road this season. Tampa Bay is scoring only 4.5 runs per game overall this year and 4.3 runs per game at home this season. Dempster is 8-2 with a 2.81 ERA overall, has a 2.59 ERA on the road and is 2-0 his last 3 starts. We'll recommend a small play on the Chicago Cubs tonight!
ROOT
Chairman- Celtics
Millionaire- Tigers
Insiders Circle- Phillies