Info Plays
3* on Arizona Diamondbacks -105
(Listing Owings and Kuroda)
Arizona is off to a hot start in the NL West so don’t look for it to slow down tonight. Arizona has scored 19 runs combined in the past 2 days against the Dodgers to really tax their bullpen. This will be a big factor tonight when the Dodgers don’t have their best arms to throw at Arizona down the stretch. Micah Owings (1-0, 1.35 ERA) hopes the offensive surge continues. The 25-year-old righthander was terrific in his first start of the season - allowing one run and two hits in 6 2/3 innings with a career high nine strikeouts during an 8-1 victory over Colorado on Friday. Arizona is 54-34 (+20.7 Units) against the money line when the money line is +125 to -125 over the last 2 seasons. Arizona is 16-4 (+12.2 Units) against the money line after a game with a combined score of 15 runs or more over the last 2 seasons. Bet Arizona at home.
Bob Akmens
Minnesota Wild -125 / 3 units
THE POWER INDEX
NBA
Orlando* 10.5 over Chicago
Cleveland* 6 over New Jersey
Boston 5.5 over Washington*
Toronto* 10 over Milwaukee
Philadelphia* 2 over Detroit
New York* .5 over Charlotte
New Orleans 5? over Minnesota*
Houston* 18 over Seattle
San Antonio* 5.5 over Phoenix
Todays Picks
Phillies +125
National Sports Advisors
Colorado +115
Guaranteed Sports Pick
Phillies +125
Fast Eddie Sports
Ov Red Sox 9.5
The Parlay King
Minn Wild -1.5 +210
Ross Benjamin
Und Tex 10
KING MAKER
Arizona Diamondbacks -105 1/2 UNIT
Sports Book Edge
Mariners/D'rays Ov.9.5
Valley Sports
Magic -9
White Sox -140
Winning Colors Picks
Magic -9
LPW Sports Forecast
Ph.Suns +7
Frank Patron
Philadelphia Phillies +125
Bobby Bo
1* Philadelphia -3
Paul Leiner
5* Over 9 DBacks/Dodgers
Doug Bartlett
NY Rangers at NJ Devils Under 4.5 (5 Star)
Miguel Ramirez
Portland Trailblazers +2.0
Donald Tran
Colorado Rockies +110
Jennifer Barry
St. Louis Cardinals +105
Chad Jordan
Orlando Magic -10.5
John Ryan
Game: Oakland Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays
Prediction: Oakland Athletics
Reason: Ai Simulator 3* graded play on Oakland. Supporting this graded play is a system that has produced a record of 28-11 and has made 27.1 units since 2002. Play against all favorites with a money line of -125 to -175 with good defensive catchers that are allowing 0.5 or less SB/game on the season and after scoring 7 runs or more 3 straight games. Oakland is in several strong roles noting that they are 13-5 (+11.5 Units) against the money line versus an excellent bullpen whose ERA is 3.00 or better over the last 3 seasons. Toronto is just 9-23 (-15.8 Units) against the money line in home games versus AL teams allowing 3.7 or less RPG on the season since 1997. Injuries to A?s starters has hardly been noticed with the A?s offense working in high gear. Greg Smith will make his MLB debut today. He is a sixth-round draft pick by Arizona in 2005 and was acquired last winter in the deal that sent Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks. In his lone start at Triple-A Sacramento this season, Smith gave up two runs and six hits, striking out four in six innings of a loss at Tacoma. A starter making his MLB debut has a significant advantage simply because hitters have not faced him. Reading a scouting report and viewing video is far different than actually facing a pitcher for the first time. Take Oakland
Gold Medal Club
San Diego vs San Francisco
Germano vs Sanchez (LP)
Play ON SAN DIEGO -1.5 Run Line
Knowing that San Diego are 16-5 in the last 21, and that in this game there is a bigger differential in the pitching match up that the line dictates its not hard to put San Diego on the card tonight.
Germano was the bad recipient of his teams bullpen when they faced the Dodgers, he went 6 innings giving up 1 run. Sanchez however, never made it past the 4th in Milwaukee getting shelled for 7 runs in the process.
Given the anemic offense of the Giants, this one gets out of hand early, as I see San Diego putting a thumping on the Giants tonight.
Nelly
Baltimore (Trachsel) + over Texas (Gabbard)
The O?s are crushing left-handed pitching with a .364 team average and with a MLB best 6-1 record, Baltimore has to be a play-on team until they fall back to earth. Pitching was a big concern for the Orioles but the starters have been solid including veteran Steve Trachsel who allowed just four hits in a win over Seattle last week. Kason Gabbard did not allow a run in his first 2008 start for the Rangers but he allowed seven hits and was fortunate to escape trouble in a few instances. Texas has scored two or fewer runs in four games already this season and the offense has been hit or miss. The Rangers have not proven worthy of being favored this severely over anyone, let alone a red-hot Baltimore team that is defying expectations.
Power Plays Hotline
Boston Celtics @ Washington Wizards
The Celtics played in Milwaukee last night and had to go to Overtime to escape with the Victory. They did not intend to play the Big 3 but had to late in the Game. Tonight they face a Washington Wizards team who still has a chance at the Playoffs. Without the Big 3, the Wizards can win this match up going away. Look for Boston to rest their Big 3 in this one. Chalk one up for Doc Rivers.
Take Washington plus the points over the Boston Celtics
STEPHEN NOVER
GAME: Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Pirates
PICK: Over
REASON FOR PICK: Do you trust Ryan Dempster? I sure don't. But I don't trust Zach Duke either. I do trust this total will reach double-digits making this an 'over' play.
Dempster was solid in his first outing this season. That's a factor why I consider this total too low. He's always had control issues and his career mark versus Pittsburgh is 3-7 with a 6.04 ERA.
The Pirates have come out swinging the bats well. They rank fifth in the majors in runs scored. They've scored 17 runs in their past two games. The 'over' is 7-2 in the Pirates' past nine games.
The Cubs are swining the bats well, too, averaging better than seven runs per game during their last three games. Duke was awful last year. The southpaw wasn't particularly impressive in spring training either or during his first start. allowing 10 hits in six innings against Atlanta. The Cubs are batting .355 this season versus lefties. The Pirates' middle relief is very vulnerable.
DAVE MALINSKY
GAME: Detroit Pistons @ Philadelphia
PICK: Philadelphia 76ers
This is the kind of game that the oddsmakers have absolute headaches with late in the season, and to understand those issues also means an opportunity to cash an easy ticket.
Today?s marketplace is dominated by a lot of ?math money?, and that means that situations simply can not get too far away from base power ratings before they get back towards a perceived norm. So in a game like this that means a lot of the home team, and absolutely nothing at all to the visitors, we do not see nearly the adjustment to the 76ers that there should be. Yes, the Pistons have been much better this season, and will be much better starting next weekend. But the group that will take the court tonight will not bear much resemblance at all to the one that has put those full-season numbers together. We wrote about this in a RIM SHOTS column in early March, detailing how the fact that they were locked into the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs at such an early stage of the season gave them little to play for the rest of the way, and also how the fact that fatigue caused such problems in the playoffs the last two seasons that Flip Saunders would be cautious in allocating minutes down the stretch. That has absolutely been the case.
The Pistons have played four road games against teams that will qualify for the playoffs since March 1st, and went 0-4 SU and ATS in those games, losing to the spread by a combined 46 points. There is no reason why that changes here - if anything we could see them even more out of sync. Now they are playing back-to-back nights, and on their third different court in four nights, with no target to aim at, and after those Tuesday ceremonies at The Palace led to such a late tipoff vs. the Knicks, the turnaround is more difficult than usual. We will fully expect Richard Hamilton to sit out again, and for the Detroit players to be more interested in avoiding injuries than playing to the scoreboard.
Contrast this with the 76ers, who are not only rested and ready, having been off since Saturday, but also will treat this like a playoff game. They are only one game behind Washington for the key #5 spot in the East, which would mean Cleveland as the first round opponent rather than Orlando, and the matchup issues involved make that a major target. With big edges in energy and cohesion, look for them to comfortably get past the short price and win this one going away.
Ted Sevransky
Baltimore Orioles @ Texas Rangers
PICK: Over
REASON FOR PICK: Rangers starter Kason Gabbard is an easy pitcher to bet Over the total. Gabbard struggled mightily after coming over from Boston in a mid-season trade last year, particularly here in Arlington. He suffered through a miserable spring training, with an ERA over 10.00 in his five starts. But Gabbard was brilliant in his debut, throwing seven scoreless innings against the Angels in Anaheim. Facing an Orioles lineup that is already hitting .364 against southpaws this season, look for Gabbard to return to his usual form here against an Orioles lineup that has produced 38 runs during their current six game winning streak.
Steve Trachsel hasn?t been much of an Over pitcher of late, and the Orioles bullpen has been second to none early in the season, giving us a very reasonable total to work with in this ballgame. Before we get carried away with the success of the Orioles pen (only two runs allowed in 24.1 innings of work), let?s not forget that this is essentially the same bullpen that got crushed last year, finishing 13th in a 14 team American League in ERA. And before we get carried away with Trachsel?s solid outing in his ?08 debut, let?s not forget that he is a contact pitcher with control problems, a very bad fit for a warm, humid evening in Arlington. The Rangers offense has scored ten runs or more twice in their last four games. If they reach half that number tonight, we should cash this ticket with relative ease. Take the Over.
WILL SYKES
PHOENIX vs SAN ANTONIO
SYKE-O-ANALYSIS: To begin with, this total already seems to be low. Then to know what's at stake for these two teams in playoff positioning. These two teams have dueled it out 3 times this season and the Suns have won 2 of 3. Winning one on the road. So the Suns know how to beat this team on the road. And that is to put up points. The Suns are 4-12 ATS when scoring under 100 points. So they know that they need to hit that century mark to win this game. Being tied in the 6th spot with the Rockets, and a game behind the Lakers, Jazz, and ultimately the Spurs, they know what to do to win this game. With that being said I've put together a prop of the month which will cash no problem. If the Suns really want to win this game, this prop will cash EASILY, but even if the Suns don't want to win this game (which I find hard to find) their offense will still provide easily over 95 points.
6* PROP GOM: PHOENIX SUNS OVER 95.5 POINTS
FRANK ROSENTHAL
NBA HOOPS
BULLS-9 SB
OVER 184 SB+
SUNS-11 SB
OVER 224 SB
BLAZERS+9 SB
OVER 201 SB+
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
NYM-150 SB
DODGERS-120 SB
GIANTS-120 SB
ROYALS+125 SB
TRIBE+121 SB
Tony Mathew's
Matchup: Seattle SuperSonics vs. Houston Rockets
Selection: Houston Rockets -16.5
Explanation: We will lay the points with the Houston Rockets as they face-off against the Seattle SuperSonics in Wednesday's NBA contest.
The Houston Rockets have the superior defense. The Houston Rockets (at home) are allowing opponents to score an average of only 90.6 points per game, while the Seattle SuperSonics (on the road) are allowing opponents to score an average of 109.1 points per game. As you can see, the Houston Rockets have the superior defense.
The Houston Rockets have been a solid at home team this season. In fact, the Houston Rockets are 13-4-1 ATS in their last 18 home games.
Take the Houston Rockets -16.5
ATS Basketball Lock Club
3units Spurs
3 units NO
ATS Hockey Lock Club
4 units Minnesota
3 units Over Ott-Pitt