Doc's Sports
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees
Play: Over
The Red Sox and Yankees are set to do battle in game two of this series, as the Red Sox will likely visit the Stadium for the last series. Sir Sidney Ponson will take the mound for the home team and he was terrible the last time he faced the Red Sox giving up 10 hits in just four innings of work. He gave up seven earned runs in that game and that is the same amount he gave up in his last start against Toronto. He lasted just two innings on Thursday and he is just on the roster based on necessity and not actual quality. He is 7-4 on the season meaning the team scores lots of runs for him and thus this sets up for a perfect situation with the over. Paul Byrd will be his counterpart and he is coming off back-to-back poor starts with the Red Sox in which he allowed four runs in each outing. Byrd does not have the stuff to blow it past the Yankees and expect him to struggle early and often. We will not worry about who wins this pick’em game and just collect with the over.
Scott Ferrall
BASEBALL FREE B's FOR WEDNESDAY
Detroit -180 and Verlander over Carmona and the Indians
ChiSox and Danks -200 over Liz and the Orioles
Twins -185 and Perkins over Seattle
Lincecum -250 and the Giants over the Rockies and Livan Hernandez
St.Louis -155 and Wainwright over Parra and the Brewers at Busch
Houston -260 and Oswalt over Cincinnati and Josh Fogg
Jimmy The Moose
Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers
Prediction: Cleveland Indians
The red hot Indians have won 9 in a row and are 15-3 in their last 18 games overall. With last night's win in Detroit the Indians have now won 8 straight on the road. Cleveland has won 8 straight vs. a team with a losing record. The Indians are 16-5 in Carmona's last 21 starts vs. NL Central team's. Detroit has now lost 7 of their last 9 home games. The Tigers are 5-15 in Verlander's last 20 starts vs. divisional opponents. The Tigers are 1-5 in Verlander's last 6 starts vs. the Indians. Cleveland is 6-1 in Carmona's last 7 starts vs. Detroit. Play on the Cleveland Indians +.
Priceless Picks
1 Unit on Washington Nationals +165
Washington pulled off the big upset over the struggling Dodgers Tuesday and I like the Nats to do it again Wednesday. The Dodgers have now lost 7 straight road games and five straight against the NL East. Redding always gives Washington its best chance to win. The Nationals are 10-4 in Redding's last 14 starts vs. a team with a losing record, 6-1 in Redding's last 7 home starts vs. a team with a losing record, and 6-2 in Redding's last 8 home starts overall. We'll take the Nats at a solid price.
Marc Lawrence
Milwaukee Brewers at St Louis Cardinals
Prediction: St Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals and Brewers conclude their two-game series in St. Louis when Adam Wainwright takes on Manny Parra at Busch Stadium. Wainwright has been extra sharp at home this season, compiling a 2.76 ERA, Meanwhile, Parra has struggled on the road with a 5.13 ERA, more than a run and a half worse than his 3.40 home ERA. With Parra off an 'inside-out' win (5 innings, 10 men on base), look for the Red Birds to salvage a series split here tonight.
Bobby Maxwell
N.Y. Mets -150 at PHILADELPHIA
Today we've got a winner coming on the Mets as they take on the Phillies in Philadelphia in a key N.L. East matchup.
It took 13 innings but the Phillies got the best of the Mets Tuesday night and got an 8-7 vicotry to take over first place in the N.L. East. But tonight we're going to take the Mets behind their ace Johan Santana (12-7, 2.64 ERA).
It's reasons like today the Mets went out and got Santana in the offseason. He has to deliver in games like this, against rivals, in importand divisional games. Santana has been on fire lately, going 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA and holding opponents to a .242 batting average. He's thrown back-to-back shutouts, going seven innings against the Astros on Friday in a 3-0 win and tossing a complete game at Pittsburgh on August 17 in a 4-0 win.
The Mets have won four straight starts and seven of Santana's last nine. He's started three games against the Phillies this season and pitched well in all three, allowing a combined seven runs in 23 innings but the Mets have lost two of the three.
Kyle Kendrick (11-7, 4.87) is just 1-2 in his last three starts with a whopping 9.95 ERA. He hasn't gotten out of the fourth inning in two of his last three starts. He looked good in his last start against New York but lost when he didn't get any run support.
Play the Mets behind Santana in this one. He will deliver in the clutch.
4♦ N.Y. METS
Locksmith Sports
1 Unit on Chicago White Sox -185
The Sox crushed the O's Tuesday night and I like them to deal Baltimore another home loss Wednesday. The White Sox come to play on Wednesday at 12-2 in their last 14 Wednesday games. The White Sox are 5-0 in their last 5 during game 3 of a series, 37-15 in their last 52 vs. a team with a losing record, and 5-1 in Danks' last 6 starts during game 3 of a series. The Orioles are just 11-26 in their last 37 during game 3 of a series, 17-36 in their last 53 games vs. a left-handed starter, and 0-4 in their last 4 vs. a team with a winning record. Take the Sox!
PlusLineSports
Chicago White Sox vs Baltimore
Chicago White Sox-1.5
Big Al
At 7:05pm our complimentary selection is on the New York Yankees over the Boston Red Sox. Two pitchers that probably no one would have expected to see in Red Sox and Yankee uniforms prior to the beginning of the 2008 season are veterans Paul Byrd and Sidney Ponson. Byrd is a 37-year-old righthander who has now played for nine Major League teams and who started this season as a member of the Cleveland Indians before they had their yard sale and shipped him off to the Red Sox to help bolster Boston's injured staff. Although it seems like righthander Ponson has been around at least as long as Byrd, he is actually six years his junior and he has now made the Yankees his sixth Major League team after beginning the sesaon as a member of the Texas Rangers. Many people may not remember that this is actually Ponson's second time around with New York as he spent a brief period in pinstripes back in 2006. Despite a 1-1 record since coming over, Byrd has been unimpressive in his two starts so far with the Red Sox. If you throw out Ponson's last start, which was a disaster in Toronto on August 21, he has four quality starts in a row and he is undefeated this season at home with a 3-0 record and 4.18 ERA at Yankee Stadium. Even with their victory in the Bronx on Tuesday, the Red Sox are still only 4-7 in their last eleven trips to New York. Take the Yankees. As always, good luck...Al McMordie.
Dave Cokin
LA Dodgers and WAS Nationals
Take WAS Nationals
Is Manny-mania wearing off for the Dodgers? The future Hall of Fame LF is still hitting at a remarkable rate and added three hits Tuesday in the loss at Washington. But the rest of the Dodgers have suddenly hit a big wall, and LA is now mired in a five-game losing streak. The Nationals are clearly awful, but they're catching a huge price tonight against a team that's on a substantial skid. The Dodgers should eventually get themselves straightened out, but for tonight I'm willing to take a chance with the Nationals as big home dogs.
Jim Feist
TOR Blue Jays and TB Rays
Take Over
Cito Gaston is still a hitting instructor at heart. That attention to the team's brightest offensive prospect shows in the seemingly light-hearted pep talks he gives. Toronto is also getting healthy on offense and they've been hot, going over the total in 4 straight games. The offense scored 34 runs in those 4 games! Tampa Bay was an under machine in the first half of the season, but oddsmakers have caught up. The Rays are on a 5-2 run over the total. The Rays have a fine balanced offense, one with speed and power. They will get plenty of base runners against Toronto lefty David Purcey, who has a 6.55 ERA, walking 21 in 34 innings. In fact, he's allowed 53 base runners in those 34 innings! Tampa Bay is an excellent hitter's park, so look for plenty of runs. Play the Blue Jays/Rays over the total.
Steve Merril
Oakland Athletics vs. LAA Angels
Play: LAA Angels
The Angels are the best team in the American League and the overall favorite to win the World Series. They were struggling through a mini-slump earlier this month, but turned things around this past weekend with back-to-back home wins versus the Twins. This apparently left the Angels a bit flat on Monday night when they overlooked Oakland and suffered a surprising 2-1 loss as a -225 favorite. The Angels bounced-back with a solid 5-1 win last night and they should remain focused again this evening against an Oakland squad that stands a terrible 9-30 SU in their past 39 games. My pitcher performance ratings predict a solid bounce-back effort from Anaheim’s Joe Saunders who has not won either of his past two starts, but still has a fantastic 3.37 ERA and 1.21 WHIP this season in 25 starts with a fantastic 18-7 SU team record. Meanwhile, Oakland’s rookie Gio Gonzalez has been terrible in his first four major league starts with a miserable 6.52 ERA and 1.76 WHIP. It is no surprise as Gonzalez was only mediocre in the minor leagues and is undersized by today’s standards at just 5’11” and 185 pounds.
Play L.A. ANGELS
Chris Jordan
Cincinnati +230 at HOUSTON
What can I say, I’m one to take chances, so we’ll grab the big money with Cincinnati and Josh Fogg against Houston and Reds-killer Roy Oswalt. You want premium, I have higher-rated plays. This is a comp pick and I am taking a shot with a guy who’s been disastrous all season, and has a 7.86 ERA on the road. He’s 2-6 with an 8.44 ERA. So why bother? Because it’s seems too easy to say Roy Oswalt on the run line. And every time something looks too easy, and every one else is touting the same blowout, it blows up in your face. You’ve seen the lines lately, they’re astronomical. And each day one big favorite has to fall – like the Diamondbacks last night.
Tonight I’m banking it’ll be the ‘Stros, and Oswalt. Let me get back to Fogg momentarily, as I’ve noticed his earned-run allowance shrink this month, from a sky-high six on Aug. 7 to these same Astros, to a respectable-low three at Wrigley Field against the front-running Cubs. That’s not too shabby. Tells me he is improving. With Oswalt, he could easily overlook this team and toy around once too often and pay the price. Let’s play the dog here, and then grab my premium selections where the real value is at for tonight.
2♦ REDS
Bob Harvey
Take Cleveland Indians +161 over Detroit Tigers.
The Indians are trying to complete a perfect six-game road trip for the first time in three years. If they do that, they'll also win 10 straight contests for the first time since April 3-13, 2002. This is a great price for a team that has won nine in a row. Detroit has underacheived all year and have seemingly quit on manager Jim Leyland. This is certainly worth a small play on the Tribe.
Matt Fargo
Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels
Prediction: Los Angeles Angels
After dropping Game One of this series, the Angels got one back last night behind a solid pitching performance from John Lackey. Los Angeles dropped its first two games of this homestand against the Twins but it has now won three of its last four games to improve to 18-7 over its last 25 home games. The pitching has gotten progressively better over the last five games, allowing nine runs, then five, three, two and finally one last night. The ERA sits at 3.50 over the last 10 games.
Oakland continues its inconsistent play and most of that is due to a lethargic offense. The A?s have a .192 average over their last 11 games and over this span, they have averaged only 2.5 rpg. They have hit .219 or worse in nine of those games. Of their last six losses, all have been by at least two runs and have been by an average of 5.8 rpg so the runline is in good shape here. Also, Oakland is 3-13 on the road against the runline when facing a starting pitcher whose ERA is 3.50 or better.
The pitcher in question here is Joe Saunders who has quietly had a spectacular season thus far. He is 14-6 with a 3.37 ERA and while coming off a horrible start, he is in a good spot to rebound. Previous to this last game he had allowed four runs or more four times and followed that up with a quality outing next time out with the Angels going 3-1 in those games. This season, he is 2-0 with a 1.26 ERA in two starts against Oakland who is 5-15 in its last 20 road games against a left-handed starter.
Oakland counters with Gio Gonzalez who has not pitched very well this season. He has a 6.52 ERA in his four starts, none of which have been quality, and Oakland has gone 1-3 in those games. He has a 1.76 WHIP as well and on top of that, the A?s are giving him only 2.3 rpg of support. On the flip side, the opposition has plated 8.8 rpg in those four outings. The Angels are 14-6 in their last 20 home games against a left-handed starter while hitting a solid .281 at home against lefty pitching. Play Los Angeles Angles -1.5 Runs 1.5 Units