Trace Adams
1000 Dime: Orlando Magic
500 Dime: Atlanta Braves -1.5
Dave Cokin
Listed pitchers must go: (R) WELLS, R vs. (L) BURRES, B
Play: Chi. Cubs (ML -140)
If you follow my baseball plays on an even occasional basis, you know I rarely lay any kind of even mildly significant prices, especially on the road. There are exceptions, however, and the Cubs-Pirates duel tonight qualifies. The Cubs are going to want this game, as they sure don't want to get swept by the lowly Pirates. And I expect their bats to come out blasting against the southpaw serves of the decidedly mediocre Brian Burres. He's just never exhibited the ability to win at the major league level, and this is a chance for some of the big righty bats owned by the Cubs, especially a hot Alfonso Soriano, to unload. On the flip side, Randy Wells continues to be outstanding for Chicago. He's been rock solid all season, and his only off starts were at Wrigley with the wind blowing out. No such issues here, and Wells should easily contain the limited Pittsburgh attack. I'm willing to go ahead and lay the price on the road in a game I expect the Cubs to win comfortably.
Dave Cokin
Play: Orlando (-9 -110)
The tried and true NBA Playoff zig-zag theory says to play Atlanta here, as the Hawks are off the outright and spread loss in the opener. But this is one spot where I'll buck that angle, as I think we're going to see another easy win by the Magic. Orlando is just too tenacious defensively for the Hawks, and they're too quick for them as well. Overconfidence is the only danger I can see here, and Stan Van Gundy's non-stop intensity on the sidelines will likely prevent that from being a problem. Plus, with a perfect playoff slate going right now, I am confident that the Magic are going to be all out to keep the streak intact. Lay the points in another big Magic win and cover.
Al DeMarco
5 Dime Phillies/Cardinals Under 8.5
Bobby Maxwell
300 Units Hawks
100 Units Giants
Chris Jordan
200 Units Phillies -1.5
Karl Garrett
20 Dime Magic
10 Dime White Sox -1.5
Stephen Nover
40 Dime Magic (buy a half a point)
15 Dime Angels
Lenny Del Genio
20* Orlando -9
Craig Davis
20 Dime - Phillies -1.5
20 Dime - Cubs
20 Dime - Twins -1.5
20 Dime - White Sox -1.5
20 Dime - Hawks
BIG AL
3* Hawks +9.5
3* Red Sox -140
3* Brewers/Dodgers Over 9
Al DeMarco
5 Dime Phillies/Cardinals Under 8.5
The Phillies are 5-1 under in Roy Halladay's starts, no surprise considering their ace has allowed just nine runs while striking out 39 and walking only four in 49 innings pitched.
The Cardinals are 3-1 under iin one-time Phil Kyle Lohse's starts this year and he's allowed just four runs in his last two outings.
St. Louis is 19-8-1 under on the season, including 10-5 on the road, and 8-2-1 under in its last 11 games overall.
Outstanding pitching has dominated this series so far with the first three games staying under the posted price, decided by final scores of 6-3, 2-1 and 4-0.
After starting the season by going over in eight of their first 10 games, the Phillies have slumped offensively, staying under in 11 of their last 17 outings. That trend continues this afternoon at home in a game that I'm surprised was priced at 8 1/2 rather than 7 1/2 considering Halladay was on the mound.
Bryan Leonard
National League Pitching Showdown
San Francisco at Florida
Today we have a solid pitching match-up in Florida as Matt Cain takes on Ricky Nolasco. The Giants have had a lot of success in this series winning 10 of 14 here and 18 of 26 overall. In his last five starts against the Marlins Cain has an impressive 2.88 ERA with all five starts being quality ones. In his last seven starts overall he owns a 2.42 ERA with close to a 4 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. The Giants are 11-6 on the season against right-handed starters as they look to take the first three games of this series.
Nolasco was nearly unhittable in the preseason but enters with a 4.01 ERA here. His two home starts in 2010 have been disastrous as he has allowed 10 earned runs in 10 innings of work.
The Giants are playing the much better ball right now having won 6 of their last 8 games while Florida has dropped 5 of 7 here at home. The value is with the better starter as Nolasco has been too inconsistent to back as a favorite.
PLAY SAN FRANCISCO
Dwayne Bryant
Chicago Cubs -148
Scott Delaney
10 Dime Magic - How do you recover from a 43-point beatdown in 48 hours? Put it this way, the Hawks couldn't rebound from their resounding victory over Milwaukee on Sunday, when they stepped on the floor 48 hours later to open their series with Orlando; thus, I don't believe they have what it takes to rebound from that embarrassing performance Tuesday night.
I watched the entire game, and I have to tell you, it was like Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley last Saturday on pay-per-view. As Mayweather did in the first two rounds, allowing Mosley to expose his hand, er, strategy, the Magic did the same in the first quarter. Tied 27-27 with 10:19 left in the half, Orlando went on a 17-0 run to go up 44-27 and take control of the game.
The Hawks were limited to 10 points in the 2nd quarter and 11 points in the 3rd quarter, getting outpointed 60-21 in the middle periods.
Blowing this team out is nothing new, as Orlando finished 3-1 against Atlanta this season, with wins of 37, 32 and 17 points. With the 43-point win in Game 1, that's an average margin of victory of 32.25 points per victory. Quite frankly, the Hawks have never had an answer for Orlando big man Dwight Howard or the team's potent 3-point game.
Howard, whose tendency to get into foul trouble, was clearly in control of his game against Al Horford, who has absolutely no answer for him and won't be able to contain him on his own court. You add in the effectiveness of wily veteran Vince Carter, the leadership role Jameer Nelson assumes and the depth the defending Eastern Conference champs have ... the Hawks don't stand a chance in this one.
Rocket Man
4* Tampa Bay -135
ATS Lock Club
3 Units Magic -9.5
4 Units Royals
4 Units Braves
Eddie Roman
15K Dime Atlanta / Orlando Over 189.5
Pure Lock
Texas Rangers