Jack Jones
St. Louis Cardinals -105
After getting no-hit by the New York Mets Friday en route to a 0-8 loss, you can bet the St. Louis Cardinals are fuming right now. They'll want to take out their frustration on R.A. Dickey and the Mets Saturday. They've lost three straight, so motivation will be on their side today.
Lance Lynn is one of the most underrated starters in the big leagues. He has been St. Louis' best starter, going 8-1 with a 2.54 ERA and 1.068 WHIP in 10 starts while striking out 60 batters in 63 2/3 innings. Dickey has been solid this season as well, but he's 1-1 with a 7.32 ERA and 1.626 WHIP in three career starts against St. Louis.
The Cardinals are 29-12 against the money line after having lost 3 of their last 4 games over the last 2 seasons. St. Louis is 9-1 in Lynn's last 10 starts with the total set at 7.0-8.5, including 6-0 in his last 6 road starts with the total set at 7.0-8.5. The Mets are 3-8 in their last 11 games following a win. Bet St. Louis Saturday.
Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAY
Oklahoma City/ San Antonio Under 202: Had the Under in game 3 and will come right back with it here. We know that both teams can score in the millions, but these teams also know how to play some good defense. The Spurs lost for the first time since April 11 in game 3 and they have played very well off a loss this year, especially defensively as they have allowed just 94.8 ppg off a loss.The Spurs have allowed 98.2 ppg on the road this year, but just 91.6 ppg on the road in the playoffs. The Thunder held the high flying Spurs to just 82 in game, and that isn't anything new in these playoffs. The Thunder have allowed 95.3 ppg at home this year, but in the playoffs they have allowed just 89 ppg, while just 1 of their 6 home playoff game have put up more than 201 points. Both teams did show a commitment to defense in game 3 and I expect more of the same in this one, as I see this one in the lower 190's.
Jeff Alexander
Chicago White Sox -146
The White Sox are rolling. They have won 9 in a row while scoring an average of 8.0 runs per game. Expect Chicago's bats to stay hot against Seattle's Hector Noesi, who's 0-3 with an ERA of 6.67 on the road. The Sox lit him up for 6 runs in 1 1-3 innings in a 7-3 win back in April. The White Sox have won 20 of 23 versus Seattle since the start of 2010, including 10 of 11 at home during this span. Take the South Siders.
Freddy Wills
Cubs / Giants Under 6½
Cain over his last 7 starts vs. the Cubs posts a 0.73 ERA and he's also been great in his career during day starts and even better at home where he posts a 1.85 ERA this year. The Cubs start Matt Garza who has a terrible ERA on the road, but Garza is off back to back poor starts something that he rarely does. A third poor start in a row is not likely to happen in my opinion as it's only happened once in the last 3 years and that was a span where he faced the Red Sox and the Yankees in back to back starts. Garza also has a 2.36 ERA during the last 3 years during day starts and in San Fran this is a border line day/night start with a local start of 4:15pm where I believe there should be some shadows that will impact the hitters ability to hit and pick up the ball from these two pitchers who have great stuff.
Wunderdog
Game: Boston at Toronto
Pick: Toronto +105
The Boston Red Sox, after taking the opener in this series, have now duplicated the team's records at 27-25 on the season. That is good enough to have these teams tied for the basement in the rugged AL East. Kyle Drabek gets the ball for Toronto. He beat this Boston team back in April, allowing just a single run over 5.1 innings of work. The Red Sox used to dominate games in the AL East but that has changed dramatically recently as this team has fallen off. The Sox are just 16-33 in their last 49 played within the division. Drabek has been great pitching after a team loss, where the Jays are 12-4 in his last 16 in this spot. Play on Toronto.
Fairway Jay
Dodgers / Rockies Over 10.5
We cashed a pair of underdog winners to start June baseball and chipped-in a free play winner on the Pirates +135 in their 8-2 win at Milwaukee last night. Today it’s back to the totals market and no reason not to ride the Rockies OVER meal ticket as they host division leading LA. The Dodgers have lost five straight games while the Rockies enter on a roll with five straight wins.
Colorado games have gone over the total 11 consecutive games and have scored 13, 11, 13, 7 and 9 runs during their surge at home. Note that shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has been out the past two games and is now on the 15-day disabled list. Still, the hot bats should continue against LA starter Aaron Harang, who has allowed 41 hits in 33 innings on the road with a .306 BAA.
Rockies starter Juan Nicasio has been hit hard his last two starts and has a .325 BAA at Coors Field along with a 7.04 ERA and 1.83 WHIP. This looks like a good match-up for the Dodgers bats to also break out from their recent slump.
Michael Alexander
New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers
Play: New York Yankees
The Tigers come into this one struggling as the are only 4-7 in their last 11 games overall. Their starer Rick Porcello hasn't been much better in his 10 outings sporting a horrible 5.21 ERA. The Yankees starter, Hiroki Kuroda, is coming off his best start of the season and has a sparkling 2.03 ERA in his last two. In addition, the Yankees have been hitting the ball well. Good Price for a team that is playing a lot better than the home team.