MATT RIVERS
Your Sunday comp play is going to be the total of the Yankees-Royals contest, as I see the teams finally breaking out of their offensive droughts and coming up with some big runs today as we head Over the total at Kauffman Stadium.
All three games contested this weekend have played Under the total, but today Phil Hughes and Luke Hochevar will be serving them up.
Hughes sports a season ERA approaching 8, and Hochevar's season ERA is in that same stratasphere at 7.36.
Four of Hochevar's five starts this season have wound up playing Over the total as well.
It has been a quiet weekend thus far for the scoreboard hits and runs operator, but I think he will be busy this afternoon with a couple of suspect hurlers throwing the baseball.
Play the Yankees-Royals to head Over the total today.
1♦ OVER
JEFF BENTON
Your Sunday freebie is the Miami Heat as the road favorite over the New York Knicks.
Amar'e says he is good to go today, but even if Stoudemire is able to play, it is a case of too little, too late for the Knickerbockers.
New York has not been able to figure a way to get consistent offense in this series, and it surely doesn't help that they are playing against one of the better defensive teams in the league in the Miami Heat.
The Heat will look to get out the broom today at Madison Square Garden, as they have now won ALL six series meetings this season, while going 4-1-1 against the spread in those six wins.
Miami is just the better team. They are better and they are deeper, and today they will put the Knicks who have lost 13 straight postseason contests out of their misery.
With this spread a little bit on the high side, expect it to take some time for Miami to get comfortably on top of this impost, but indeed they will as the Heat advance with another lopsided victory over the Knicks.
3♦ MIAMI
CRAIG DAVIS
Today's free play is on the Los Angeles Lakers over Denver.
With the Thunder raising the bar by sweeping the Mavericks, L.A. wants to dispose of the Denver Nuggets as quickly as possible in order to not give the Thunder adequate rest while they have to play unnecessary games.
The Lakers are clearly better than Denver, but had a slip up in Game 3 because they got complacent. They got lazy on defense and Kobe Bryant simply couldn't hit the long ball. If he hits even two of those shots, the Lakers come back and possibly win the game.
Instead, it got the Denver crowd into the game and allowed the Nuggets to keep the lead a little longer in the 4th quarter and ultimately led to a nice, 15-point Denver win.
Not tonight. The defense of the Lakers must play better, and I believe they will. They know they have to play better on that side of the ball to beat the Thunder in the next round... should they get there.
Tonight, it's all Lakers. Take Los Angeles as your free play of the day.
2♦ L.A. LAKERS
John Ryan
New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals
Prediction: Kansas City Royals
5* graded play on Kansas City s they take on the New York Yankees set to start at 2:10 PM ET. I had the 25* Royals winner as they defeated the Yankees easily as +130 dogs. I strongly believe the Yankees will lose again today. The simulator shows a high probability that the Royals will win this game. Supporting this graded play is a system that has produced a record of 30-9 for 77% winners since 1997. Play against AL road teams that are solid offensive team scoring between 4.7 to 5.2 runs per game and are on a good fielding streak completing 15 straight games with one or less errors and now facing a struggling starting pitcher posting an ERA>=6.20. Take the Royals
Michael Alexander
Miami Marlins vs. San Diego Padres
Play: Miami Marlins
The Marlins send pitcher, Ricky Nolasco, to the hill. Nolasco has been good through his first five outings posting a 2.76 ERA.
The Padres come in at only 9-19 overall. Padres starter Joe Wieland hasn't been effective either going 0-4 in his first 4 starts with a high 4.91 ERA.
Jack Jones
A's / Rays Under 7½
This should be a very low-scoring game this afternoon between the Oakland A's and Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of their series. Tom Milone and Matt Moore are two of the most underrated starters in the league.
Milone is 3-2 with a 3.69 ERA and 1.010 WHIP in five starts this season for Oakland. Moore is one of the best young left-handers in the game, and he showed that in the postseason last year. Moore is 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA over his last three starts this season.
Tampa Bay is 26-9 to the UNDER after a loss by 2 runs or less over the last 2 seasons. The UNDER is 71-29-5 in Rays last 105 games as a home favorite. The UNDER is 20-7-2 in A's last 29 games with the total set at 7.0-8.5. The UNDER is 8-2-1 in Rays last 11 games with the total set at 7.0-8.5. Bet the UNDER in this game Sunday.