SPORTS WAGERS
Ivory Coast +261 OVER Portugal
Ivory Coast has been made a substantial underdog because of Drogba's questionable fitness for this match. Even if he does not play (which I think he will), Ivory Coast still has a very strong starting eleven that can match Portugal, who will be without one of their star players in Nani who has been ruled out of the tournament with an injury. Aside from Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal does not have that secondary offensive threat. Ivory Coast will keep a close eye defensively, shadowing Ronaldo and will counter attack with plenty of speed at every opportunity. Even if Drogba isn't fit to go Ivory Coast still has enough offense to cause this questionable Portuguese back line severe problems. I would look to watch out for Gervinho of the Ivory Coast, who plays his club football in France for Lille as a danger man in this match and throughout the tournament, as he is a very explosive player that can surprise any team at any given moment. This game will be close, as both teams are matched evenly, however, to say that Portugal is a lot better than Ivory coast as the line suggests is a silly statement at best, and I am very surprised to see this African power this big an underdog. Ivory Coast will sneak past Portugal and look to grab second place behind Brazil in this the Group of Death. Play: Ivory Coast +2.61 (Risking 2 units)
JIM FEIST
HOUSTON ASTROS / KANSAS CITY ROYALS
PLAY: HOUSTON ASTROS
The Houston offense is weak, but everyone has been hitting KC starter Kyle Davies (5.48 ERA). He walks too many batters (28 in 67 innings) and in his last three starts has an ERA of 8.62. The Astros go with a very good arm in Felipe Paulino, an under the radar pitcher with an ERA of 3.82 for the season and 1.13 his last three starts. Play the Astros.
Marc Lawrence
Houston Astros at Kansas City Royals
Prediction: Houston Astros
The Astros send Felipe Paulino to the hill in Kansas City against Kyle Davies and the Royals Tuesday evening. Paulino enters tonight contest in season peak form at 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA in his last three starts. Meanwhile, Davies is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA in his last three home starts.. With that, look for Houston to improve to 9-1 all-time in this park here tonight. We recommend a 1-unit play on Houston.
VEGAS EXPERTS
Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Lakers
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Go with the zig-zag theory here. The Lakers are down 3-2 with this being a possible elimination game in Los Angeles. Kobe and Company will not drop three in a row. Go with the Lakers.
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Play on: Los Angeles Lakers
Matt Fargo
Houston Astros vs. Kansas City Royals
Play: Houston Astros
It is a safe assumption to say that the Astros are taking a big step down in class for this series. They are coming off a series against the Yankees where they were swept pretty handily but have a chance to get some back here. Prior to the weekend set in New York, Houston was playing very good with wins in eight of its previous 10 games including three straight in Colorado. Kansas City is coming off a decent roadtrip where it went 3-3 including a series win in Cincinnati over the weekend. Heading home is not exactly a huge benefit however as the Royals are just 12-18 at Kaufman Stadium this season. The Astros send Felipe Paulino to the mound and he has completely turned his season around. He had just one quality outings in his first seven starts but has since tossed five in a row to lower his ERA to a season low 3.82. His record does not show the progress as he remains just 1-7 on the season but after losing his fist seven games, the Astros have won four of his last five and hopefully the run support continues to climb. He will be opposed by Kyle Davies who is going the opposite direction. He started the season with six quality outings in his first nine starts but he has blown up over his last three trips to the hill, posting a rugged 8.62 ERA over that stretch. The Royals have dropped his last three home starts after starting 2-0 as the offense has scored a total of two runs in those last three home contests. Kansas City is 0-6 this season at home as favorites of -150 or less and it is just 9-25 in its last 34 games when coming off a win by four runs or more. The Astros meanwhile are 5-1 in their last six games after allowing five runs or more in their previous game. Houston also falls into a solid contrarian underdog situation. Play on National League teams with a moneyline between +125 and -125 with a team batting average of .245 or worse on the season, after allowing seven runs or more two straight games. This situation is 64-36 (64 percent) since 1997. 3* Houston Astros
Tony George
Chicago White Sox vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Play: Chicago White Sox
Take the White Sox in a high scoring game here with Freddy Garcia on the hill tonight at the Pirates, neither team great but advantages across the board for the White Sox in this Interleauge matchup tonight. The Whitre Sox are 20-8 their last 28 Interleauge games, while the Pirates overall have won only 16 out of their last 51 games. Half unit only.
Steve Merril
White Sox vs. Pirates
Play: Under 9
Chicago starts a three-game set in Pittsburgh with the Pirates on Tuesday night. Brad Lincoln will be making just his second career MLB start for the Pirates. The righty gave up five runs and seven hits in six innings of work against the Nationals in his debut. Despite the results, Lincoln pitched well as he effectively used his change-up. He'll face a White Sox lineup that is hitting just .245 as a team and .236 at night. They have gone Under in three of their last four games as the offense has been inconsistent at best. They scored 10 runs on Friday night against the Cubs, but then scored only two runs in their next two games combined. Freddy Garcia has seven quality starts for the White Sox this season. He's 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA over his last three starts against the Tigers, Rangers, and Rays. Garcia is 2-0 in his career against the Pirates, but his last start against them came way back in 2006. Only two Pittsburgh hitters have a history against Garcia with Bobby Crosby (0-8, 6 K's) struggling the most. The Pirates offense has gone Under in five of their last seven games. In fact, during their current eight-game losing streak, they've scored just 23 runs. The White Sox bullpen sports a 2.95 ERA on the road blowing just one save all season. This game has all the makings of pitcher’s duel so we’ll recommend a play on the Under tonight between the White Sox and Pirates.
Cajun Sports
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Chicago White Sox vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Play: Chicago White Sox
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The Chicago White Sox travel to the Steel City for a three-game series with the host Pittsburgh Pirates. The Sox will send Freddy Garcia to the bump with his 6-3 record and ERA of 4.82 on the season. Garcia’s last three starts have been solid going 3-0 with an ERA of 3.00 over that span. He has averaged 7.0 innings per start his last three outings giving up only seven earned runs with four walks and fifteen strikeouts. The Pirates hang their hopes on Brad Lincoln who has made one start this season. That start came against Washington and the Pirates lost 7 to 5 with Lincoln pitching six innings giving up five earned runs on seven hits two walks and only three strikeouts. The White Sox are 4-2 during interleague play this season while the Pirates have struggled posting a record of 0-3. Chicago White Sox are 20-8 after 3 consecutive games versus an interleague opponent the last 3 seasons. Garcia is 16-3 in road games during the month of June and 44-24 in road games after a loss since 1997. We will back the White Sox here as they continue their dominance over the Pirates with an easy win on Tuesday night in the Steel City.
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PROJECTED FORECAST: 2* Chicago White Sox 4 Pittsburgh Pirates 1
Rocketman
Oakland Athletics vs. Chicago Cubs
Play: Oakland Athletics
Oakland has been the slightly better team this year between these two with a 32-33 overall record while the Chicago Cubs have been a disappointing 28-35 on the season. Chicago Cubs are 40-65 since 1997, 6-14 the past 3 years and 0-4 this year after shutting out their opponent. Chicago Cubs are 12-25 this year when playing against a team with a losing record. Trevor Cahill is 5-2 with a 2.91 ERA overall this year and 2-0 with a 2.21 ERA his last 3 starts. Talking about a disappointment, Carlos Zambrano is 2-4 with a 6.05 ERA in all games this year, 2-3 with a 6.91 ERA in all starts this season, a 5.40 ERA at home and 1-2 with a 4.70 ERA his last 3 starts. We'll recommend a small play on Oakland tonight!
Craig Trapp
Chicago White Sox vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Play: Chicago White Sox
Two teams headed in opposite directions. The CHW have won 6 of last 10 while PIT lost 8 straight. The two pitchers will be the difference in this one. Garcia goes for the CHW and is looking to win his 4th straight and 7 of last 8 games. PIT turns to young rookie Lincoln after he struggled in first start allowing 5 ER in 6 innings. Both lineups have struggled at times this year but if you had to pick a lineup the CHW would get the nod. The CHW get this one done today as Garcia keeps the struggling Pirates down.
LEE KOSTROSKI
Los Angeles Dodgers @ Cincinnati Reds
PICK: Cincinnati Reds
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While he was the opening day starter for the upstart Reds, Aaron Harang mainly struggled early in the year. His season ERA is 5.17 as a result but Harang has posted an over 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. While the rest of the Cincinnati rotation carried Harang most of the year, Harang has been contributing in recent starts. Harang is 3-0 in his last four starts and in his last three starts he has allowed a total of just five runs. Harang has always been a better pitcher at home and that is again the case this season as his ERA is over two points lower in Cincinnati than on the road.
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The Dodgers have been one of the hotter teams in baseball in the last month but the Dodgers are just 13-14 in road games. Los Angeles has played a home heavy schedule at this point in the season but that success at home came to a screeching halt as the cross town Angels swept the Dodgers over the weekend. Los Angeles is hitting just .265 in road games this season and in the last ten road games the Dodgers have averaged just 3.5 runs per game.
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Hiroki Kuroda has posted solid recent numbers but six of his last eight starts have been at home. In his last four road starts Kuroda has allowed 20 runs and the Dodgers are just 1-3 in his last four outings even though two of those games came at home. Kuroda has not been as effective in night games this season as his WHIP rises to 1.44 and his ERA is nearly a full point higher than in day games. While Kuroda still holds a solid ERA for the season he has been less efficient in recent starts and this looks like a tough match-up against a productive Reds lineup.
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Cincinnati is batting .300 in the last ten games and while the Reds are just 5-5 in that span they have scored 4.9 runs per game. Cincinnati is hitting .291 in home games for the season, going 22-15 overall at the Great American Ball Park. Cincinnati won two of three with the Dodgers earlier this season and these teams enter this series with nearly identical overall records. The Reds do not have great overall numbers in the bullpen but in recent weeks the pen has done its job and this will be a favorable price on Harang and the Reds at home, as the last few starts have been very promising for the veteran right-hander.
Tom Freese
Houston Astros vs. Kansas City Royals
Play: Houston Astros
Houston starter Feliipe Paulino has allowed 7 runs total in his last 5 starts. The Astros are 5-1 after allowing 5 runs or more in their last game. Houston is 5-1 when the Total 7.0 to 8.5 and they are 5-2 their last 7 games after scoring 5 or more runs in their last game. Kansas City starter Kyle Davies has allowed 15 runs in his last 15.1 innings of work. The Royals are 18-39 off a win and they are 10-25 off one day of rest. Kansas City is 2-5 the last 7 starts made by Davies.
Rob Vinciletti
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Atlanta Braves
Play: Tampa Bay Rays
What we want to do is play on road favorites off a home favored loss if they were -200 or higher and scored 2 or less runs. These road teams have rebounded nicely winning at over 85% of the time. Tonight the Rays are in Atlanta and have good stats on their side. Tampa is 6-1 as a road favorite in this range, 8-2 on Tuesday, and 7-3 in road games where the total is 8 to 8.5. Tampa has been tearing the cover off the ball, hitting .307 and scoring 6.6 runs over the past week. Tonight they take on Atlanta starter Kawakami. In his home starts he has been decent with a 3.63 era. However his stats do not come close to those of Tampa lefty D. Price. Price is 5-1 in road starts with a 2.54 era and 1.71 over his past 3 starts. Tampa also has a solid road bullpen era at 2.54 this season.
Brad Diamond Sports
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Play Texas over Florida
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The once struggling Rangers have taken the lead in the West with 35-28 record after winning back-to-back games in Milwaukee. Florida is 31-32 running 5 1/2 games back in the National League East. RHP Johnson of Florida is 4-1 with a .043 ERA, while coming off a revenge win over the Phillies and Doc Halladay. Wilson of Texas put together a solid outing last time out giving up 2 runs and 4 hits in 7 innings of work against the Mariners. Texas has won 4 straight as an UNDERDOG and 6 straight off a quality start with Wilson. Although Florida is 21-6 at home with Johnson, believe this is a major letdown spot after the Phillies war.
EZWINNERS
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Los Angeles Angels -175
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The Angels starting pitcher Ervin Santana had been one of the hottest pitchers in baseball before losing his last start to the Oakland A's. I like Santana to get back on track and pitch like he did when he only allowed seven earned runs in his last thirty five innings pitched before the bad game against Oakland. Brewers starting pitcher Dave Bush had not made a start since June 1st before pitching on Thursday. Bush went six innings in that game, giving up four runs and six hits on against the Cubs. Bush led for most of the afternoon, but he gave away three one run leads and left with the game tied at 4-4. Bush is trying to get back on track after going 0-3 with an ERA of 5.64 in May, but Bush may still have some serious arm issues as his fastball is only topping out at 85MPH. The third time through a batting order also continues to be a problem for Bush and he has way too many batters on base. The Brewers are only 3-11 in Bush's last fourteen starts and the Angels are 14-2 in their last sixteen games against a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30. Play on the Angels.