Hollywood Sports
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
Prediction: Tampa Bay Rays
Andy Pettitte and Alex Cobb. New York (11-8) gives the ball to their veteran left-hander Pettitte who missed his last start due to back spasms. So far for the season, Pettitte is 3-0 with a 2.01 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. But there is certainly reasons to be wary about Pettitte pitching away from Yankees Stadium. Last year, Pettitte was saddled with a 4.26 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and .266 opponent's batting average on the road as compared to his sizzling 1.85 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and .205 opponent's batting average when at home. That is not a good sign when now facing this Rays' team that has won a decisive 21 of their last 26 games against left-handed starting pitchers. Additionally, New York has lost 5 of their last 6 road games as an underdog in the +110 to +150 price range. Tampa Bay (9-11) has won 7 of their last 8 home games against teams with a winning record. They counter with Cobb who is 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA and 1.27 WHIP so far this season. The right-hander comes off a nice victory where he allowed only three runs in 7 1/3 innings of work. The Rays have won 8 of their last 10 games when Cobb was following up a Quality Start. Cobb was outstanding at home last year where he enjoyed a 3.24 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and .220 opponent's batting average as opposed to his 4.92 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and .290 opponent's batting average when on the road. Tampa Bay has won 4 straight home games with Cobb pitching as a favorite in the -110 to -150 price range.
Ross Benjamin
NY Yankees @ Tampa Bay
Play: Tampa Bay -120
The Tampa Bay starter Alex Cobb has been very good in his 3 career starts versus the Yankees posting a solid 3.15 ERA and an excellent 0.90 WHIP. In 3 starts this season Cobb has been tough in posting a stellar 2.53 ERA. The Yankees starter Andy Pettite hasn’t had a great history when pitching at Tampa Bay posting a lofty 5.60 ERA and 1.68 WHIP. In spite of last night’s loss the Rays have won 6 of their last 8 at home. Tampa is a very profitable 5-1 this season versus southpaw starting pitchers. Play on the Tampa Bay Rays as my free selection of the night.
Alex Smart
Kings / Red Wings Under 5
Detroit really needs to win this game for a chance at a play off appearance as they now sit in 9th place one point behind Columbus. LA would love to take care of their western conference rival and eliminate and extinguish another opponent and make sure that they don't face a team in the post season they have historically had problems with. With that said, look for a hard fought play off style affair that stays on the low side of the number. Under is 15-5-4 in Red Wings last 24 vs. Pacific, Under is 3-1-2 in Kings last 6 overall.Los Angeles allows the third least shots against in the league at 24.7 per game.The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Detroit's last 5 games. The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Detroit's last 10 games at home.
Jeff Alexander
LA Dodgers +143
Harvey has looked good for New York, but the Mets have lost 5 of their last 7 games and haven't had much luck against the Dodgers. LA has won the last 5 meetings by an average of 3.8 runs. We also can't ignore how bad of an investment the Mets have been when laying this kind of chalk. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games as a favorite of -151 to -200.
Ken Thomson
Atlanta +7.5
The Hawks played well offensively shooting 50% for the game in the fisrt game of the series. Indiana covered this game at the Free Throw Line and the NBA office heard about the foul differential ( 34 attempts -Pacers to just 14 for ATL. ) ....this game should see the Hawks not called for as many fouls and if they can grab a first half lead they could possibly win this one straight up. Josh Smith, Jeff Teague and Al Horford were solid in Game One but Kyle Korver was not a factor what so ever. Look for Korver to nail several three's in this one and the Hawks to push Indiana and stay close.
Fezzik
Atlanta +7.5
After Faves went 6-1-1 ATS round one, I said you likely could bet on ALL the dogs in game 2 and make money, as the markets have NOT priced in Zig Zag and instead actually inflated lines. Atl got bombed getting 6.5 game 1 (in a bad spot) but now in a GOOD spot they are catching 7.5, too many!
Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAYS
Lakers/ Spurs Over 187.5: I know how low scoring the last 2 in this series has been but game 2's of a playoff series do trend to the Over and I look for that here. The Lakers have had to slow the pace and play some defense with Kobe out of there and they scored just 79 points in the opener vs the Spurs, but they have to be a bit more uptempo in this one if they hope to avoid the 0-2 hole. The Lakers have had a few games to get used to playing without Kobe and I expect some of their role players to step up big in this one and put some points on the board. The Lakers have averaged 101.4 ppg on the road, while the Spurs have allowed 94 ppg at home, so expecting the mid 90's form the Lakers is not all that far fetched. Offensively the Spurs do get out an run and and they average 104.3 ppg, while the Lakers have allowed 104.4 ppg on the road and 98.8 pg in their last 5 games overall. Look for San Antonio to get at least 100 in this one. A 6-8 point lead from the Spurs should also get us plenty of FT's late. 101-95 Sounds about right.
Houston/ Oklahoma City Over 212: The Thunder has torn apart this Houston defense this year to the tune of 120.8 ppg and I expect more the same in this one. I also expect a closer game which means that Houston will put up a ton of points as well. The Thunder do play good defense at home, allowing just 95.4 ppg here, but Houston is the top scoring team in the league and they are in desperation mode here, so you can expect them to throw all the offense they can at the Thunder. The Houston defense has allowed 104.3 ppg on the road, while the thunder comes in having scored 108 ppg at home and they have scored 120 points in each of their two meetings with Houston in games played here this year. Both teams should get to triple figures in what will be a fast paced uptempo. Houston will stay with in reach for most of the game, which should also give us a FT show at the end of the game, as they just don't wanna go down 2-0 and even if OKC has a huge lead you will see them slac off a bit on defense, which should lead to some late scoring by Houston as well. I expect a game in the range of 115-107.
Harry Bondi
MILWAUKEE (-120) over San Diego
The Milwaukee Brewers are the hottest team in baseball having won nine straight while the San Diego Padres can’t win almost anywhere having gone 5-15 to open the season and they have dropped seven straight at Petco Park. Milwaukee has won the first two games of this series outscoring the Padres 13-4 in the first two game and we look for the sweep tonight behind starter pitcher Marco Estrada who is 2-0 on the young season and has pitched well against San Diego going 7-3 lifetime in his starts against the Padres. Brew Crew keeps rolling.
Nelly
Yankees / Rays Under
Andy Pettitte continues to defy his advanced age with a brilliant 3-0 start to the season. Pettitte has looked the part of one of the most successful postseason pitchers in MLB history with three starts going at least seven innings all leading to Yankee wins so far this season. He has allowed just five runs in over 22 innings and two of those outings have been on the road. Youngster Alex Cobb is on the other end of the experience spectrum but he has been impressive so far this season with a 2.53 ERA through three starts, coming off a very solid 2012 season. At home Cobb has allowed just three runs in nearly 15 innings. The Tropicana Dome has been a bit higher scoring than last year in the early going this season but batters are hitting just .243. A recent lower scoring trend appears to be emerging with seven or fewer runs in three of the last four games in St. Petersburg and after some early season woes both bullpens seem to be settling in. The 'under' is 8-2-1 in the last 11 New York games and 7-3-4 in the last 14 Rays games and while this is a low number a pitching duel looks likely.
NHL Predictions
Sharks / Coyotes Over 5
These two teams have met 4 times this season, and most recently on April 15th where San Jose won 4-0 in Phoenix. Totals of their 4 meetings have been 4, 5, 1, and 8. Although only 1 game has gone OVER the 5 goals (with one push) we have seen some high tempo games with a lot of scoring opportunities. Combined shot totals have been 76, 63, 54, and 70 when these two teams meet. The Sharks have won 4 of their last 5 games and have scored 19 goals over those 5 games (3.8 goals per game). The Coyotes have struggled to score lately, but they've been giving up goals with 15 goals against in their last 5 games (3 per game). The Coyotes are scoring 3 goals per game at home on the year. With the total at 5 I think we have value on the OVER with these teams recent play and head to head high tempo games. Take OVER 5 goals tonight.