Nelly
Chicago + over Milwaukee
Chicago is 7-2 in the last nine interleague games and the American League continues to deliver success against the NL. Mark Buehrle has delivered great results this season as Chicago is 8-4 in his starts with Buehrle featuring a 6-2 record. In the last ten games the Brewers are hitting just .231 with a lot of struggles against left-handed pitching. Braden Looper has very average numbers this season and he has allowed at least five runs in four of his last six starts. The Sox are batting .280 on the road this year and the White Sox have one of the better road records in the AL. Milwaukee is just 1-4 in the past five home games and the Brewers offense is not producing consistent results. With underdog value on the greatly superior pitcher and strong showing from White Sox fans at Miller Park Chicago is in a great position tonight.
DAVE MALINSKY
Oakland Athletics @ San Francisco Giants
PICK: San Francisco Giants
We do not see the attraction that the betting markets have to the A’s in this one, so the opportunity to back the better team and far between starting pitcher is this price range gets us in the game.
Matt Cain has shown us a lot of moxie this season. One could rank his 2007-08 campaigns as one of the more frustrating cycles in MLB annals, back-to-back years in which he worked 417.2 innings at a solid 3.71 clip, yet got tagged with a dismal 15-30 personal line. He had a remarkable count of 24 starts in that cycle in which he allowed two runs or less and did not get a win, and on five different occasions he held the opposition to one run, and lost. But he did not lose his composure, and now he is in Cy Young contention at 8-1/2.55, with his confidence growing as he finally gets some wins under his belt, evidenced by a 6-0/2.17 in his last seven appearances. The A's do not bring anything that gets in the way of another sharp performance.
Meanwhile there were fears in Oakland that Brett Anderson was being rushed into the rotation, with the 21-year old only having six starts at AA, and none at AAA, prior to this season, and those fears were accurate. His 3-6/5.25 reflects his struggles, and a guy that pitches to contact (only 36 strikeouts in 60 innings) needs even more seasoning before he can succeed at this level, because he must rely on location and getting hitters to swing at borderline pitches in the strike zone. His style also does not get helped by a defense that rates #29 on our best set of ratings, so what happens when you have bad pitching, bad hitting and bad defense as a combination? The A’s are 3-8 in Anderson’s 11 starts, getting out-scored by 32 runs. That is what happens.
Murray Hill Mike
Houston Astros at Arizona Diamondbacks
Prediction: Over
Houston at Arizona ? The first two games in this series have gone OVER the total and eight of Arizona?s last nine games have done so as well. With both starting pitchers combining to allow 13 earned runs in their last start expect this one to be ugly as well. Consider the trends. Arizona is 9-2 OVER in home games against NL Central opponents, 18-9 OVER at home when the total is 8.5 to 10, 24-10 OVER as a home favorite of -125 to -150, 22-13 OVER in home games in games played on a grass field and 9-3 OVER in June games. Take the OVER
Freddy Wills
Chicago White Sox vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Play: Milwaukee Brewers
Sunday's Free pick is on the match up between the White Sox and Brewers. We won again yesterday with the Pirates and will look to go 6-1 this week on free picks.
The pitching match up: Buehrle vs. Looper. Two pitchers who seem to be different pitchers away than they are at home. Buehrle 4.33 road ERA is nothing compared to his 2.68 away. Same goes for Looper who 4.07 home vs. 5.19 road ERA. Looper has pitched even better at home over his last 2 starts going 13IP and only 4ER. I like the low WHIP he has 1.13 in his last three starts.
Hitters match up: Cameron/Kendall are 12-31 off Buehrle and the brewers are 48-22 in their last 70 vs. LHP while the White Sox are just 12-27 their last 39 games vs. RHP. White Sox are 0-9 on Buehrle's last 9 road vs. a winning team.
Worth Noting: The line which opened at -115 has move
Michael Cannon
NY Mets +105 at NY YANKEES
Let’s take the Mets over the Yankees this afternoon as our Sunday free winner.
We’re getting a great price on Johan Santana, obviously because of the opponent and venue, but it’s still hard to pass up on a pitcher like him as a small dog.
Santana hasn’t dominated in his last few starts, but he’s still 2-1 in his last three outings. The left-hander has also had success against the Yankees in his career, going 4-1 with a 3.15 ERA in seven games.
The Yankees will counter with A. J. Burnett and you never really know what you’re going to get from the talented, but erratic, right-hander.
Burnett is 2-6 with a 3.83 ERA in 16 career games versus the Mets.
The Mets bounced back from that crazy loss on Friday night by pounding out 17 hits in last night’s 6-2 win. Look for more of the same this afternoon.
Take the Mets as they grab the win.
4♦ NY METS
GINA
Los Angeles Lakers at Orlando Magic
The Magic are in a must win situation, down 3-1. Orlando has the ability to recover and bring it back to Los Angeles for a game 6. Even so, I think this will be a close hard fought fight by the Magic to stay alive. Take the points!
Orlando Magic +3
Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies
Boston's right-hander Josh Beckett (7-2, 3.77 ERA) is 5-0 with a 1.70 ERA in his last seven starts and is 8-3 with a 3.79 ERA in 16 career starts against the Phillies. The Red Sox are 6-1 in Beckett's last 7 starts, 4-0 in his last 4 on the road.Philadelphia's lefthander J.A. Happ (4-0, 2.98) is 2-0 with a 3.42 ERA in his last four starts. Happ will be making his first career start against the Red Sox. The Phillies are 6-2 in Happ’s last 8 starts, 4-0 in his last 4 at home.
The Red Sox go for the sweep this afternoon against the first place Phillies. Boston has won 15 of 18 versus Philadelphia and ten of the last 12 games at Citizens Bank Park, three of four this season. Go with Boston to grab their fifth straight win in Philadelphia and Beckett's fourth straight victory over the Phillies. The Red Sox have won their last six road games and are 26-9 in interleague road games.
Boston Red Sox -135
MLB Computer Picks
Chicago Cubs -135
Los Angeles Dodgers -135
St. Louis Cardinals -105
Mr A
Los Angeles Lakers +3
Chicago Cubs -140
Los Angeles Angels -200
GINA
Take the points!
Orlando Magic +3
I would like to be a customer of the book she is using !!! LOL !!! 😀