DAVE COKIN
NEW YORK METS / ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Take ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Livan Hernandez has been better than expected so far for the Mets, but Kyle Lohse is in tremendous early form for the Cardinals. I don't give out big chalk on the service, but I definitely have to give the edge to the Cardinals in today's game.
JIM FEIST
LOS ANGELES DODGERS / HOUSTON ASTROS
Take Under
A pair of hot hurlers on the hill. Houston lefty Wandy Rodriguez has a 2.96 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 29 starts at home, plus off to a sizzling start in 2009: 1.89 ERA with 18 Ks in 19 innings. Rodriguez has improved his ERA, WHIP, strikeout-to-walk ratio and OPS allowed in each of the past two seasons -- the latter two categories substantially so. Houston's offense, though, is 10th in the NL in batting and 15th in runs. They face a hot righty in Chad Billingsley (3-0, 2.84 ERA). He has fanned 21 in just 19 innings. Look for a lot of strikeouts and few runs, play the Dodgers/Astros under the total.
Nick Parsons
Carolina Hurricanes @ New Jersey Devils -150
Enough is enough; I look for the home team to bounce back tonight in front of the home town crowd behind the play of star goaltender Martin Brodeur. The NHL's all-time winningest goaltender in the regular season had an outburst worthy of You Tube in the moments after the Devils dropped a 4-3 decision on a disputed goal by Jussi Jokinen with 0.2 of a second to play in regulation. To say this outburst is out of character would be an understatement; I believe it will have a profound effect on the rest of his team tonight though. Look for NEW JERSEY to improve to 16-7 (+8.2 units) after allowing 4 goals or more!
LT Profits
Kansas City Royals @ Cleveland Indians
Gil Meche is pitching like the ace of the Kansas City Royals staff that he is supposed to be, and we look for him to key an Under here as the Royals visit the Cleveland Indians.
Sure, these teams had played eight consecutive Overs against each other here in Cleveland before last night, but that trend may have started to shift with that 2-0 Kansas City win over Cliff Lee, and today it is the Royals that have their best pitcher on the mound.
Meche has a 2.25 ERA and an excellent 1.15 WHIP in the early going, and he just tossed six scoreless innings while allowing only six hits vs. the hard-hitting Texas Rangers last Friday. Meche is also a proven commodity vs. the Indians, hold them to three runs or less in six of his last eight starts against them over the last two seasons, and he has the support of a fine Royals bullpen that owns a 3.72 ERA.
Now Anthony Reyes may be a bit of a question mark for the Indians, but he did not pitch badly in his last start vs. the New York Yankees in their new stadium that is playing like a bandbox, as he allowed a reasonable three runs and five hits in five innings. He is now facing a much weaker offense in a more pitcher-friendly park, and Reyes has allowed two runs or less in each of his three career starts vs. Kansas City.
Throw on some natural lethargy that usually exists in these 12 Noon starts following a night game, and look for the bats to be kept quiet today.
Pick: Royals / Indians Under 8.5
Jimmy The Moose
San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks
Prediction: Over
The team's combined for 7 goals in their last game. The over is 5-2-4 in the Sharks last 11 games as a playoff favorite. The over is 6-2-1 in the Ducks last 9 games overall. In their last 10 games as home dog the over is 7-3. In their last 7 games overall as a dog the over is 5-1-1. The over is 4-0 in their last 4 games played with 1 day rest. This will be a high tempo game and should easily play over the total.
Vegas Experts
Boston Celtics at Chicago Bulls
The defending champion Celtics are in trouble. We know this because the absence of reserve Leon Powe is even now cause for concern. That leaves Boston with three healthy big men. They have yet to cover in this series and we don't look for them to start doing so tonight as the Bulls are 18-9 ATS off a road loss and more importantly play an up-tempo game that the Celtics want no part of. In the last four meetings, Chicago has scored an average of over 113 points per game.
Play on: Chicago
Undefeated's tools and consensus picks now on a
21 wins and 8 losses winning run
Today's picks are in the NBA -Pick Chicago Bulls -.5 (buy two points)
Buy an OVER 199 on that Chicago game
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EZ'S FREE SELECTION
Game: Los Angeles Lakers @ Utah Jazz
(511) Los Angeles Lakers -2
The Lakers have been dominate in the first two games of this series and
I expect them to pick up the win here. Utah plays much better at home, but
that just gives us some nice line value for this game. I see a close game all
the way with Kobe and company pulling out the win late. Lay the points.
2009 Free Selections Record 61-50 (55.0%)
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Free Selection from Totals4U
Thursday's free selection: Texas/Toronto over 9
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Free Selection from Arthur Ralph Sports
250 - 161 run 60 %
Thursday Chi White Sox
WED Arizona D'Backs TY Tues ty Red Wings
Red Dog Sports
Philadelphia / Pittsburgh
Play: Under 5.5
In their last 35 road games, the Flyers have 23 unders, 9 overs and 3 pushes. Philadelphia has played unders in 6 of their last 8 games. The Penguin goalie Fleury has been hot. Look for a 3-2 game that goes under the total.
Jimmy Boyd
1 Unit on Rays/Mariners UNDER 7.5
Expect a duel with Shields and Hernandez facing off tonight. Shields has a 2.12 ERA against the Mariners and Hernandez has a 2.54 ERA against the Rays. After an offensive explosion last night, I expect the Rays bats to cool off and our historical data supports that as Tampa Bay is 40-18 Under in road games after a win by 6 runs or more since 1997. The Under is 12-2 in Shields' last 14 starts as an underdog and 4-1 in Shields' last 5 starts with the total set at 7.0-8.5. The Under is 10-1 in Hernandez's last 11 starts vs. the American League East, 6-0 in Hernandez's last 6 Thursday starts, and 14-5-1 in Hernandez's last 20 starts after allowing 5 runs or more in their previous game. Bet the Under.
Scott Rickenbach
Kansas City Royals @ Cleveland Indians
PICK: Kansas City Royals
It should be a pitchers paradise early Thursday in Cleveland at Progressive Field. The wind is blowing in, the air is chilly, and the edges should certainly reside with the moundsmen in this one. The key here is that Gil Meche rates significant edges over Anthony Reyes of the Indians. Even though Reyes has pitched “decent” so far this season, he still has two tendencies that hurt his odds of being a winner with Cleveland. One of those is that he still tends to get flustered when anything goes wrong and that’s why he’s proven so susceptible to the big inning throughout his career. He’s often pitched quite well in a start only to have it come unraveled by one bad inning. The other big negative against him is that, because he doesn’t have good command, he tends to build up pitch counts too quickly and this leads to early exits from his starts. This happened again in his most recent start – at the new Yankee Stadium – and this exposes a weak Indians bullpen.
So far this season, Cleveland’s bullpen ERA ranks the Indians as one of the worst bullpens in baseball. This gives a big bullpen edge to the Royals in this match-up and, with Meche on the bump this afternoon, they certainly have the starting pitching edge as well! The Royals Meche is simply rock solid. He’s faced some powerful lineups so far this season – White Sox, Yankees, Rangers – and yet Meche has compiled a 2.25 ERA so far this season. He continues to be both solid and dependable for the Royals. On a day when the weather dictates that the best pitching is likely to win this match-up, the road team certainly appears to have the big edges in this one and also, because of being on the road, the Royals offer great line value here. Consider a small play on Kansas City on the money line on Thursday afternoon.
ROCKETMAN
Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians A
Play: Kansas City
Kansas City comes in with an 8-6 record on the season while Cleveland has been a disappointing 5-10 in the early going. Kansas City is 24-11 the past 3 years as a road underdog of +100 to +125. Kansas City is 5-1 this year against right handed starters. Cleveland is only 3-10 this year against right handed starters. Cleveland bullpen has gotten rocked this year as they have a 7.22 ERA overall and a 9.20 ERA at home this season. Gil Meche is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA overall this year and and 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA on the road this season. We'll recommend a small play on Kansas City
Tom Freese
Los Angeles Lakers at Utah Jazz
Prediction: Los Angeles Lakers
Utah is in a 40-19 ATS Play Against System that says to Go Against all teams when the line is +3 to -3 if they are off 3 or more straight losses in April. The Jazz are 3-13 ATS their last 16 games vs. winning teams. The Lakers are 6-1 ATS their last 7 Conference Quarterfinals games and they are 5-1 ATS their last 6 games as favorites. Los Angeles is 9-4 ATS off a straight up win and they are 11-5-1 ATS their last 17 meetings vs. the Jazz. PLAY ON LA LAKERS -
Dwayne Bryant
TOR (+105) vs TEX
Nice price for the Jays at home against one of the worst bullpens in the league. Texas starter Kevin Millwood has been very strong to start this season, but it'll be tough to keep it going on the road against the good-hitting Jays. This will be Texas' first look at Toronto starter Scott Richmond. Richmond has pitched well this season and he has the advantage with Texas' lineup having never been in the box against him. I'll take Toronto and Richmond at +105 over Texas for a half-unit.
GoodFella
BAL / CWS Over 10.5
Baltimore's team ERA is 6.25 & that number is significantly better than those Eaton (0-2, 11.25 ERA) has compiled in his first two starts with the Orioles. He arrived in Baltimore after spending part of last season with Philadelphia's Triple-A affiliate, and the right-hander has allowed 10 runs in eight innings, with opponents hitting .425. Thursday's start could be for his spot in the rotation. "I need to obviously step up and throw the way I'm capable of throwing," Eaton said. "We'll see what we do next outing." The White Sox send out Bartolo Colon, who had a tough outing his last start, Friday against the Rays, getting charged with five runs in 5 2-3 innings in the eventual 6-5 loss. I really expect both pitchers to get hit faily well here today, as the O's left-handed sticks (Scott, Markakis & Huff) all have had great success in their career vs Bartolo. Eaton is a disaster & so is Baltimore's bullpen. We just need 11 runs & I really think this play has a strong chance of cashing today.
Ron Raymond
CLB / DET Under 5
The Detroit Red Wings have shown in the first 3 games, they are the superior hockey team in this series and the Blue Jackets are hopefully learning a valuable lesson for future playoff games. The good part about betting the UNDER in this game this evening, you know the Blue Jackets will want to go down fighting, which means Steve Mason will do his best to keep the Jackets in this game and I like this to be a low scoring affair.