Scott Delaney
Give me the Angels tonight plus the money, hosting the Red Sox in Anaheim.
Matt Palmer has been one of the surprise stories this season, and we’re going to bank on the 30-year-old northpaw to out-duel knuckle-ball specialist Timmy Wakefield tonight at the Big A.
Anaheim’s right-hander turned in another strong performance against the Royals last Friday, limiting them to one earned run on two hits and three walks over 5-1/3 innings. Palmer also recorded five strikeouts, and continues to baffle hitters with the movement on his cutter and sinker. He shows plenty of maturity by mixing in off-speed junk, and that’ll play a key role in tonight’s clash with the aggressive Red Sox.
Tonight marks his seventh Major League start, and if you watch him on the hill, you’ll see how he’s improved his mechanics and has found a more direct approach to home plate with his arsenal.
ANAHEIM ANGELS
Matt Rivers
For Wednesday take a shot with the man formerly known as the D-Train and the Tigers.
I'm not sure if anybody can truly put their finger on what has fully happened to Dontrelle Willis as the Southpaw broke in on the Major League level as a total stud and just all of a sudden lost it. Things certainly went South in a hurry and even though I am not at all expecting wonders I can't help but back a guy that still, I believe, has a decent enough upside in this spot with a very competent offense at a quality takeback.
Willis is not going to go out and dazzle in a two-hit shutout, I understand that, as Mauer, Morneau and the Twins are always a very good team on their turf at the Metrodome but let's not exactly forget that Detroit is still clearly the superior offense with Mags, Cabrera, Granderson and other potent hitters. Plus Jim Leyland's squad are mostly powerful righthanded batters that certainly do not mind seeing a lefty in Glen Perkins. I do like Perkins as the guy has had some success since last season but he is still not exactly an elite hurler who should be feared.
I can't make this a pay play because there is a possibility that the D-Train is not yet ready for this spot and could get blasted leading to a loss. But I do think that the former Marlin Southpaw will hold his own and be alright and in the end with his offense have a shot to win this game.
Tony Weston
Today's Selection:
We came through again last night as the Lakers and Rockets play well Under the Total giving us two straight Comp Play winners.
We’re making it three in a row tonight as we’re headed out to the diamond where we’re taking the Cincinnati Reds on the road at the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Reds come into tonight’s game having taken the first two games of this series against the D’backs, outscoring Arizona 16-6 on Monday and Tuesday.
Tonight, the Reds are favored on the road and will win their fifth straight matchup against the Diamondbacks, going back to last season.
Going back even further, since 2007, the Reds have taken 10 of their last 12 meetings against Arizona.
Also, coming into tonight, Cincinnati has won 5 of its last 6 games overall and is a very strong 12-5 on the road this season. The D’backs, on the other hand, are only 9-14 at home this season and have only one win their last 5 in front of the home fans.
Overall, Arizona is only 2-8 its last 10 games overall.
Tonight, the Reds will continue their winning ways on the road and get over easily on the struggling Diamondbacks.
3♦ REDS
Nick Parsons
Pittsburgh Penguins +110 @ Washington Capitals
Both teams led in each game, and five times the team that scored first lost. Both teams have held a series lead, with Washington up 2-0, then Pittsburgh up 3-2. And the teams have been tied or separated by one goal 92 percent of the time; all that being said I look for PITTSBURGH to perform well in this spot, like they've done all year; PENGUINS improve to 2-0 (+2.4 units) when tied in a playoff series.
Jimmy Boyd
1 Unit on San Francisco Giants -134
Barry Zito is back. The Giants absolutely own the Nats to the tune of 7-2 at home over the last 3 seasons and 12-4 in all meetings over the last 3 seasons. The Nats' Shairon Martis might be 4-0, but he has an ERA approaching 9.00 in 3 road starts. Washington is only 9-45 against the money line after 4 or more consecutive road games over the last 2 seasons while the Giants are 12-4 against the money line in home games this season. Fade the road weary Nats this afternoon.
LARRY NESS
New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays
PICK: Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto is 23-12 after winning its third straight game last night, 5-1 over the Yankees. The Blue Jays own MLB's best record (it's a half-game better than the NL-leading Dodgers' mark of 22-12) and also lead all major league teams vs the moneyline (plus-$1,034). The Blue Jays have been this year's "surprise contender" in the tough AL East (it was the Rays last year, who went on to win the division and make it all the way to the World Series). They own a one game lead over the Red Sox and have a 6 1/2-game lead on the disappointing Yankees. New York has now lost SEVEN of its last nine and also has both Jeter and Matsui suffering from nagging injuries. Jeter was scratched Tuesday due to a sore right oblique, although manager Joe Girardi said he could return to the lineup Wednesday. Matsui left last night's game in the fifth inning with a tight right hamstring and is listed as day to day. Jorge Posada (hamstring) is already on the 15-day DL, Mark Teixeira (.191 with 7 HRs and 17 RBI) is struggling in his first year with New York and A-Rod's RBI single in the seventh inning last night (NY's lone run), was his first RBI since hitting a three-run HR in his first at-bat after returning from hip surgery Friday (.214 with 1 HR and 4 RBI). New York will start Andy Pettitte, who is 2-1 with a 4.38 ERA in six starts (team is 4-2). He's 0-1 with a 6.62 ERA in his last three starts (team is 1-2), allowing a career-high four HRs in his last outing, an 8-6 loss at home to the Rays last Thursday. Toronto will go with rookie Scott Richmond (4-1 with a 3.29 ERA in six starts). He's coming off his first loss of the season, allowing five runs and seven hits in eight innings as Toronto lost 5-3 at Oakland on Friday night. However, the young right-hander had opened the year 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA in his first five starts (team was 5-0). Stick with the surprising Blue Jays, tonight.
Mike Rose
Pittsburgh Penguins / Washington Capitals Over 5.5
The Penguins had the Caps right where they wanted them coming into Game 6 in the Burgh, but blew their opportunity by letting a 3-2 third period lead slip away. As he has done in this whole series, C Sidney Crosby came up huge for Pittsburgh, as he netted the game-tying goal at 15:42 of the third period to send the game to overtime. He's picked up ten points in the first six games of this series, and will inevitably have to be a force on the scoreboard once again if the Pens are to march on. They'll also need a much, much better effort from G Marc-Andre Fleury, who had arguably the worst game of his young career in Game 6. He only stopped 19 of 24 shots and conceded five goals for the second time in this postseason. Pittsburgh isn't a team that is going to shoot you to death, as it only averaged 29.0 shots per game in the regular season, but it needs to get more offensive chances as the visitors on Wednesday night in order to succeed.
Meanwhile, the Capitals rebounded from three straight defeats to force this series back to DC for the seventh and deciding game. It took until the third period for LW Alexander Ovechkin to really make his impact on the game, but boy what an impact that was! Ovie recorded the primary assist on the goals by Alexander Semin at 5:38 and Viktor Kozlov at 6:07. He also assisted on Kozlov's first goal of the game at 6:27 of the second stanza. It was the third three-point game of the series for the 23-year old phenom, which raised his total to 13 points in this series. G Simeon Varlamov is still letting too many shots hit the back of the net behind him, but Game 6 was arguably his best game since Game 1 of this best-of-seven set. He came up big between the pipes in the extra frame, and did what was necessary to keep his team's season alive.
Goals have been flying past both of these goaltenders all series. Each of the five games has reached at least five goals, while over bettors have picked up wins in four of the six contests (and three straight). It's hard to see how both Crosby and Ovechkin won't get their final say in this series, so expect to see another fantastic game to conclude one of the best series that the NHL has seen in years.
ATS Consultants
Florida Marlins at Milwaukee Brewers
Play: Milwaukee
The month of May continues to haunt the Florida Marlins, who will resume a three-game series tonight against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
Florida fell to 3-8 this month following Tuesday's 6-3 setback in the opener of this set, as starter John Koronka was reached for five runs on seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings in his 2009 debut. Koronka surrendered three home runs, including a pair of two-run shots by Brewers slugger Prince Fielder, in his first appearance since starting two games for Texas in 2007.
Ricky Nolasco will try to stay on the winning path when he takes the ball for the Marlins on Wednesday. Nolasco was 0-3 in five starts before winning at Colorado on May 8, as he held the Rockies to three runs in six innings of an 8-3 victory.
Nolasco, who has yielded at least three runs in four straight starts, has made five straight appearances on the road and is 1-2 with a 6.33 ERA. He is 2-3 overall with a 6.63 earned run average in seven trips to the hill in 2009. The righty is 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA in two career starts against Milwaukee.
Fielder had three hits and both Rickie Weeks and Mike Cameron added solo homers for the Brewers, who are a sizzling 15-5 since April 21 and have won seven of their last nine games. They are currently tied with Cincinnati at one game behind St. Louis for the top spot in the NL Central standings. Fielder posted his 12th career multi-homer game.
Manny Parra earned the win last night and allowed three runs over six innings with eight K's and two walks. Carlos Villanueva and Mark DiFelice both tossed a scoreless innings of relief before future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman registered his sixth save of the season in the final frame.
Right-hander Braden Looper will handle pitching duties for Milwaukee Wednesday night and has dropped two straight starts. Looper is winless in his previous three trips to the hill with a 6.46 ERA over that span and lost at Cincinnati on May 7. In a 6-5 loss to the Reds, Looper yielded five runs and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings to fall to 2-2 with a 4.18 earned run average through six starts this season.
The former closer and Marlin has faced the Marlins 20 times in his career, four of which have been starts, and owns a 4-2 record with a 3.86 ERA.
uvegtigris
I moved your post over to the premium thread and thanks for the contribution 🙂