Jack Jones
Giants vs. Cardinals
Pick: Under 8
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This figures to be a pitcher's duel in pitcher-friendly St. Louis Sunday. Both Barry Zito and Jamie Garcia are having excellent seasons, and each is going under the radar. Garcia is 10-6 with a 2.58 ERA this season, including 4-3 with a 1.76 ERA through 11 home starts. Zito is 8-7 with a 3.56 ERA this year for the Giants. The UNDER is 15-8 in Garcia's 23 starts this year, while the UNDER is 14-9-2 in Zito's 25 starts.
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Both teams are struggling at the plate of late, with San Francisco scoring 3.1 RPG over their last 7 games and St. Louis putting up 3.9 RPG in their last 7 contests. The Cards are 13-1 to the UNDER in home games with a struggling bullpen whose WHIP is over 1.750 the last 15 games over the last 3 seasons. Zito is 17-5 to the UNDER when the total is 8 to 8.5 over the last 2 seasons. The Giants are 16-5 to the UNDER vs. an NL starting pitcher whose ERA is 3.00 or better this season. Both teams have great starters and excellent bullpens. Take the UNDER in this game Sunday.
JR O'Donnell
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BOS (-150) vs 923 TOR
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Even after the 64-58 Blue Jays pounded the Red Sox 16-2 Friday night JR is backing the banged up but very dangerous Red Sox. They will come firing today behind Clay Buchholtz who checks in @ 14-5 over all & a smooth 2.36 ERA today.The Red Sox are 70-54 and have smoked the Jays at a 10-4 71% rate since 2008.S Marcum will not be the answer early as the Red Sox and Buchholtz own this ball club,One lousy run in the 6 games vs. Ace Clay has us all over the Red Sox, just rolling the bases & JR O'S sharpie = Boston - 150
Black Widow
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1* on New York Yankees -1.5 -160
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CC Sabathia looks to win his 15th straight decision at Yankee Stadium on Sunday against the Seattle Mariners. New York is 17-2 at home since the 2009 All-Star break when Sabathia starts, with the left-hander going 14-0 with a 2.27 ERA. It is the longest home winning streak by a Yankee since Ron Guidry won 16 straight from 1985-86. Sabathia is 12-2 with a 2.45 ERA in 15 starts since the beginning of June. Sabathia has recorded a 0.90 ERA in winning four straight starts over the Mariners. Not only should the Yankees win Sunday, but they should win by 2 runs or more with ease. Take New York on the Run Line.
BOB WINGERTER
The Chicago Cubs held on for a rare win as they knotted their weekend series with the Braves on Saturday.
Tom Gorzelanny allowed seven hits and just a run while striking out nine in seven innings of work to get his seventh win of the year as Andrew Cashner made it a little too close for comfort before Carlos Marmol closed out the Braves in the ninth inning for his 22nd save. Aramis Ramirez had three hits while Kosuke Fukudome and Tyler Colvin had two hits each. The win was just the third in the last 10 games for Chicago as they are in fifth place in the National League Central, 21 games out. For Sunday's game the Cubs start Randy Wells who has lost his last four decisions. For the season Wells has allowed 162 hits and 73 earned runs while striking out 115 in 148 innings of work. The Atlanta Braves fought back on Saturday but came up just short. Tommy Hanson didn't have a very good outing as usually he has been the victim of absolutely no run support, this time he just wasn't very effective. Hanson allowed seven hits and five runs in five innings of work to take his ninth loss of the season. Jason Heyward and Alex Gonzalez both had two hits to lead the offense for Atlanta. The loss didn't hurt the Braves as second place Philadelphia also lost so their lead stands at two and a half games in the National League East. For Sunday's game Atlanta starts Mike Minor who starts for the third time in his Major League career. In his prior two starts Minor has allowed 10 hits and five earned runs while striking out 10 in 12 innings of work. Chicago is 7-20 in their last 27 games overall, 4-13 in their last 17 against a right-handed starter, 1-9 in their last 10 home games against a team with a winning record, and 2-11 in their last 13 home games. Atlanta is 5-2 in their last seven against a team with a losing record, 5-2 in their last seven overall, 19-8 in their last 27 against the National League Central, and 12-6 in their last 18 road games against a team with a losing home record. Atlanta has won five of the last seven meetings of these two.
TAKE ATLANTA
O.C. Dooley
Mariners / Yankees Over 8.5
On the face of it we are are looking at a potential pitchers duel this afternoon in the Bronx especially since the Yankees just placed slugger Alex Rodriguez (calf) on the disabled list. Today’s total is low due to the fact that C.C. Sabathia dating back to last July at Yankee Stadium has a combined ERA (2.27) that is brilliant. The statistics also indicate that Sabathia has dominated weak hitting Seattle in that span. The Mariners are going with Luke French who last time on the mound was working on a “no hit” bid through 5 innings and his ERA against the Yankees a year ago (0.82) was phenomenal. I am going against the grain today because Seattle is 5-2 OVER the total after playing below the spot in 11 of their 13 prior outings. Seattle compiled 12 hits yesterday while Russell Branyon swatted one of the longest homers ever hit inside the “new” Yankee Stadium. Ichiro Suzuki even flashed some power yesterday by homering twice. Due to wind currents and that fact that his is a “day” game, the ball travels much further in the Bronx as opposed to Seattle’s home ballpark which has always been a pitchers paradise. In the past three days the Mariners offense has crossed the plate SEVENTEEN times. The Yankees are 4-1 OVER the past five games which snapped a streak which saw them go 8-2-2 below the number in a twelve game span. The Yankees just happen to be 12-3 OVER/HOME the past fifteen times they have faced an opponent with a poor offense that generates on average less than 4.8 runs per contest. The Yankees are also 15-5 OVER the total when cast as a mammoth home favorite of between 250-and-330