Jimmy Broadway
500 Stars Over Oklahoma St and Troy
300 Stars Troy
200 Stars Cubs
Chris Jordan
1,000♦ ROCKIES (LIST Fogg and Willis)
The Marlins open a six-game road trip with the first of three at Colorado, and if you had the conception they've been ordering room service for quite some time – you're not mistaken.
Florida is in the middle of a stretch of being away for 12 of 15 games, with the three home games taking place Sept. 10-12. Prior to that it was six straight in Washington and Philadelphia.
Now they come to the Mile High City and are faced with playing in the altitude for three straight before turning around and going to Atlanta. In franchise history, the Marlins are 17-34 at Coors Field, and I don't see anything improving for this visit.
We side with Josh Fogg, who has pitched well in his last three starts, but more importantly go against Dontrelle Willis, who is 1-12 in his decisions since May 29. The hard-throwing southpaw comes in off a rough outing at Philadelphia, where he gave up seven runs on Sunday in just three innings. Take the home chalk in this one.
300♦ TROY
I know the Cowboys are stacked in certain areas, but if Larry Blakeney did his homework - looking carefully at the Georgia game - he will be able to expose the same weaknesses the Bulldogs did two weeks ago. Georgia was able to throw on the Okla State secondary, and there's no reason to believe senior Omar Haugabook cannot do the same with the nation's 42nd best passing offense.
On defense, an experienced D-Line will push this Cowboys O-Line around, as we saw Okie State struggle in pass protection and yet to clear holes for the running game. Forget last week's win over tiny Florida Atlantic, things have yet to click.
Home opener + national television + 12th man in the stands = I expect Troy to play a sharp, football game with few mistakes. Look for this one to come down to the fourth quarter.
200♦ ASTROS RUN LINE (LIST Oswalt and Snell)
Lay the run line in this one, as Roy Oswalt against these Bucs is as automatic as it gets. And while you baseball fanatics may be curious about his recent downfall – he's yet to record a quality start in three of his past four outings and has a 6.39 ERA in September – this is the perfect opponent for him to turn things around against.
Forget the fact the Astros are a whopping 80-39 in the southpaw's last 119 starts, he's a perfect 4-0 in his last five starts against the Bucs, and has given up just four earned runs over 34 innings of work against them. That's a stifling ERA of 1.05. That includes two starts this season, in which he's given up two earned runs in 14 innings and is 1-0. Lay the run line with Houston and Oswalt.
200♦ NATIONALS (LIST Chico and James)
How would you feel if you went to Turner Field and gave up six runs to the Braves? How would you feel if NONE of them were earned? That's Matt Chico, and that's what he'll be thinking about when toeing the rubber tonight against Atlanta and Chuck James, who Chico opposed on Sept. 8.
The crafty southpaw fell victim to a shoddy defense, which committed three errors behind Chicago, who took the loss and remained winless since July 31. Nevertheless, he is 2-2 with a 2.18 ERA in four meetings with the Braves this season. In revenge against James, I'll side with Chico and the Nats here.
Big Al's Full Service Clients
3* Rangers
3* Dodgers
3* Under D'rays
Wolkosky Milan
10* COWBOYS -10
10* OKST/TROY OVER 62
10* MARINERS
10* ROCKIES
10* FLA/COL OVER
10* YANKEES
10* ATL/WAS UNDER
Free: CARDINALS
Jeff Bonds
Nl Power Angle Total Of The Week
ATL Under 9.5
Larry Ness' Fabulous Friday Total-MLB (24-12 with MLB totals in '07!)
My Fabulous Friday Total is on SF/SD Over at 10:05 ET. Barry Zito has had a poor overall season, entering this game 9-12 with a 4.46 ERA. However, he's pitched well lately, allowing three ERs or less in SEVEN of his last eight outings. However, the Padres have done well vs the Giants this year, winning nine of the 12 meetings. San Diego has also hit left-handed starters at home in '07, especially in night games, going 10-4 while averaging 4.8 RPG. Chris Young is 9-7 with a 2.72 ERA this year and still owns a home ERA of 1.24. However, he's NOT been the same pitcher since he returned from a 15-day stint on the disabled list for a strained left side muscle. He's made six starts since August 9, going 0-4 with a 6.23 ERA (team is 0-6). He's allowed four ERs or more in FOUR of those six starts. The posted total reflects Young at "full strength," which he CLEARLY is not! Fabulous Friday Total on SF/SD Over.
Good Luck...Larry
Larry Ness' Las Vegas Insider-MLB (5-0 MLB sweep on Weds and Thurs!)
My Las Vegas Insider is on the Sea Mariners at 10:05 ET. When either Kazmir or Shields starts for Tampa Bay, the Devil Rays have gone 34-27 (.557) this year (plus-$784). With ANY other starting pitcher on the mound, the team is 27-59 (.314) and minus-$1,823. So with James Shields on the mound tonight looking to win his fourth straight decision (he's 3-0 with a 2.72 ERA in his last five starts, all Tampa wins), I'm taking the Devil Rays, right? NO! Tampa Bay (61-86) received a strong performance from another young starter in Thursday's series opener as Jason Hammel allowed one run in six innings. However, the bullpen, which owns a MLB-high 6.30 ERA, gave up two runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth as Seattle rallied for an 8-7 victory. The Devil Rays have now squandered leads of 8-1, 4-0 and 7-1 in losing three straight games. Tampa owns the worst record in MLB and at 26-46, the worst road record in the AL. Seattle's win was only the fourth in 19 games for the Mariners (77-68), who are third in the wild-card race, 5 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees with 17 games remaining. However, it was the team's second straight win (both of the comeback variety) and I look for this team to finish strong! Felix Hernandez (12-7, 4.17 ERA) has not been a "shut-down" pitcher this year but the Mariners are 18-8 (plus-$877) in his starts, which ranks him 8th among all starters this year. Hernandez has surrendered at least four runs in five of his last eight outings but has also pitched six innings or more in 13 consecutive starts! Despite the team's recent collapse, Seattle is still No.2 in the moneyline standings at plus-$1,389, with $1,165 of that profit coming at home, where the team is 43-29! Las Vegas Insider on the Sea Mariners.
Good Luck...Larry
LT Profits NCAAF
Troy 2*
Chad Jordan
MILLION DOLLAR LOCK
OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS -10
Matt Wrobel Sports
3* Troy +10 Over Oklahoma State
Frank Patron
Oklahoma State at Troy
Prediction: Under 62 Points
VEGAS SPORTS PICS
NCAA
Troy Trojans + 10.5 over Oklahoma State Cowboys
MLB
Atlanta (James) -120** over Washington (Chico)
N.Y.Yankees (Pettitte) -105** over Boston (Matsuzaka)
MIKE ROSE
Ok St/Troy Over 2*
SEBASTIAN
10* LAD
10* SEA under
10* SF under
20* CUBS under
50* NYY
7* Troy St. over
Scott Spritzer
K.O. - Chicago Cubs
T.K.O. - LA Angels
Ben Burns
Game: Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays
Sep 14 2007 7:05PM
Prediction: Toronto Blue Jays
Reason: The Jays got back to the 500 mark with a momentum-building win yesterday and they should have an edge today. Burres is 2-4 (team is 2-6) with an awful 6.81 ERA and 2.019 WHIP in his eight road starts. The fact that he has averaged only 4 1/2 innings in those starts is noteworthy when we consider that the Baltimore bullpen has a terrible 6.10 ERA and 1.632 WHIP for the season. Meanwhile, the Jays bullpen has a stellar 2.73 ERA at home, getting the job done once again yesterday. The Jays have hit well against southpaws all season, averaging 5.2 runs while hitting .280. They've won three straight home games against left-handers and are 5-1 their last six. They're also a dominant 10-2 the last 12 times they hosted the Orioles. Consider laying the price with the home team.