Michael Cannon Money Train Thursday Picks:
20 Dime –
TCU
Take Tcu tonight for the road win and cover over Air Force.
The Horned Frogs come into this game on the heels of their 34-13 meltdown loss at Texas last week. They actually led 10-0 at halftime before they fell apart.
Now that Tcu doesn’t have to deal with any BCS talk for a while, they can focus their full attention on Air Force. The fact is, Air Force doesn’t match up with this Tcu team at all, as the Horned Frogs are on a 4-0 SUATS run against the Falcons, including back-to-back blowout wins the last two seasons.
Tcu’s team speed on defense wreaks havoc on the Falcon’s option, and with the return of defensive end Tommy Blake I expect more of the same tonight.
Air Force is trying to balance out its attack this year, but they are still running the ball at a 4:1 ratio which plays right into Tcu’s strength.
Tcu is 30-7 ATS when they win straight up on the road against a conference opponent and that number improves to 10-1 ATS when the Horned Frogs are coming off a loss.
Air Force is just 2-8 ATS in its last 10 overall, including 0-5 ATS at home.
Lay the points with Tcu as they win and cover over Air Force.
5 Dime –
WEST VIRGINIA
Lay the big number with West Virginia on the road over Maryland.
The Mountaineers survived a bit of a scare last week at Marshall, as they trailed 16-13 midway through the third quarter before pulling away for a 48-23 win.
The amazing thing about that game was West Virginia actually covered the big 24 ½-point spread when it looked like they might suffer a huge upset loss.
That right there shows me this team knows how to make the necessary adjustments midstream to pull away from an eager opponent playing over its head.
The Mountaineers just have too much speed on offense with quarterback Pat White and running back Steve Slaton. Toss in the diminutive freshman running back Noel Devine, another speed burner who has three touchdowns on only 13 touches, and the Mountaineer attack is just flat-out lethal.
Maryland doesn’t have an explosive attack on offense to keep pace in this one, so Wvu should pull away in the second-half when the adrenaline wears off for the Terps.
West Virginia is on an 11-2 ATS run in weekday games and a 9-2 ATS tear on the road.
Maryland is just 4-9 ATS in its last 13 home games.
Lay the points with West Virginia as they run away, literally, with this one.
ROCKIES (With Francis and Durbin as listed pitchers)
Take the Rockies for the road win tonight over the Phillies.
Colorado will start Jeff Francis and the left-hander has been huge for them this year. He’s 15-7 on the year with a 4.05 ERA, including a 2-1 mark with a 1.99 ERA over his last three starts.
If the Rockies’ bats were hot last night, imagine what they might do tonight against Philadelphia starter J.D. Durbin.
Durbin has allowed 12 runs, nine earned, over his last two starts. He lasted only 4 1-3 innings in his last start, but that was a marathon compared to his previous start when he didn’t retire a batter after giving up seven runs on five hits in a 12-6 loss at Florida.
The Rockies have outscored the Phillies 20-2 in winning the last two games and I expect their offensive surge to continue tonight against Durbin.
Take Colorado for the road win.
Chuck Franklin Thursday Plays:
2000♦ TCU
I don’t have much faith in Air Force in this game, even given the fact they are at home. They are 2-8 ATS in their past 10 games played in Colorado Springs. And they are facing a very well coached TCU Horned Frogs team that have finished in the top 25 four of the last six years. The Falcons’ win over the broken down Utah Utes last week won’t be enough to get their juices flowing for this much tougher TCU team. Air Force’s new head coach Troy Calhoun is still unproven and I see no signs of greatness yet. The Horned Frogs of TCU have covered the spread in this match-up with Air Force each of the last four meetings, and the last two seasons have been total wipeouts. Look for another such win today, as TCU will surely come out strong against the much weaker Falcons.
1000♦ NY YANKEES w/KENNEDY over Toronto w/Burnett
This will be the third night in a row I’m riding on the Bronx Bombers, and tonight you get the best price yet. The Yankees are super motivated to get wins right now, especially since they are starting a series with the first place Boston Red Sox tomorrow. They are displaying some impressive offensive firepower of late, winning each of their last seven games and outscoring their opponents 55-18 in the process. I have to take them again tonight with rookie Ian Kennedy on the mound. Kennedy has looked good so far, and is 1-0 with an ERA of only 2.25 in two major league starts. The Blue Jays will counter with A.J. Burnett, who is pitching well of late but that won’t matter. The Jays are only 1-4 in his last five starts vs. a better than .500 team. Take the Yankees to complete the sweep!
Always specify pitchers as listed.
Cappers Access
Sport Favorite Underdog Line Pick
(Thur) CFB W. Virginia Maryland 16- Maryland
(Thur) CFB TCU Air Force 8 Air Force
Vegas Experts Tip of the Day
TCU Horned Frogs at Air Force Falcons
Thursday, September 13th, 8:00 P.M. EDT
TCU lost at Texas last week 34-13 as a 7.5-pt. dog. Air Force won at Utah 20-12 getting +7. Expect TCU to bounce back and Air Force to fall flat then in this one. TCU has won the last two meetings by 31 ppg. and is 11-4-1 ATS in Conference play since joining the Mountain West. Supporting angles say to Play Against - A home team (AIR FORCE) - a very good team (>=+10 PPG differential) against an average team (+/- 5 PPG differential), after scoring 3 points or less in the first half last game (36-11 since 1992, 76.6%) and Play On - Road favorites (TCU) - after gaining 3.75 or less yards/play in their previous game, with 5 offensive starters returning. (27-6 since 1992, 81.8%).
Play on: TCU
LT'S LOCK
Todays selection:
Maryland +16
Current streak: 1 loss
Overall record: 489-387-18
Larry Ness' 15* MLB Total of the Week (30-10 since Aug 7 / 113-40 this season!)
My 15* play is on Tex/Oak Over at 10:05 ET. After winning 13 of 15 games to make a
.500 season a possibility, the Rangers (69-76) were cooled off with back-to-back
losses at Detroit, scoring one run in each game. However, I like the way the Rangers
are hitting the ball, as they had averaged 6.3 RPG while winning those 13 of 15
games. By the way, the team's 30 runs at Baltimore came BEFORE its 13-2 run! The
Rangers have won nine of 15 this season against the A's, including three straight
wins, in which they scored 24 runs. That matches up well vs Oakland's starters, who
are 2-9 with a 6.33 ERA over the last 18 games. Starting tonight is Chad Gaudin and
he's had "two seasons" in '07. Prior to the break, he went 8-3 with a 2.81 ERA in 18
starts (team was 13-5). However, since the break, he's 2-8 with a 7.15 ERA in 12
starts (team is 3-9), allowing at least five ERs in EIGHT of those 12 outings! As for
Texas, Kevin Millwood (9-11, 5.31 ERA) has pitched better lately, as the team has won
his last three outings. However, all three have come at home. In 13 road starts in
'07, he's allowed 83 hits in 69.2 innings with a 5.43 ERA (he's 2-7 and the team is
4-9). MLB Total of the Week 15* Tex/Oak Over.
Good Luck...Larry
Alex Smart and LT Profits
TCU
Kiki Sports one and only 4* GOY is Colorado.
Sebastian Early Game
10* Over CIN/STL
Handicapper: IndianCowboy
Sport: College Football
Game: West Virginia Mountaineers @ Maryland - Thursday September 13, 2007 7:45 pm
Pick: 3 unit(s) TOTAL: Under 63.5 (-110) (Play of the Day)
The Mountaineers showed a bit of their true colors when they struggled to score early on the road against Marshall. Although they will make an exceeded effort to score more points, in a quicker fashion today, it's not happening against one of the best defenses in the country. Yes, Maryland has one of the best defenses in the country allowing their opponents a total of less than 200 yards and this carries over from last year when this team went 9-4, won the Champs Bowl over Purdue, limiting them to 7 points and won 8 of their last 10 games straight up. Keep in mind that if this game goes under, as it should, Maryland is likely to cover this game as it is their style of play (so the underdog or active dog/over principle) does not apply here. However, I would rather take my chances on a low-scoring game in Maryland rather than the Terps to cover as there could be a late WVU touchdown much like the Marshall game as it is only a matter of time before the WVU offense starts getting "theirs". Look for this game to be a 35-20 type of final (WVU defense is very overrated in my opinion much like Louisville), but this game to not reach more than 55 points today. The under is 14-6 in Mountaineers last 20 road games vs. a team with a winning home record and the under is 5-1 in Maryland's last 6 non-conference games.
Handicapper: IndianCowboy
Sport: MLB Baseball
Game: Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies - Thursday September 13, 2007 7:05 pm
Pick: 3 unit(s) TOTAL: Over 10 (-109) (Normal)
Both these teams have had success with the opposing pitcher. The Phillies probably do not take to well for getting spanked back to back days by double-digit in runs essentially and at the same token, the Rockies hit pitchers who have their strength in fast balls very well including shelling Schillilng, Sheilds and Kendrick from yesterday - and Kendrick would have gotten shelled regardless of the fact that he went on the DL after that game as he had a horrible ERA at Coors when the Rockies faced him there as well. Durbin has pitched less than 3 innings and given up 8 runs and 9 hits to the Rockies, you think they don't have a beat on this kid? On the same token, however, Francis might be pitching well of late, but the Phillies desperately need a win here as they are 2.5 games back fo the wild card of the Padres and they have given Francis over a 10 ERA against them this year. The over is 6-0 when the total is set at this range for the Rockies, over is 8-0 when Francis faces the NL East which is a far better hitting division than the NL West and the over is 4-0 for the Phillies when the total is set at this range as well - a combination of lack of pitching and quality of hitting (although they haven't shown it of late). I have this game at 8-5 Rockies and thus the over.
Handicapper: IndianCowboy
Sport: MLB Baseball
Game: Los Angeles Angels @ Baltimore Orioles - Thursday September 13, 2007 7:05 pm
Pick: 3 unit(s) RUNLINE: Los Angeles Angels -1.5 (-130) (Normal)
Nothing too complicated here - the Angels can hit, the Orioles are horrible right now, the O's pitching is questionable, the Angels send their ace to the mound who tries for #17 for the 3rd time and he will get it this time and compound this with the fact that the Angels have the edge on offense and pitching, you get the run-line here. If the Angels can cover the run-line the last 2 games, 10-5 and 18-6, and that is when they had questionable pitching, why can't they do it with their ace who hasn't won a game in his last 2 starts and wants #17, to boost up his resume for the Cy Young? The Angels have some possible lineup absences today, but as long as they have Vlad, Figgins and Anderson (5 RBI's yesterday), they should be fine. Compound this with the fact that Leicester gave up 7 hits in 5 innings to the Red Sox, he will not be as lucky in getting the win today as Lackey will show up despite the O's looking to avoid the sweep. The Angels have won their last 6 road games, 11-2 in Lackey's last 13 road starts and the O's are 1-9 in their last 10 as underdogs.
JIM FEIST BASEBALL 2007 REGULAR SEASON PACKAGE!!
(961) NY Yankees vs (962) TOR Blue Jays Game Starts at September 13 2007 16:05 EST
Take (961) NY Yankees
4 Star
GAMEDAY SPORTS NETWORK
FREE MLB PICKS
Texas @ Oakland
Pick: OVER 9
Time: 10:05 PM EST
_________________
SportsAction365
FREE MLB BASEBALL WINNER
NY Yankees @ Toronto
Time: 7:05 PM EST
Prediction: Play Yankees -110
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Chicago @ Houston
Time: 8:05 PM EST
Pick: OVER 9.5
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Winning Way Sports
John's Free MLB Selection for Thursday!
Selection: New York/Toronto Under 10 (-110)
Reason: Put us down on the New York Yankees/Toronto Blue Jays Under 10 for our Free MLB Selection on Thursday. Today we expect a low-scoring game as the New York Yankees do battle with the Toronto Blue Jays. One reason why we expect a low-scoring game is because both these teams will send to the mound solid starting pitchers. This says it all... Yankees Starting Pitcher [Ian Kennedy] has a 2.25 ERA on the season, while Blue Jays Starting Pitcher [A.J. Burnett] has a 3.56 ERA on the season (2.05 ERA in his last 3 starts). The Under is also 8-2-1 in A.J. Burnett's last 11 starts. These teams have also been known to play low-scoring games when playing each other this season. In fact, the Under is 9-4 in the 13 starts between these teams this season. We expect another low-scoring game tonight! Take the New York Yankees/Toronto Blue Jays Under 10!
Big Al's Full Service Clients
3* Reds
3* Rockies
3* Blue Jays
Sunshine Forecast
CFB Computer Predictions
Thursday, September 13, 2007
West Virginia(-15½) at Maryland
Power Rating Projection
West Virginia 33 Maryland 15
SUNSHINE FORECAST Official Prediction
West Virginia 31 Maryland 13
Texas Christian(-8) at Air Force
Power Rating Projection:
Texas Christian 23 Air Force 16
SUNSHINE FORECAST Official Prediction
Texas Christian 17 Air Force 11
Gold Sheet
*West Virginia 42 - MARYLAND 19
KO power? West Virginia, trailing 16-13 mid-way thru 3rd Q on road at fired-up in-state rival Marshall last week, scored 35 points in final 21:30 to win easily (and cover huge spread!). QB White & RB Slaton led charge, as usual. And that veteran duo has a new sidekick in quick-as-a-wink true frosh RB Devine (3 TDs, nearly 14 yards per touch in first 2 games). Stodgy Maryland attack (just 270 total yards & 14 FDs at lowly Florida Intl.) can't keep pace.
*Tcu 23 - AIR FORCE 10
Now that TCU doesn't have to concern itself with BCS talk for a while, Frogs can focus full attention on MWC. That's bad news for AFA, as Gary Patterson's speedy "D" wrecked Fisher DeBerry's option past two years, and Falcs still not balancing new-look "O" as well as HC Calhoun would like (run/pass ratio about 4:1). Chance for TCU RS frosh QB Dalton to breathe a little after facing relentless Texas pressure last week.