Oakland (Lidle) @ Tampa Bay (Alvarez)
Well believe it or not I am going to be playing the Devil Rays here against an Oakland team that seems to be showing they miss the Giambi brothers more than they care to admit.
Oakland sends out Corey Lidle who is having a rough year he has a 1-5 record on the year with an ERA of 5.06 and a WHIP of 1.417 in his last 3 trips to the mound he has really been roughed up going 0-3 with an ERA of 7.41 and a WHIP of 1.82. He has not fared well against Tampa either since '97 he has a 1-1 record against them with an ERA of 4.26 and a WHIP of 1.184.
Tampa counters with Wilson Alvarez he is 0-1 on the year in two starts with an ERA of 4.50 and a WHIP of 1.400 in his one start at home he has an ERA of 3.00 with a very solid WHIP of 0.833. He has a 3-1 record against the A's in 5 starts since '97 with an ERA of 4.45 and a WHIP of 1.237.
The Oakland offense is just not scoring runs on the road averaging just 3.1 a game batting .226 as a team while allowing the opposition to score 5.3 runs a game and the bullpen has been anything but impressive on the road with an ERA of 4.86 and a poor WHIP of 1.587 in 63 innings pitched on the highway they have 37 strike outs and 37 walks.
Tampa offensively is scoring 4.2 runs a game at home while allowing their opponents to score 4.4 while keeping their on base percentage down to a respectable .348, committing just 14 errors in 24 games at home. The bullpen has been solid while pitching at home with an ERA of 3.84 allowing just 60 hits over the 68 innings they have been in the game.
Okay here's the bottom line Tampa is 5-0 as a home underdog of +100 to +125 and are really not hitting the ball that bad going up against a pitcher that is coming off the disabled list and that is usually a very good go against situation. Oakland misses the Giambi's in my opinion and are in a funk and I will bet against them when I can get the right situation and I think this is a very good one!
Playing Tampa Bay +122