Saturday’s Betting Tips
By Covers.com
Weather watch
Thunderstorms are threatening baseball’s greatest rivalry with a 54 percent chance of rain for Yankee Stadium when the Red Sox visit the Bronx Bombers this afternoon.
Who’s hot?
Cincinnati Reds – Even without slugger Joey Votto in the lineup, the Reds have won eight in a row and head into Saturday’s showdown with the Colorado Rockies at -157 road chalk.
Who’s not?
Houston Astros – If you’re still banking on the Astros to turn it around, perhaps you should try another hobby other than sports betting. Houston has lost 11 in a row heading into Saturday’s dust-up against the Pirates.
Key stat
.395 - Los Angeles 1B Albert Pujols is hitting .395 (17-for-43) with 11 RBIs over his last 11 games. The Angels are 6-4-1 over/under in that span.
Game of the day
Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees (-179, 9)
Injury not to be overlooked
Josh Reddick, Oakland A’s – The Athletics right fielder suffered a contusion after colliding with the outfield wall while making a game-ending catch in Friday’s win over Baltimore. He was carted off the field and is listed as day-to-day. Reddick has been a sparkplug for the A’s incredible July run, batting .271 with a team-high 22 home runs and 49 RBIs this year.
Notable quotable
"We understand what they did for our game, but we also are big-time competitors as well so if we had the opportunity to play them in a game, we feel like we would win too.” – U.S.A. forward LeBron James, talking about the 1992 U.S.A. Olympic “Dream Team”.
News and notes
Olympic planners are frantically trying to use air conditioners to cool the pool complex down which has had temperatures climb to as high as 85 degrees. Coaches and swimmers are complaining about the heat and a warning has been sent to those fans holding tickets for swimming events. The much-hyped 400-meter individual medley is being held at the complex Saturday, featuring the showdown between Americans Michael Phelps (+125) and Ryan Lochte (-120). Phelps barely qualified for the eighth spot in tonight’s gold-medal final.
The Yankees have hit 19 homers and outscored the Red Sox 59-35 this season. The AL East rivals have combined for a 5-2 over/under mark in their seven meetings, including Friday’s 10-3 Yankees win that topped the 10-run total.
San Francisco has scored at least three runs in 12 of its 13 games since the All-Star break. The Giants are 9-4 with a 7-6 over/under record in that span.
The Pirates continue to kill the ball on the road. They’ve hit at least one home run in 17 straight away contests and own a 26-21-3 over/under mark on the road this season.
Heading into this weekend’s Crown Royal 400, Chevrolet has a nine-race win streak at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that began in 2003 – the longest current manufacturer streak at any track on the Sprint Cup schedule. Race favorites Jimmy Johnson (+600) and Tony Stewart (+800) both drive Chevys.