Thursday’s Betting Tips
Covers.com
Weather to watch
Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians: A 50 percent chance of thunderstorms could put a damper on Justin Verlander’s quest for his 12th win of the season.
Who’s hot?
The Oakland Athletics are riding a six-game winning streak heading into Wednesday night’s tilt with the Blue Jays. The over is 3-0-1 in Oakland’s last four road games.
Who’s not?
The New York Mets have dropped 12 of 13 overall and six straight at home. Now the Mets travel to Arizona to face 11-game winner Wade Miley on Thursday.
Key Stat
The Washington Nationals are 19 games above .500 for the first time since July 5, 2005. The Last time the franchise was 20 games above .500 was in 1994 as the Expos.
Game of the day
Tigers at Indians
Injury not to be overlooked
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez could miss the next six to eight weeks after suffering a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal in his left hand. A-Rod was beaned by Seattle hurler Felix Hernandez in the eighth inning of a 4-2 loss to the Mariners on Tuesday.
Notable quotable
"I learned in economics there's no such thing as a free lunch."-Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels after signing a six-year, $144 million contract extension.
Notes and tips
Things can't possibly get worse for the Houston Astros. They've dropped eight straight and 21 of their last 23 games overall. They've traded veterans and now GM Jeff Luhnow is hinting they'll be calling up minor leaguers to give the prospects a major league look. The kids could serve as a positive injection of youth and excitement or they could be over matched against big league talent. We'll have to wait and see.
The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired infielder Hanley Ramirez in a four-player trade from the Miami Marlins early Wednesday morning. Despite the addition of Ramirez Los Angeles’ World Series futures odds aren’t flying up the board. According to Jeff Stoneback, race and sportsbook manager at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas, the Dodgers are staying put at their current price of 10-1.
White Sox 3B Kevin Youkilis left Wednesday's game against the Minnesota Twins with a left ankle sprain. Youkilis is batting .277 with five home runs and 20 RBIs in 25 games since joining Chicago from Boston.