Yesterday 2-2 +0.75 units
Y-T-D (on this site) 15-19 (+0.31 units)
KANSAS CITY +1.14 over Minnesota
In four of their past six games the Royals have been smacking the ball hard all over the yard. The two games over that span in which they were tamed they faced two pitchers that are having brilliant campaigns, Johan Santana of the Twins and Daniel Cabrera of the Orioles. In fact, in the aforementioned quartet they hit .324, .378, .344, and .415 collectively and scored 33 times. They’ll face a career reliever turned starter tonight in Carlos Silva. Silva has had a few decent outings, especially at the beginning of the year, however, his numbers recently suggest that he’ll be back in the pen real soon. Silva’s 8-7 record is one of the more misleading in MLB. Dude has allowed 148 hits in 111 innings and over his past three, he’s gone 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA after allowing 29 hits and 15 earned runs covering 20 innings of work. The man is a reliever, always has been up until this year and in fact, appeared in 129 games as such over the past 2 years and never pitched more then 88 innings in any one of them. He’s way beyond his limit right now and it’s showing up in the results. In addition, the Twins aren’t going so good these days. They’ve dropped five of their past six games and have hit .165 over their past four. Not about to lay road chalk with this cold Twins team and are absolutely not interested in doing so with this pitcher going. Wrong side favored. Play Kansas City +1.14. (Risking 1.6 units).
ANAHEIM +1.40 over Boston
Curt Schilling has been one of the best in the game over the years and needs no introduction whatsoever. We all know what he’s capable of. However, making him a –1.40 favorite against these Angels at this venue is ludicrous. Schilling’s road record is 4-4 with a 3.79 ERA. The opposition is hitting .278 against Schilling outside of Fenway. In other words, he’s lost on the road as much as he’s won and this is going to be his toughest assignment to date. The Angels are capable of lighting up anyone and right now Schilling is a bit off his game. The A’s lit him up in his last outing and as a result, Schilling skipped the all-star game because of a sore leg. Angels will counter with John Lackey. Lackey has been rock solid over his past three games and when he brings it, he can flat out dominate. He appears to have found his groove and in addition to that, he throws strikes. Lackey has issued just 26 walks in 107 innings. Angels are seriously heating up with five wins in their past six with their only loss coming against Pedro. As a home pooch this host is always worthy of a play. Overlay. Play Anaheim +1.40 (Risking 1.6 units).
PITTSBURGH –1½ +1.80 over Florida
Somebody in the Pirates front office deserves some serious props for trading Brian Giles to the Padres for Jason Bay, who’s almost a lock to win rookie of the year, and for Oliver Perez. At the time it appeared that the Pirates were just cleaning house when in fact, it may go down as one of the best trades ever. Perez has whiffed 117 hitters in 94 frames and has allowed just 74 hits over that same span. He has a 1.42 ERA over his last three in which he’s struck out 28 in 19 frames. He hasn’t allowed a single jack over his past four games and has allowed just one over his past five. Furthermore, he throws from the left side and the Marlins are 3-6 on the road against southpaws. Pirates have won nine in a row at PNC Park and they’ve won 14 of their past 18 overall. Frankly, I don’t care who’s pitching for the Fish. I’ll gladly lay the extra half run at this price with the hottest team in the majors against this very cold Marlins team who practically know they’re going to get beat here and have lost nine of 13. Play Pittsburgh –1½ +1.80 (Risking 1.6 units).
San Diego +1.45 over HOUSTON
Astros keep on losing yet the tag on them keeps going up. Go figure. The defense keeps making critical errors and yesterday it was Craig Biggio’s turn in left field. There isn’t much to like about the Astros here. Aside from playing poor defense, the offense has been non-existent. In fact, the Astros have scored five runs or more just once in their last 11 games. Roger Clemens went Atlee Hammaker in the all-star game and while the Rocket can still pitch, one has to wonder if that outing will have a lingering effect. Either way, Clemens is going to have to come up giant here because the Astros bullpen is a joke and is completely out of sync. Astros have lost 8 of their past 10 and once again, we’ll gladly take back a big price against these Astros and will continue to do so until they show me something else. Play San Diego +1.45 (Risking 1.6 units).
Y-T-D (on this site) 15-19 (+0.31 units)
KANSAS CITY +1.14 over Minnesota
In four of their past six games the Royals have been smacking the ball hard all over the yard. The two games over that span in which they were tamed they faced two pitchers that are having brilliant campaigns, Johan Santana of the Twins and Daniel Cabrera of the Orioles. In fact, in the aforementioned quartet they hit .324, .378, .344, and .415 collectively and scored 33 times. They’ll face a career reliever turned starter tonight in Carlos Silva. Silva has had a few decent outings, especially at the beginning of the year, however, his numbers recently suggest that he’ll be back in the pen real soon. Silva’s 8-7 record is one of the more misleading in MLB. Dude has allowed 148 hits in 111 innings and over his past three, he’s gone 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA after allowing 29 hits and 15 earned runs covering 20 innings of work. The man is a reliever, always has been up until this year and in fact, appeared in 129 games as such over the past 2 years and never pitched more then 88 innings in any one of them. He’s way beyond his limit right now and it’s showing up in the results. In addition, the Twins aren’t going so good these days. They’ve dropped five of their past six games and have hit .165 over their past four. Not about to lay road chalk with this cold Twins team and are absolutely not interested in doing so with this pitcher going. Wrong side favored. Play Kansas City +1.14. (Risking 1.6 units).
ANAHEIM +1.40 over Boston
Curt Schilling has been one of the best in the game over the years and needs no introduction whatsoever. We all know what he’s capable of. However, making him a –1.40 favorite against these Angels at this venue is ludicrous. Schilling’s road record is 4-4 with a 3.79 ERA. The opposition is hitting .278 against Schilling outside of Fenway. In other words, he’s lost on the road as much as he’s won and this is going to be his toughest assignment to date. The Angels are capable of lighting up anyone and right now Schilling is a bit off his game. The A’s lit him up in his last outing and as a result, Schilling skipped the all-star game because of a sore leg. Angels will counter with John Lackey. Lackey has been rock solid over his past three games and when he brings it, he can flat out dominate. He appears to have found his groove and in addition to that, he throws strikes. Lackey has issued just 26 walks in 107 innings. Angels are seriously heating up with five wins in their past six with their only loss coming against Pedro. As a home pooch this host is always worthy of a play. Overlay. Play Anaheim +1.40 (Risking 1.6 units).
PITTSBURGH –1½ +1.80 over Florida
Somebody in the Pirates front office deserves some serious props for trading Brian Giles to the Padres for Jason Bay, who’s almost a lock to win rookie of the year, and for Oliver Perez. At the time it appeared that the Pirates were just cleaning house when in fact, it may go down as one of the best trades ever. Perez has whiffed 117 hitters in 94 frames and has allowed just 74 hits over that same span. He has a 1.42 ERA over his last three in which he’s struck out 28 in 19 frames. He hasn’t allowed a single jack over his past four games and has allowed just one over his past five. Furthermore, he throws from the left side and the Marlins are 3-6 on the road against southpaws. Pirates have won nine in a row at PNC Park and they’ve won 14 of their past 18 overall. Frankly, I don’t care who’s pitching for the Fish. I’ll gladly lay the extra half run at this price with the hottest team in the majors against this very cold Marlins team who practically know they’re going to get beat here and have lost nine of 13. Play Pittsburgh –1½ +1.80 (Risking 1.6 units).
San Diego +1.45 over HOUSTON
Astros keep on losing yet the tag on them keeps going up. Go figure. The defense keeps making critical errors and yesterday it was Craig Biggio’s turn in left field. There isn’t much to like about the Astros here. Aside from playing poor defense, the offense has been non-existent. In fact, the Astros have scored five runs or more just once in their last 11 games. Roger Clemens went Atlee Hammaker in the all-star game and while the Rocket can still pitch, one has to wonder if that outing will have a lingering effect. Either way, Clemens is going to have to come up giant here because the Astros bullpen is a joke and is completely out of sync. Astros have lost 8 of their past 10 and once again, we’ll gladly take back a big price against these Astros and will continue to do so until they show me something else. Play San Diego +1.45 (Risking 1.6 units).
