Capped Plays: 4/4-4/10

ChooseORLose · Apr 4, 2005

Well, the baseball season is finally here. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. This season I'll be running three different threads. My first thread will be my capped plays, like today. There shouldn't be more than 1-2 plays per day and in some cases there may not even be one. The second thread is a series system that I've been working on for a while. These plays are based on the last game of a series of 3 or more games and are considered based on sweeps. The third thread is one that I'm just tracking and won't be playing for real monies. I just want to see how successful or unsuccessful one can be by fading -300's for 1 unit throughout the season. To track the plays easier, I'll be going with the weekly thread rather than a daily one.

Now to my capped POD

Seattle Mariners -1.5 +186

Minnesota is one of our strong favorites to come out on top in the AL. This evening they travel to Seattle in what should be a win for the Twins, especially if the Mariners pick up where they left off last season. However, these Mariners have made drastic off season improvements to their line up with the additions of Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre. These big bats will be much appreciated in the Northwest, particularly by Ichiro Suzuki who holds the single season record for hits with 262. Ichiro was on fire during Spring training batting .436 with a 19-game hit streak. Seattle should be able to produce runs, but it will be their ability to stop opponents that will determine their success this season. Tonight Brad Radke for Minny will face off against Jamie Moyer. Radke is 4-1 all time on opening day, but he's 3-8 against Seattle with a 5.21 ERA. On the other side, 42 year old lefty Jamie Moyer has won 10 of 14 against Minny with a 2.67 ERA and 1.038 WHIP.

ChooseORLose · Apr 8, 2005

MLB Play for 4/8

Oakland Athletics RL -1.5 +145

Tonight in Tampa, rookie Jeff Blanton will be making his first career MLB start against 7 year veteran Rob Bell. Blanton pitched a little relief last year for the A's but did't seem too spectacular. In the spring, he went 1-2 with a 4.74 ERA in five games (four starts), and walked only two batters in 19 innings of work. The A's feel this guy will have the ability to replace what is missing in Mulder and Hudson. Bell last year went 8-8 with a 4.46 ERA in 24 games (19 starts). Bell is 3-1 with a 6.04 ERA in eight career starts against Oakland. The A's have a young team with good bats. Kotsay is looking good right now and I expect this to continue. Tampa Bay hasn't proven themselves to be anything more than the bottomdwellers of the AL East as evident in the series opener, as they lost it to Toronto 2-1. Good Luck.