Yesterday: 2-2 -0.17
Consensus Pick 3-0 +3.04----*gonna start tracking
YTD: 42-21 +25.59
MLB Wed, Aug 10, 2005
MLB Hot Lines: Wednesday`s best odds
Julian Dickinson
Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox – Boston (-1.55)
Have you noticed Boston’s home record this year? The Sox are 35-18 at Fenway, including 10 straight coming into tonight’s game. That’s why this is a great price.
Sure Bronson Arroyo doesn’t bring home the bacon with much consistency, but he’s a heck of a lot better than the Rangers’ C.J. Wilson – a guy who hasn’t found the strike zone since coming to the Rangers two months ago. Wilson has a 10.23 ERA and his average start has lasted only 3 ½ innings. That leaves plenty of room for error by a Texas bullpen, which is without four relievers and has seen its ERA swell to 6.11 over the last 10 games.
Arizona Diamondbacks at Florida Marlins – Florida (-1.25)
Jason Vargas isn’t an old pro, but he looked like one last week. The Marlins rookie made his second career start last Thursday and pitched six solid innings in a 5-1 win over Cincinnati. He allowed only three hits and one earned run against the NL’s highest-scoring team.
“He didn`t look like a rookie pitcher,” Reds Manager Jerry Narron said. “He changed speeds really well and located all of his pitches. He did not look like a young kid out there by any stretch.”
Vargas’ only other start came last month in Arizona. In that game he held off the D-backs for five innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. The Marlins lost the game because the bullpen had a rare breakdown, but the way the relievers have been holding up lately, it won’t happen again.
New York Mets at San Diego Padres – Over seven runs -1.15
Even at a pitcher’s park like Petco, you can’t play the under every night. San Diego is a notorious nightmare for hitters, but even here, the total can get too low. A seven-run total seems to be the magic number at Petco. The under has been the best bet at the Padres’ home park all season, but when the total is set at seven runs or lower, the over is actually a winning 10-6-1.
It has to help that New York’s Kris Benson is coming off two terrible starts in which he gave up 11 earned runs in 10.1 innings. And Brian Lawrence hasn’t been taking advantage of Petco’s long porch – he’s dropped the cash in his last six home starts.
Both teams are hitting above .300 against right-handers in their last 10 games.
Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners – Under nine runs -1.20
This is an interesting matchup. Minnesota’s Brad Radke is the AL totals submariner, plunging under totals at a steady clip. But Joel Pineiro has been doing just the opposite with a 13-7 over/under record. So why will this one go under? Because the Minnesota bats, which broke out of a terrible slump in their series against Boston, are cooling off again in Seattle.
The Twins have scored only four runs in the first two games of this series and they’re showing signs of slipping back into the funk that pushed the under to a 12-3 record in the 15 games leading up to the start of the Boston series.
Consensus Pick 3-0 +3.04----*gonna start tracking
YTD: 42-21 +25.59
MLB Wed, Aug 10, 2005
MLB Hot Lines: Wednesday`s best odds
Julian Dickinson
Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox – Boston (-1.55)
Have you noticed Boston’s home record this year? The Sox are 35-18 at Fenway, including 10 straight coming into tonight’s game. That’s why this is a great price.
Sure Bronson Arroyo doesn’t bring home the bacon with much consistency, but he’s a heck of a lot better than the Rangers’ C.J. Wilson – a guy who hasn’t found the strike zone since coming to the Rangers two months ago. Wilson has a 10.23 ERA and his average start has lasted only 3 ½ innings. That leaves plenty of room for error by a Texas bullpen, which is without four relievers and has seen its ERA swell to 6.11 over the last 10 games.
Arizona Diamondbacks at Florida Marlins – Florida (-1.25)
Jason Vargas isn’t an old pro, but he looked like one last week. The Marlins rookie made his second career start last Thursday and pitched six solid innings in a 5-1 win over Cincinnati. He allowed only three hits and one earned run against the NL’s highest-scoring team.
“He didn`t look like a rookie pitcher,” Reds Manager Jerry Narron said. “He changed speeds really well and located all of his pitches. He did not look like a young kid out there by any stretch.”
Vargas’ only other start came last month in Arizona. In that game he held off the D-backs for five innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. The Marlins lost the game because the bullpen had a rare breakdown, but the way the relievers have been holding up lately, it won’t happen again.
New York Mets at San Diego Padres – Over seven runs -1.15
Even at a pitcher’s park like Petco, you can’t play the under every night. San Diego is a notorious nightmare for hitters, but even here, the total can get too low. A seven-run total seems to be the magic number at Petco. The under has been the best bet at the Padres’ home park all season, but when the total is set at seven runs or lower, the over is actually a winning 10-6-1.
It has to help that New York’s Kris Benson is coming off two terrible starts in which he gave up 11 earned runs in 10.1 innings. And Brian Lawrence hasn’t been taking advantage of Petco’s long porch – he’s dropped the cash in his last six home starts.
Both teams are hitting above .300 against right-handers in their last 10 games.
Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners – Under nine runs -1.20
This is an interesting matchup. Minnesota’s Brad Radke is the AL totals submariner, plunging under totals at a steady clip. But Joel Pineiro has been doing just the opposite with a 13-7 over/under record. So why will this one go under? Because the Minnesota bats, which broke out of a terrible slump in their series against Boston, are cooling off again in Seattle.
The Twins have scored only four runs in the first two games of this series and they’re showing signs of slipping back into the funk that pushed the under to a 12-3 record in the 15 games leading up to the start of the Boston series.
