Los Angeles +1.11 over FLORIDA
Yesterday we wrote how the Dodgers are sizzling and that alone makes them a strong investment. Well, the only thing that’s changed today is that the Dodgers are hotter and have now won eight in a row. In those eight wins, Los Angeles has scored 58 runs and that includes 10 last night and making a previously effective Josh Johnson look like he didn’t belong. We’re not even going to concern ourselves with the starters today. If the better pitcher always won than we’d all be rich but they don’t and the Dodgers are too hot to ignore as a pooch against this overachieving host that’s beginning to labor. Play: Los Angeles +1.32 (Risking 1.5 units).<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
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CHICAGO –1.01 over Pittsburgh
We know the Cubbies are a bad baseball team but Ian Snell favored on the road is simply incorrect, end of story. Snell has put up some decent numbers but he’s also been terribly inconsistent and when the Cubs saw him earlier in the year they torched him to the tune of six runs in five innings. Snell is up over 125 innings and that’s a lot for a guy that pitched 43 frames in the majors last year and 12 in ’04. In his last start the Braves hit him hard but Snell allowed just four runs, when in fact, he was so ineffective and was fortunate not to allow twice that. Rich Hill’s numbers are pretty ugly but he is coming off a rock solid performance against the D-Backs in which he went a full eight innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs. That followed a stint in the minors in which Hill was dominating, going 7-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 15 starts. Furthermore, and this is the kicker, Rich Hill is a lefty and in 20 decisions on the road against southpaws the Pirates are 3-17 and overall they’re 7-29. The Buccos also have the league’s worse road record with a lousy 14 wins in 55 tries and unless our math is way off, making them a road favorite against a lefty is ridiculous. Lastly, the Cubs are playing much better with seven wins in 10 games and winning is highly contagious. Play: Chicago –1.01 (Risking 1.51 to win 1.5).<o></o>
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Milwaukee +1.15 over ST. LOUIS<o></o>
Speaking of struggling teams vs southpaws, and everyone else for that matter, one need not look much further than the Cardinals. St. Louis is a surprising 7-14 at home against lefties and will face a good one today in Chris Capuano. Capuano hasn’t been himself since the all-star break but just might be back on track after a strong outing against the Rockies in his last start. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have one win in their last nine games and it took an injury to Ben Sheets in the first inning yesterday for them to barely squeak out a victory. Incidentally, the Cubs just swept them in a four-game series and getting swept by Chicago is not an easy thing to do. Jeff Suppan is not a strikeout pitcher and that also has to work in our favor. The Brewers have seen Suppan twice already this year and in 10 innings against them he allowed 11 hits and six earned runs and walked more batters than he struck out. The Cardinals aren’t doing much of anything these days and that includes not scoring runs and when this host isn’t producing offensively they’re a rather easy target. Play: Milwaukee +1.15 (Risking 1.5 units).
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Chicago –1 +1.08 over TORONTO (Pinnacle)<o></o>
For the two million-plus a year the Blue Jays spent on A.J. Burnett they have two wins from him and things don’t figure to change here. The Jays were bailing out their pitchers with their bats earlier in the year but now that the bats have gone silent, the Jays are struggling miserably. Toronto has dropped nine of ten and they’ve made a slew of very average pitchers look like Sandy Koufax and Steve Carlton. During this ugly stretch the Jays offense couldn’t produce against Estaban Loaiza, Jamie Wright, Cory Lidle, Joe Blanton, Joel Pineiro, Jamie Moyer and most recently, in the in first two games of this series against Jon Garland and Javier Vazquez, two guys both having a lousy campaign. The Jays are going so bad that not even Roy Halliday could save them from defeat in is last two starts. The White Sox needed a wake-up call and they got it against this reeling host. Jose Contreras is the straight goods and his record speaks for itself. Contreras is also 8-3 with a 3.29 ERA and .234 opponent batting average in 13 career August starts and let’s not forget that despite their recent struggles until they arrived here, the South Side is still 65-43 and only the Tigers have a better record. Can this one really go any other way? We think not. Play: Chicago –1 +1.08 (Risking 1.5 units).
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Minnesota –1½ +1.15 over KANSAS CITY <o></o>
The Twins are on a serious major league roll and have been for about 2½ months now. In fact, their current run has to be considered one of the most impressive in the history of professional sports. Minnesota has won seven in a row on the road and they’ve outscored its opponents 51-22 during that stretch. The beautiful thing here is that Mike Smith is pitching for the Twins and it’s for that reason we get to play Minnesota laying 1½ runs and taking back some juice. Frankly, we couldn’t care if Matlock was pitching for the Twins today, they’re destroying all weak pitchers and the Royals pitcher today, Odalis Perez should be president of that club. Perez was a Dodger and came to K.C. with an NL ERA of 6.83. In 63 innings of work this year Perez has been tagged for 92 hits and 51 runs and that was mostly as a reliever in which he was asked to pitch just an inning or two. Perez pitching for the Royals is akin to a pig wearing perfume. The Royals bullpen will get plenty of work this afternoon and that, too, works hugely in our favor. Lay the 1½ runs my friends and we’ll see you at the cashiers booth about 5:00 PM. Play: Minnesota –1½ +1.15 (Risking 1.5 units).
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Oakland –1.01 over SEATTLE<o></o>
How can we not play the A’s here? They’ve made the Mariners their daddy this year and if nothing else, they have a huge psychological edge. Bottom line is that the A’s are hot as hell and the Mariners cannot beat them. It gets better. Joe Blanton has won all three of his starts against Seattle this season, allowing only two runs in 23 innings. He's thrown eight scoreless innings in two of those three outings and has a 0.78 ERA against Seattle this year. Overall, Blanton has won four straight against Seattle and is 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA in seven career starts. Gil Meche is hasn’t won in his last three starts and his ERA over that stretch is 7.04. This one’s a no-brainer. Play: Oakland –1.01 (Risking 1.5 units).
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Texas +1.06 over L.A. ANGELS<o></o>
Don’t look now but the Rangers have won four straight road series and are a definite threat to win the division. Adam Eaton makes just his third start of the year but looked absolutely brilliant in is first two against the Yanks and Minnesota. After facing those two hot offenses, facing this struggling one is a huge step down in class for Eaton. Eaton held Minnesota to four hits over six shutout innings in a 9-0 victory on Tuesday for his first win of the season and was no-hitting the Yanks through three before getting into minor trouble and being lifted in the fourth. Eaton has wicked stuff and is sharp as hell. Meanwhile, on most days this Angel club labors big time offensively and they’ll need a big performance out of Joe Saunders to beat us here. Saunders is a good one and looks like a keeper, however, he often falls behind in the count and at this level that spells nothing but trouble. Besides, the Rangers offense has really come to life recently and they can make life miserable for any starter. Play: Texas +1.06 (Risking 1.5 units).
Yesterday we wrote how the Dodgers are sizzling and that alone makes them a strong investment. Well, the only thing that’s changed today is that the Dodgers are hotter and have now won eight in a row. In those eight wins, Los Angeles has scored 58 runs and that includes 10 last night and making a previously effective Josh Johnson look like he didn’t belong. We’re not even going to concern ourselves with the starters today. If the better pitcher always won than we’d all be rich but they don’t and the Dodgers are too hot to ignore as a pooch against this overachieving host that’s beginning to labor. Play: Los Angeles +1.32 (Risking 1.5 units).<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o></o><o
></o>CHICAGO –1.01 over Pittsburgh
We know the Cubbies are a bad baseball team but Ian Snell favored on the road is simply incorrect, end of story. Snell has put up some decent numbers but he’s also been terribly inconsistent and when the Cubs saw him earlier in the year they torched him to the tune of six runs in five innings. Snell is up over 125 innings and that’s a lot for a guy that pitched 43 frames in the majors last year and 12 in ’04. In his last start the Braves hit him hard but Snell allowed just four runs, when in fact, he was so ineffective and was fortunate not to allow twice that. Rich Hill’s numbers are pretty ugly but he is coming off a rock solid performance against the D-Backs in which he went a full eight innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs. That followed a stint in the minors in which Hill was dominating, going 7-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 15 starts. Furthermore, and this is the kicker, Rich Hill is a lefty and in 20 decisions on the road against southpaws the Pirates are 3-17 and overall they’re 7-29. The Buccos also have the league’s worse road record with a lousy 14 wins in 55 tries and unless our math is way off, making them a road favorite against a lefty is ridiculous. Lastly, the Cubs are playing much better with seven wins in 10 games and winning is highly contagious. Play: Chicago –1.01 (Risking 1.51 to win 1.5).<o
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></o>Milwaukee +1.15 over ST. LOUIS<o
></o>Speaking of struggling teams vs southpaws, and everyone else for that matter, one need not look much further than the Cardinals. St. Louis is a surprising 7-14 at home against lefties and will face a good one today in Chris Capuano. Capuano hasn’t been himself since the all-star break but just might be back on track after a strong outing against the Rockies in his last start. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have one win in their last nine games and it took an injury to Ben Sheets in the first inning yesterday for them to barely squeak out a victory. Incidentally, the Cubs just swept them in a four-game series and getting swept by Chicago is not an easy thing to do. Jeff Suppan is not a strikeout pitcher and that also has to work in our favor. The Brewers have seen Suppan twice already this year and in 10 innings against them he allowed 11 hits and six earned runs and walked more batters than he struck out. The Cardinals aren’t doing much of anything these days and that includes not scoring runs and when this host isn’t producing offensively they’re a rather easy target. Play: Milwaukee +1.15 (Risking 1.5 units).
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></o>Chicago –1 +1.08 over TORONTO (Pinnacle)<o
></o>For the two million-plus a year the Blue Jays spent on A.J. Burnett they have two wins from him and things don’t figure to change here. The Jays were bailing out their pitchers with their bats earlier in the year but now that the bats have gone silent, the Jays are struggling miserably. Toronto has dropped nine of ten and they’ve made a slew of very average pitchers look like Sandy Koufax and Steve Carlton. During this ugly stretch the Jays offense couldn’t produce against Estaban Loaiza, Jamie Wright, Cory Lidle, Joe Blanton, Joel Pineiro, Jamie Moyer and most recently, in the in first two games of this series against Jon Garland and Javier Vazquez, two guys both having a lousy campaign. The Jays are going so bad that not even Roy Halliday could save them from defeat in is last two starts. The White Sox needed a wake-up call and they got it against this reeling host. Jose Contreras is the straight goods and his record speaks for itself. Contreras is also 8-3 with a 3.29 ERA and .234 opponent batting average in 13 career August starts and let’s not forget that despite their recent struggles until they arrived here, the South Side is still 65-43 and only the Tigers have a better record. Can this one really go any other way? We think not. Play: Chicago –1 +1.08 (Risking 1.5 units).
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></o>Minnesota –1½ +1.15 over KANSAS CITY <o
></o>The Twins are on a serious major league roll and have been for about 2½ months now. In fact, their current run has to be considered one of the most impressive in the history of professional sports. Minnesota has won seven in a row on the road and they’ve outscored its opponents 51-22 during that stretch. The beautiful thing here is that Mike Smith is pitching for the Twins and it’s for that reason we get to play Minnesota laying 1½ runs and taking back some juice. Frankly, we couldn’t care if Matlock was pitching for the Twins today, they’re destroying all weak pitchers and the Royals pitcher today, Odalis Perez should be president of that club. Perez was a Dodger and came to K.C. with an NL ERA of 6.83. In 63 innings of work this year Perez has been tagged for 92 hits and 51 runs and that was mostly as a reliever in which he was asked to pitch just an inning or two. Perez pitching for the Royals is akin to a pig wearing perfume. The Royals bullpen will get plenty of work this afternoon and that, too, works hugely in our favor. Lay the 1½ runs my friends and we’ll see you at the cashiers booth about 5:00 PM. Play: Minnesota –1½ +1.15 (Risking 1.5 units).
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></o>Oakland –1.01 over SEATTLE<o
></o>How can we not play the A’s here? They’ve made the Mariners their daddy this year and if nothing else, they have a huge psychological edge. Bottom line is that the A’s are hot as hell and the Mariners cannot beat them. It gets better. Joe Blanton has won all three of his starts against Seattle this season, allowing only two runs in 23 innings. He's thrown eight scoreless innings in two of those three outings and has a 0.78 ERA against Seattle this year. Overall, Blanton has won four straight against Seattle and is 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA in seven career starts. Gil Meche is hasn’t won in his last three starts and his ERA over that stretch is 7.04. This one’s a no-brainer. Play: Oakland –1.01 (Risking 1.5 units).
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></o>Texas +1.06 over L.A. ANGELS<o
></o>Don’t look now but the Rangers have won four straight road series and are a definite threat to win the division. Adam Eaton makes just his third start of the year but looked absolutely brilliant in is first two against the Yanks and Minnesota. After facing those two hot offenses, facing this struggling one is a huge step down in class for Eaton. Eaton held Minnesota to four hits over six shutout innings in a 9-0 victory on Tuesday for his first win of the season and was no-hitting the Yanks through three before getting into minor trouble and being lifted in the fourth. Eaton has wicked stuff and is sharp as hell. Meanwhile, on most days this Angel club labors big time offensively and they’ll need a big performance out of Joe Saunders to beat us here. Saunders is a good one and looks like a keeper, however, he often falls behind in the count and at this level that spells nothing but trouble. Besides, the Rangers offense has really come to life recently and they can make life miserable for any starter. Play: Texas +1.06 (Risking 1.5 units).
