despite winning last night's seattle/detroit under 8.5 (3-2 final), i really came away from that game feeling like i mis-capped it. way more baserunners than i expected and the tigers bats put runners on base (and in scoring position) damn near every inning. good bullpen work on both sides kept it under the number but the first 5-6 innings of that game were all about dodging bullets. a win is a win, but im not thrilled about the way it played out.
played these for tonight:
cleveland (-1.5) (+100)
indians have to take advantage of this 3-game set right out of the break against arguably the worst team in baseball. it will be interesting to see how hafner responds to signing his new contract. it could be a big relief for him mentally and he could settle in and give them the production he has for the last 3 years. he certainly didnt have a good first half by his own standards. as far as the pitching goes, westbrook has a 2.80ish career era against the royals in 80+ innings. kansas city simply seems to pound his sinker into the ground against him.
new york/tampa under 9
kazmir is capable of holding the yanks in check but the big concern in this one, and its enough to make me keep this one as a regular sized play instead of something bigger, is that kazmir is also prone to giving up a ton of walks. he gets his share of strikeouts but he throws an obscene amount of pitches. it seems like he's throwing 5+ pitchers to almost every hitter. but he is still a quality lefty who seems to perform best against top notch competition. as far as clemens goes, its puzzling to see some media treat him like he is a shell of himself. the problem is he set the bar so high for himself that people almost overlook the fact that he's turned in some solid starts since returning to the yanks despite the fact that he hasnt had any shutouts or 8 or 9+ strikeout games. he is still pretty damn tough though and i dont see the rays getting very much off of him.
played these for tonight:
cleveland (-1.5) (+100)
indians have to take advantage of this 3-game set right out of the break against arguably the worst team in baseball. it will be interesting to see how hafner responds to signing his new contract. it could be a big relief for him mentally and he could settle in and give them the production he has for the last 3 years. he certainly didnt have a good first half by his own standards. as far as the pitching goes, westbrook has a 2.80ish career era against the royals in 80+ innings. kansas city simply seems to pound his sinker into the ground against him.
new york/tampa under 9
kazmir is capable of holding the yanks in check but the big concern in this one, and its enough to make me keep this one as a regular sized play instead of something bigger, is that kazmir is also prone to giving up a ton of walks. he gets his share of strikeouts but he throws an obscene amount of pitches. it seems like he's throwing 5+ pitchers to almost every hitter. but he is still a quality lefty who seems to perform best against top notch competition. as far as clemens goes, its puzzling to see some media treat him like he is a shell of himself. the problem is he set the bar so high for himself that people almost overlook the fact that he's turned in some solid starts since returning to the yanks despite the fact that he hasnt had any shutouts or 8 or 9+ strikeout games. he is still pretty damn tough though and i dont see the rays getting very much off of him.
