THE SPORTS ADVISORS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Colorado (61-57) at San Diego (64-54)
All-Star Chris Young (9-4, 2.02 ERA) will try to continue his season-long dominance at Petco Park when he leads the Padres against Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez (1-2, 6.57) in the middle game of this key three-game series between N.L. West rivals.
San Diego rolled to an 8-0 win on Monday night, its third victory in its last four games overall and its fifth consecutive win at home. Meanwhile, the Rockies are now just 4-6 against the Padres this season and 1-8 in their last nine games at Petco Park.
Young has been amazing in front of the home fans this season, going 4-1 with a 0.73 ERA in nine starts at Petco. He’s given up a total of nine runs (only five earned) on 34 hits and 21 walks in 62 innings, notching 58 strikeouts along the way. Despite those incredible numbers, San Diego is just 6-3 when Young pitches at Petco.
Young returned from a two-week stint on the disabled list on Thursday at St. Louis and allowed four runs on three hits and five walks over six innings, losing 5-0. Prior to going on the DL, Young had gone 7-1 with a 1.08 ERA in 15 previous starts.
The Rockies are just 1-4 in Jimenez’s five starts this season, including two straight losses to the Braves (6-4) and Cubs (10-2). In those two outings, the young righthander allowed 15 runs (11 earned) on 15 hits in just 6 2/3 innings of work. He’s 0-1 with a 7.45 ERA in two road starts.
The Padres beat Jimenez 5-3 back on July 24 in Colorado, touching him up for three runs on four hits in seven innings. In that game, Young started and pitched two perfect innings before being forced to leave the game with the injury that sent him to the DL. Over the past two seasons, Young is 4-0 with a 2.52 ERA in seven starts against the Rockies, with the Padres winning the last six in a row.
The over is 3-0 in Jimenez’s last three starts, but the under is 13-7-1 in Young’s 21 starts this season, including a perfect 9-0 at home.
With last night’s game barely nudging over the total, the over is now 4-0 in San Diego’s last four and 8-3 in Colorado’s last 11.
ATS ADVANTAGE: SAN DIEGO
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Detroit (66-53) at Cleveland (65-54)
The Indians and Tigers continue their critical three-game series at Jacobs Field tonight, with rookie Jair Jurrjens (0-0, 0.00) set to make his major-league debut against Fausto Carmona (13-7, 3.26).
Detroit scored a 6-2, 10-inning victory in Tuesday’s series-opener to regain sole possession of first place in the A.L. Central, a game ahead of Cleveland. Jim Leyland’s squad has won three of its last four after going 4-14 in its previous 18 games.
The Indians have now dropped four consecutive games and 14 of their last 21, including eight of nine at home. The Tribe are also just 2-7 in their last nine as a favorite.
Cleveland won the first five head-to-head meetings this season, but the Tigers have taken five of the last six.
Carmona is coming off his worst effort in more than a month, as he gave up four runs on eight hits in seven innings in Friday’s 6-1 home loss to the Yankees. Cleveland is 0-3 in Carmona’s last three outings, though the young righthander has posted a 1.93 ERA in his last six trips to the mound, lasting at least seven innings in all six.
With the loss to the Yankees, Carmona dropped to 7-4 with a 3.71 ERA at home, including 0-2 in his last two. He faced the Tigers twice this year, giving up eight runs on 19 hits in 13 innings (5.54 ERA), but Cleveland won both contests by scores of 5-3 on the road and 12-11 at home.
Jurrejens, a 21-year-old righthander, was called up from Double-A Erie, Pa., where he was just 7-5 with a 3.20 ERA in 19 starts.
The under is 6-0 in Carmona’s last six starts. However, the over is 8-3 in the 11 series battles between these division rivals in 2007.
ATS ADVANTAGE: CLEVELAND