HOME TEAM IN CAPS
All games are listed pitchers unless stated otherwise.
Milwaukee +1.06 over ARIZONA
Have no interest whatsoever in a fading and aging Randy Johnson laying some juice. Johnson is now 44-years-old and hasn’t won a game since May 18. In the month of June, Johnson went 0-5 with an ERA of 6.82. Furthermore, the Snakes have gone 22-33 since opening the year 20-8 and one must also take into consideration that a lot of their games are played against weak opposition in the NL West. Meanwhile, the Brewers own the best record in baseball since May 20, going 24-13 over that stretch and it’s worth noting that they’re outstanding against southpaws with 15 wins in 22 games against left-handed starters. Jeff Suppan isn’t exactly setting the world on fire but there are some notable stats on him. For one, he hasn’t given up a bomb in his last four starts and he’s pitched seven full innings or more in three of his last six starts. Anyway, this isn’t about playing on Suppan. This is about taking back a tag against a fading team and a fading pitcher’s arm that’s feeling the effects of close to 4000 career innings. Play: Milwaukee +1.06 (Risking 2 units).
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></o>Kansas City +1.21 over BALTIMORE
Why not the Royals? For one, they’ve won six straight on the road and they’re playing some excellent ball right now. They’re swinging the bats well, they’re getting some tremendous work out of the pen (six hits, 0 runs in the last 15.2 frames) and they’ve won 12 of their last 15 games. Luke Hochevar’s numbers aren’t great but a close look reveals that he struggled early on but has picked up his game big time over the last month. In fact, you’ll see that Hochevar has walked 36 batters in 78 innings but over his last four starts he’s walked just four hitters in 25 innings and allowed just two earned runs in three of those four starts. The O’s will send out Radhames Liz and this guy has lived a charmed life thus far. In five starts since his call-up Liz has yet to take a loss but he could easily be winless too. The best pitch in baseball is still strike one but Liz is always falling behind and pitching into hitter’s counts. He throws a ton of pitches and by the fifth inning he’s usually toast, as his pitch count is well into the 90’s. Liz also has an ERA of 5.70 and a career ERA of 6.33 and for a guy that struggles to throw strikes a disaster is just waiting to happen. Play: Kansas City +1.21 (Risking 2 units).
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></o>Oakland –1.05 over L.A. ANGELS
Collectively, the Angels have never seen a pitch they didn’t like, as this team continues to hack away at pitches that aren’t even close. Now, they’ll face a pitcher that has 83 K’s in 67 innings and that should absolutely blow this line-up away. Rich Harden is a strikeout machine and he also is 5-0 with a 2.13 ERA. The Angels are in a horrendous hitting funk, as they’ve scored just two runs over their last four games and things are not about to get any easier here. The bottom line here is that when we can get a pitcher like Harden laying a nickel against a team that is prone to striking out, or any team for that matter, you can pencil us in with no questions asked. Play: Oakland –1.05 (Risking 2.10 units to win 2).
