MLB
Thursday, June 17
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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets
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Chicago White Sox at Pittsburgh Pirates (127, 7.5)
Interleague play couldn't come soon enough for the White Sox, who are 21-8 in their last 29 games against the NL. It helps that the last six have come against the Cubs and Pirates.
Despite their slow start to the season, the Chi-Sox have won six of their last eight and are starting to come together as a team. The starting rotation has been providing quality innings and the offense is starting to click.
"There are a lot of things that still can happen," said Sox center fielder Alex Rios, who’s hitting .322. "We haven’t quit and we’re not going to."
Not exactly the mantra of the Pirates, who have lost nine in a row and are already showing signs of throwing in the towel. They send a winless Ross Ohlendorf to the mound Thursday.
This game features easy Bucs in more ways than one.
Pick: White Sox
Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati Reds (110, 8.5)
The Dodgers-Reds series so far this season sounds more like a Raiders-Bengals matchup. Entering Wednesday night's game, the first four results yielded football-esque scores of 11-9, 14-6, 8-5 and 12-0.
All four went OVER, of course, but oddsmakers still aren't giving much credence to the offensive fireworks displayed in those contests, maybe because neither of today's pitchers were involved in them.
John Ely gets the ball for the Dodgers after scheduled starter Chad Billingsley begrudgingly went on the 15-day DL with a strained groin. A recent day off keeps Ely on a five-day rotation but an extra day would have been nice before facing the Reds, who have seen six straight games go over the total.
The Dodgers have been in some high-scoring affairs as well, with eight of their last 10 going over the total. Cincy's Bronson Arroyo has been hammered for 22 hits and 14 earned runs in his last three starts.
Pick: Over
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Streaking and Slumping Pitchers
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Streaking
Dan Haren, Arizona Diamondbacks
After a strong beginning of the season 4-1, Heron went through a 1-3 stretch before finally heating up in his last two starts. His last outing was a six-hit, two-run gem against the Cardinals.
The big thing working against him Thursday in Boston is he won't be able to help his own cause. Under AL rules if the pitcher is in the starting lineup as a hitter, the designated hitter cannot be used when he comes out of the game. Too bad; Haren leads the league among pitchers with 17 hits, six doubles and a .425 batting average.
"I'd much rather have a position player up there rather than myself. My job is on the mound, obviously," Haren told Yahoo Sports. "The hits have come pretty easy. Pitching hasn't exactly been that way. It's been kind of reversed."
At least until lately. Luckily for the right-hander, the Red Sox have been punishing lefties.
Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees
Pettitte is 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA over his last four starts and has not allowed more than two earned runs during that span. The no-decision may have been his best outing of the bunch.
Pettitte struck out 10 and allowed just five hits in 7 2/3 innings but came out the hard-luck 3-2 loser to the Blue Jays. He bounced back by beating his former team, the Astros, for his 200th career win.
"It’s like facing an older brother in Wiffle Ball," ex-teammate Lance Berkman said after the game. "You’re torn because you want to do well, but you don’t want to hurt him. But then he puts his glove over his face and it’s like facing Darth Vader."
The force should be with Pettitte against the Phillies, whom he went 2-0 against last season. The Phils are batting just .220 against lefties in their last 10.
Slumping
Randy Wells, Chicago Cubs
After starting the season 3-0, Wells hasn't won a game since April 30 and appears to be getting farther, not closer, to getting one.
Wells was shelled in his last outing against the crosstown rival White Sox to the tune of 10 hits and five earned runs in five innings. He gave up four straight hits in the first inning, sparking rumors that he had been out celebrating with the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks the night before the day game.
One problem with that theory; Wells has been getting rocked for more than a month and not even hockey players can party that long. Wells is 0-5 with a 6.47 ERA over his last eight starts.
"I'm not exactly beaming with confidence right now," Wells told the Chicago Tribune after his last outing. "I got roughed up a little, the ERA ballooned up, I'm not winning games. My approach is the same - I go out and be aggressive and throw strikes and hopefully good things happen. I think I need to tinker with some stuff, I think I need to make some adjustments and get back to basics and find the edge that will get me back on track."
Midseason is not the best time to be tinkering, especially in a hitters' park like Wrigley.
James Shields, Tampa Bay Rays
Shields got off to a 5-1 start to the season and has gotten progressively worse over the past month, dropping four straight and getting clobbered by the Marlins in his last outing.
The Rays ace looked like anything but in that game, giving up nine hits and 10 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings and calling it "probably the worst outing of my career."
"I need to do something," Shields added. "It's unacceptable the way I'm pitching right now. I'm letting my team down and not giving them a chance to win."
The added pressure probably won't help against the Braves.
Dallas Braden, Oakland A's
It didn't take long for Braden to go from perfection to perfunctory.
Since his perfect game against the Rays on May 9, Braden is 0-4 in his last six starts. In his last outing against the Angels he was rocked for 11 hits and five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings - the fifth straight start that lasted six innings or less.
"I want the ball. I want to stay in," Braden said. "Anytime I'm in that situation, I'm confident I can get outs. I always want to go deep."
Unfortunately for him, it's opposing batters that have been going deep for the past month. He's given up five homers during his current winless streak, more than he allowed all season.
Braden had an MRI earlier this week that revealed tendinitis in his left elbow but he is still expected to start. The big question is how long he will last.
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This Day in Baseball
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On June 17 in Baseball History...
1941 - Joe DiMaggio is credited with a hit in his 30th consecutive game when an easy grounder to short bounces up and hits Luke Appling on the shoulder. Chicago beats the Yankees 8-7.
1943 - Player-manager Joe Cronin of the Red Sox hits two three-run pinch home runs, one in each game of a doubleheader, as Boston beats the St. Louis Browns 5-4 and loses 8-7. He had hit a three-run pinch homer two nights before against the A's, giving him three home runs in four at-bats. He will pinch-hit 42 times this year with 18 hits, including an A.L. record five pinch-hit homers.
1960 - A two-run home run off Wynn Hawkins at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium makes Ted Williams the fourth player in major-league history to hit 500 home runs. The Red Sox win 3-1.
1962 - Lou Brock of the Cubs hits a home run into the right-center field bleachers at the Polo Grounds, 460 feet from home plate, in the first game of a Chicago doubleheader sweep, 8-7 and 4-3. He is the second player to reach those bleacher seats, Joe Adcock being the first.
1967 - A nine-hour and five-minute doubleheader between the Tigers and Athletics is the longest by game time in the American League ever. The first game includes a rain delay, and the second goes 19 innings before a Dave Duncan home run wins it 6-5 for the A's. Detroit takes the opener 7-6.
1978 - Ron Guidry strikes out 18 batters in a four-hit 4-0 shutout of the Angels, setting an A.L. record for lefthanders. The victory raises the Yankee southpaw's record to 11-0.
1987 - Dick Howser dies at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City. He led the Royals to their first World Championship in 1985, but was forced to give up managing during the 1986 season because of a brain tumor. His uniform number, 10, will be retired by the club on July 3.
1997 - 'The Freeway Series' hits the street in LA, and the Dodgers drive home with the first win in this interleague series on Todd Zeile's second home run of the game. The Dodgers trailed the Angels by one run in the ninth, but tied it on a wild pitch and won it 4-3 on Zeile's homer.
