MLB
Friday, August 13
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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets
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Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros (-165, 7.5)
The Pirates should have just skipped this road trip – or at least brought bigger bats. In nine games against Pittsburgh this season, Astros pitchers are 7-2 with a 3.42 ERA, throwing one complete game and adding four saves in some close games.
Even more hurtful, the Pirates have struck out 69 times against Houston pitching. But then again, Pittsburgh doesn’t do much damage against anyone on the road.
The Pirates are an MLB-worst 13-44 on the road this season. Away from PNC Park, Pittsburgh has scored an MLB-worst 169 runs and is second-to-last in batting average at .234. The Pirates also have a league-low .290 on-base percentage.
"It's tough. I've never really seen much like it," fired manager John Russell recently told the Associated Press. "We can't win on the road. I think it's got to become a mentality at some point for these guys that they need to rise to the occasion on the road more."
Even with Bud Black now at the helm, the results have remained the same. Expect it to continue in Houston.
Pick: Astros.
Arizona Diamondbacks at Washington Nationals (-108, 9)
The Arizona Diamondbacks are no strangers to seeing lots of runs. The Diamondbacks have seen the over hit in 10 of their past 12 road games and have a deadly combination of garbage pitching and sporadic hitting.
And when the Nationals trot out gas can John Lannan on Friday, the snakes will be ready for more fireworks. Arizona has scored 156 runs against left-handers this year, the fifth-most in the Majors. For the season, Arizona is batting .260 against South Paws with 38 home runs and 56 doubles.
Meantime, the Nationals have seen the over hit in five of their past six games as it is 7-2-1 over the team’s past 10. The Nats may have a pop-gun offense, but the squad is batting a solid .274 in their own park to go along with 51 homers and 14 triples.
"As good as we've been, we can do a lot better," Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman told the Associated Press. "It's exciting. If we can get rolling and scoring some runs, the way our pitchers have been throwing, we'll be a good team."
Pick: Over
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Streaking and Slumping Pitchers
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Streakers
Jeremy Guthrie, Baltimore Orioles (6-11, 4.04 ERA)
Is it possible to be an ace pitcher with a 6-11 record? Jeremy Guthrie sure is making a case.
The right-hander has picked up a win in three of his past four starts and the last five times he has toed the rubber he is averaging seven innings and allowing only 1.20 earned runs. In his most recent outing, a 4-3 win over the White Sox, he allowed only one run over eight innings.
"Guthrie has as good an arm as there is in our league for a right-hander," Angels manager Mike Scioscia told the Associated. "He has good stuff, really good stuff.”
Jorge De La Rosa, Colorado Rockies (4-3, 5.01 ERA)
The Rockies might be slumping, but De La Rosa isn’t the reason for the team faltering.
The left-hander has lasted at least six innings in three of his past four starts and not allowed more than three earned runs over that span. In his most recent outing against Pittsburgh, he allowed three earned runs over 5.1 innings as he continued a string of solid starts.
One of the biggest reasons to believe in De La Rosa is that he is pitching to his strength: over his past four starts he has induced 47 ground ball outs compared to 23 through fly balls. When he keeps the ball on the ground, he can beat anyone.
Slumping
Marc Rzepczynski, Toronto Blue Jays (0-1, 7.15 ERA)
Somebody should just stay in the minors.
Rzepczynski was sent down to Triple-A Las Vegas after a horrid July that saw him tagged for nine earned runs and 17 hits over just 10.1 innings in a pair of starts. Now? He’s back for more punishment when he fills a hole in Toronto’s rotation in Los Angeles against the Angels.
In 72.2 career innings, he has allowed 34 earned runs on 69 hits with 32 walks.
R.A. Dickey, New York Mets (7-5, 2.65 ERA)
The 35-year-old knuckleballer has been the most consistent pitcher in the team’s rotation for the majority of the season – but then came a trip to Philadelphia last week.
Dickey couldn’t do anything right, getting tagged for a season-high six runs on eight hits over a season-low three innings in a loss to the Phillies. Even worse, he gave up a pair of homers and walked one against no strikeouts in his most recent stinker.
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This Day in Baseball
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On August 13 in Baseball History...
1906 - The Cubs' Jack Taylor is knocked out by Brooklyn in the third inning, ending a string of 187 complete games and 15 relief appearances in which he finished each game. The record run began June 20, 1901. In ten years he will fail to finish only eight of 286 starts.
1908 - Cy Young Day is celebrated by 20,000 at Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. He pitches briefly against an All-Star team that includes Jack CheXXXo, Hal Chase, Willie Keeler, Harry Davis, and George Mullin. The game is interrupted several times for presentations to the great hurler.
1910 - In the most evenly matched game ever played, Pittsburgh and Brooklyn each have eight runs, thirteen hits, 38 at bats, five strikeouts, three walks, one hit batter, one passed ball, thirteen assists, 27 putouts, two errors, and use two pitchers.
1922 - New York Yankee Everett Scott nears 1,000 consecutive games played, but it takes an extra effort to keep the streak alive. He spends $40 to hire a car to get to Chicago in time for the game after a train he is on is wrecked.
1931 - Tony Cuccinello of the Cincinnati Reds had six hits in six at-bats against the Braves in Boston. Cuccinello had a triple, two doubles and three singles to knock in five runs as the Reds won 17-3.
1945 - Branch Rickey becomes the principal stockholder of the Dodgers. He and associates Walter O'Malley and John Smith acquire the 50 percent interest of the Ebbets estate for a reported price of $750,000.
1948 - The promise of Satchel Paige on the mound brings 51,013 to Comiskey Park. Paige pitches his first major league shutout as Cleveland wins 5-0.
1962 - Infielder Bert Campaneris of Daytona Beach (Florida State League) pitches ambidextrously in a relief appearance.
1969 - Jim Palmer of the Orioles, plagued by arm trouble the year before, pitched an 8-0 no-hitter against the Oakland A's in Baltimore.
1978 - The Baltimore Orioles benefited from the rain-out rule. The Orioles were leading New York 3-0 after six innings but the Yankees scored five runs in the top half of the seventh. Heavy rains ended the game in the bottom half of the inning and the score reverted to the end of the last completed frame, giving the Orioles the triumph. This rule was changed in 1980.
1979 - Lou Brock collects his 3,000th career hit, a single off Dennis Lamp, as the Cardinals top the Cubs 3-2.
1987 - The Cardinals outfield sets a major league record by failing to record a single putout in a 4-2, 13-inning win over the Phillies. The 1905 St. Louis Browns, who played an 11-inning game with no outfield putouts, held the previous mark.