6/26/14<o
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Braves @ Astros <o></o>
Recommendation: Braves -124<o></o>
TheBraves are off to a great start to their road trip and they’ll look to sweepthe struggling Astros Thursday night. The Astros were money makers a few weeksback, but have since fallen back into their losing ways. A loss tonight willgive them 5 straight, with the last time they won a game being when Thursday’sstarter Jarred Cosart was on the mound. Cosart is one of the young prospectsthat have been doing so well this year for Houston. His strongest pitch is hisfastball, which is usually around the mid-90’s. His curveball is above averagebut is very inconsistent due to a head jerk in his release that causes hiscommand to be off. His changeup is below average at best. With a 3.78 ERA hehas enjoyed some success this season, but I don’t see that continuing tonightagainst the Braves.<o></o>
Atlantais a free swinging team with very little plate discipline. They go up to theplate hacking, and have a ton of power but also suffer from a great deal ofstrike outs. If Cosart is around the plate with his fastball, the Braves shouldbe able to get solid contact off of him as the ball is easy to pick up out ofhis hand. Justin Upton has homered in 2 straight games and looks to be comingout of a slump in which he batted .190 in 22 contests. Freddie Freeman gotbanged up last night and is questionable Thursday but the up and comer EvanGattis should be able to pick up the offensive slack if Freeman is absent.<o></o>
MikeMinor heads to the hill for the Braves. Minor’s ERA is a little higher than itshould be in my opinion and he’s coming off a start in which he gave up only 2runs and stuck out 11 at Washington. Solid offensive edge to Atlanta in thisone as we look for the Braves to complete the sweep of the slumping Astros.Take the Braves. <o></o>
Cubs vs. Nationals<o></o>
Recommendation: UNDER 7.5<o></o>
TheNationals head to the north side of Chicago on Thursday in what has been anongoing offensive slump. The Nat’s are batting .216 in their last 5 games withonly 16 runs scored. It’s gotten even worse for Washington when you put them onthe road. Over their last 7 games on the highway, Washington is batting ahorrendous .167 with 13 runs plated in.<o></o>
DougFister has been stellar for pretty much the entire season thus far for theNationals. Fister is 6-1 in his last 8 starts with a 2.03 ERA. He’s strikingout batters at a high rate and continues to win despite getting almost nooffensive support. He’s coming off a start in which he went 8 strong andallowed 0 earned runs.<o></o>
With howbad the Nat’s hitting has been, the Cubs struggles at the plate are just as prevalent.The north side is just flat out not scoring enough runs to win ball games. Weall know that the Cubs are building for 2 or 3 years down the road, and thefact is that they just don’t possess enough talent to compete most nights. Withthe exception of Starlin Castro, not a single batter in the lineup is hittingup to par. <o></o>
TravisWood throws for the Cubs. Wood didn’t have his best outing last time out, butoverall has pitched very well this season, especially at home. There is a majorhome/road dichotomy with this guy, but put him in Wrigley and you can count onhim more often than not. Wood is also a southpaw which won’t help thestruggling Nat’s bats. <o></o>
With twomajorly struggling offenses, and two starting pitchers who look to be in goodform, I look towards the UNDER in this one. Take the Cubs-Nationals UNDER. <o></o>
Tigers @ Rangers<o></o>
Recommendation: Tigers -136<o></o>
After aminor stretch in which the Tigers were considered struggling, they sure havebounced back and are now red hot. Detroit goes for its 7[SUP]th[/SUP] straightwin and looks to hand Texas an 8[SUP]th[/SUP] consecutive defeat when the twoteams meet up in Arlington tonight. Everyone is seeing the ball well right nowfor Detroit. Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, among others are allbatting at a startling rate. The Tigers lead the AL in batting average and havescored an average of 6.5 runs in their last 6 ballgames.<o></o>
Add theoffensive surge to the way Rick Porcello is known to pitch, and this definitelylooks like the right side. Porcello bounced back from a slump in his laststart, not yielding an earned run to an underrated Indians lineup. He hasstruggled against a Rangers team that sees him quite often, but looks to beheaded in the right direction. Porcello has tremendous stuff, he just needs tokeep his team in the game and let the Tigers hot offense do the rest. <o></o>
TheRangers throw rookie Nick Martinez, who picked up his first win against thisTigers team back in May. However, Martinez went 0-2 with an 11.08 ERA in hisnext 3 starts. Teams always see a pitcher better the second time facing him andDetroit should have no problem bringing runs across the plate. Well chalk upMartinez’s first start against this team as a bit of a fluke and play againsthim in this spot. Take the Tigers. <o></o>
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></o>Braves @ Astros <o
></o>Recommendation: Braves -124<o
></o>TheBraves are off to a great start to their road trip and they’ll look to sweepthe struggling Astros Thursday night. The Astros were money makers a few weeksback, but have since fallen back into their losing ways. A loss tonight willgive them 5 straight, with the last time they won a game being when Thursday’sstarter Jarred Cosart was on the mound. Cosart is one of the young prospectsthat have been doing so well this year for Houston. His strongest pitch is hisfastball, which is usually around the mid-90’s. His curveball is above averagebut is very inconsistent due to a head jerk in his release that causes hiscommand to be off. His changeup is below average at best. With a 3.78 ERA hehas enjoyed some success this season, but I don’t see that continuing tonightagainst the Braves.<o
></o>Atlantais a free swinging team with very little plate discipline. They go up to theplate hacking, and have a ton of power but also suffer from a great deal ofstrike outs. If Cosart is around the plate with his fastball, the Braves shouldbe able to get solid contact off of him as the ball is easy to pick up out ofhis hand. Justin Upton has homered in 2 straight games and looks to be comingout of a slump in which he batted .190 in 22 contests. Freddie Freeman gotbanged up last night and is questionable Thursday but the up and comer EvanGattis should be able to pick up the offensive slack if Freeman is absent.<o
></o>MikeMinor heads to the hill for the Braves. Minor’s ERA is a little higher than itshould be in my opinion and he’s coming off a start in which he gave up only 2runs and stuck out 11 at Washington. Solid offensive edge to Atlanta in thisone as we look for the Braves to complete the sweep of the slumping Astros.Take the Braves. <o
></o>Cubs vs. Nationals<o
></o>Recommendation: UNDER 7.5<o
></o>TheNationals head to the north side of Chicago on Thursday in what has been anongoing offensive slump. The Nat’s are batting .216 in their last 5 games withonly 16 runs scored. It’s gotten even worse for Washington when you put them onthe road. Over their last 7 games on the highway, Washington is batting ahorrendous .167 with 13 runs plated in.<o
></o>DougFister has been stellar for pretty much the entire season thus far for theNationals. Fister is 6-1 in his last 8 starts with a 2.03 ERA. He’s strikingout batters at a high rate and continues to win despite getting almost nooffensive support. He’s coming off a start in which he went 8 strong andallowed 0 earned runs.<o
></o>With howbad the Nat’s hitting has been, the Cubs struggles at the plate are just as prevalent.The north side is just flat out not scoring enough runs to win ball games. Weall know that the Cubs are building for 2 or 3 years down the road, and thefact is that they just don’t possess enough talent to compete most nights. Withthe exception of Starlin Castro, not a single batter in the lineup is hittingup to par. <o
></o>TravisWood throws for the Cubs. Wood didn’t have his best outing last time out, butoverall has pitched very well this season, especially at home. There is a majorhome/road dichotomy with this guy, but put him in Wrigley and you can count onhim more often than not. Wood is also a southpaw which won’t help thestruggling Nat’s bats. <o
></o>With twomajorly struggling offenses, and two starting pitchers who look to be in goodform, I look towards the UNDER in this one. Take the Cubs-Nationals UNDER. <o
></o>Tigers @ Rangers<o
></o>Recommendation: Tigers -136<o
></o>After aminor stretch in which the Tigers were considered struggling, they sure havebounced back and are now red hot. Detroit goes for its 7[SUP]th[/SUP] straightwin and looks to hand Texas an 8[SUP]th[/SUP] consecutive defeat when the twoteams meet up in Arlington tonight. Everyone is seeing the ball well right nowfor Detroit. Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, among others are allbatting at a startling rate. The Tigers lead the AL in batting average and havescored an average of 6.5 runs in their last 6 ballgames.<o
></o>Add theoffensive surge to the way Rick Porcello is known to pitch, and this definitelylooks like the right side. Porcello bounced back from a slump in his laststart, not yielding an earned run to an underrated Indians lineup. He hasstruggled against a Rangers team that sees him quite often, but looks to beheaded in the right direction. Porcello has tremendous stuff, he just needs tokeep his team in the game and let the Tigers hot offense do the rest. <o
></o>TheRangers throw rookie Nick Martinez, who picked up his first win against thisTigers team back in May. However, Martinez went 0-2 with an 11.08 ERA in hisnext 3 starts. Teams always see a pitcher better the second time facing him andDetroit should have no problem bringing runs across the plate. Well chalk upMartinez’s first start against this team as a bit of a fluke and play againsthim in this spot. Take the Tigers. <o
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