8/9/14<o
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Rays @ Cubs <o></o>
Recommendation: Rays -130<o></o>
The Rays are off of a nice extra innings win against the CubsFriday night. They’ll turn to prospect Jake Odorizzi to get them the victory inthis one. Odorizzi came into the season with very high expectations. He didn’tput together many quality outings early on, but has since lived up to what weall though he’d do. He had a rough outing on Sunday, giving up 5 runs in thefirst inning against the hard hitting Angels. I won’t chalk this up to much, asprior to that outing he had a 2.25 ERA in his last 9 starts. Hitters batted.198 against him during that time period. <o></o>
I can’t see Edwin Jackson lasting in the majors much longer,and certainly not as a starting pitcher. He already has 11 losses on the seasonbehind a 5.66 ERA. Jackson is one of the worst pitchers in the majors rightnow, plain and simple. The Cubs will also be feeling the effect of that extrainnings loss as they have to get up for an early start today. This sets up as aclear “down spot” for them. <o></o>
Joe Maddon is one of the best managers in all of baseball.The way he approaches the game with his creativity is genius. He isn’t afraidto play an unorthodox style when the situation calls for it, even if it’s not technically“by the book.” Recently, Maddon has been focused on using the 9[SUP]th[/SUP]hole in the order as virtually a second leadoff man. This strategy is designedto put two hitters back to back who have the best chance of getting on base.Obviously, this leads to more RISP for when the heart of the order comes up.Kevin Kiermaier has been this guy as of late, but we can trust that Maddon willuse whoever has the best chance to give the Rays success. Batting practice forTampa against the horrible Jackson in this one. Take the Rays. <o></o>
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></o>Rays @ Cubs <o
></o>Recommendation: Rays -130<o
></o>The Rays are off of a nice extra innings win against the CubsFriday night. They’ll turn to prospect Jake Odorizzi to get them the victory inthis one. Odorizzi came into the season with very high expectations. He didn’tput together many quality outings early on, but has since lived up to what weall though he’d do. He had a rough outing on Sunday, giving up 5 runs in thefirst inning against the hard hitting Angels. I won’t chalk this up to much, asprior to that outing he had a 2.25 ERA in his last 9 starts. Hitters batted.198 against him during that time period. <o
></o>I can’t see Edwin Jackson lasting in the majors much longer,and certainly not as a starting pitcher. He already has 11 losses on the seasonbehind a 5.66 ERA. Jackson is one of the worst pitchers in the majors rightnow, plain and simple. The Cubs will also be feeling the effect of that extrainnings loss as they have to get up for an early start today. This sets up as aclear “down spot” for them. <o
></o>Joe Maddon is one of the best managers in all of baseball.The way he approaches the game with his creativity is genius. He isn’t afraidto play an unorthodox style when the situation calls for it, even if it’s not technically“by the book.” Recently, Maddon has been focused on using the 9[SUP]th[/SUP]hole in the order as virtually a second leadoff man. This strategy is designedto put two hitters back to back who have the best chance of getting on base.Obviously, this leads to more RISP for when the heart of the order comes up.Kevin Kiermaier has been this guy as of late, but we can trust that Maddon willuse whoever has the best chance to give the Rays success. Batting practice forTampa against the horrible Jackson in this one. Take the Rays. <o
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