Dave Cokin
Bonus Play Monday
ATHLETICS (Hill) at MARINERS (Walker) 10:10 PM
Take: MARINERS -125
Two streaks on the line tonight as the A’s and Mariners get a series started at Safeco. Oakland heads to Seattle off a wrong way sweep at the hands of the Yankees. The M’s are back home after dusting off the hapless Reds en route to completing another terrific road trip.
The downside here is I have to try and beat Rich Hill, who has been outstanding for the A’s and already dominated the Mariners at this site once this season. Hill is quite a story, as his career was basically over following an endless run of injuries. He’s looking like a good bet to pitching in July at the All-Star game in San Diego, and this is truly remarkable.
Taijuan Walker will be on the hill for the hosts, and he’s fallen off his early season pace to some extent. Nevertheless, Walker is entirely capable of getting right back on track with his arsenal of outstanding stuff, and I think he has a good chance to do exactly that against what is currently not much of an Oakland lineup.
I think the A’s are a pretty bad baseball team. They don’t hit much, the team defense is lousy, the bullpen is erratic and I don’t think there’s anything fluky about their negative run differential. Last year’s A’s were a weird team, as they let so many wins get away late. This year’s squad simply isn’t very good and they got even worse when Josh Reddick hit the DL, as he was their most efficient offensive player.
The Mariners have not played especially well at home this season, and they’re also missing what has turned out to be a pleasant surprise in shortstop Ketel Marte. But the M’s are coming home hot and the Athletics are hitting the road not. Hill is definitely an obstacle to be concerned about as a good pitcher who’s on his game can basically win a game by himself. But aside from that concern, everything else here would seem to point Seattle’s way, and the price is not by any means unreasonable. I’ll therefore try to beat the tough lefty and will go ahead with a call on the Mariners.
Bonus Play Monday
ATHLETICS (Hill) at MARINERS (Walker) 10:10 PM
Take: MARINERS -125
Two streaks on the line tonight as the A’s and Mariners get a series started at Safeco. Oakland heads to Seattle off a wrong way sweep at the hands of the Yankees. The M’s are back home after dusting off the hapless Reds en route to completing another terrific road trip.
The downside here is I have to try and beat Rich Hill, who has been outstanding for the A’s and already dominated the Mariners at this site once this season. Hill is quite a story, as his career was basically over following an endless run of injuries. He’s looking like a good bet to pitching in July at the All-Star game in San Diego, and this is truly remarkable.
Taijuan Walker will be on the hill for the hosts, and he’s fallen off his early season pace to some extent. Nevertheless, Walker is entirely capable of getting right back on track with his arsenal of outstanding stuff, and I think he has a good chance to do exactly that against what is currently not much of an Oakland lineup.
I think the A’s are a pretty bad baseball team. They don’t hit much, the team defense is lousy, the bullpen is erratic and I don’t think there’s anything fluky about their negative run differential. Last year’s A’s were a weird team, as they let so many wins get away late. This year’s squad simply isn’t very good and they got even worse when Josh Reddick hit the DL, as he was their most efficient offensive player.
The Mariners have not played especially well at home this season, and they’re also missing what has turned out to be a pleasant surprise in shortstop Ketel Marte. But the M’s are coming home hot and the Athletics are hitting the road not. Hill is definitely an obstacle to be concerned about as a good pitcher who’s on his game can basically win a game by himself. But aside from that concern, everything else here would seem to point Seattle’s way, and the price is not by any means unreasonable. I’ll therefore try to beat the tough lefty and will go ahead with a call on the Mariners.
