brandon lang
Monday's Selections ...
NOTE
No excuses here.
Waited 2 years for what I really felt was great value with the Giants and I was wrong.
Picked the wrong day to go with the wrong team at the wrong time. Take my medicine like a man and move on.
To sit here today and go 3-1 on Sunday with a free pick on the Arizona Cardinals, and yet still have a losing day is flat out frustration.
Watching the Ravens come back. Watching New England win 59-0. Watching Arizona smash Seattle. Then the Falcons on Sunday night.
And having to see that Giants score flash on the screen every 5 minutes was a hard pill to swallow.
I did what I said I would do on Saturday with the 50 dime winner on Arkansas but one of the best road teams in NFL history got buried.
The crazy thing is I still feel like I am turning the corner with my opinion and a 7-1 Saturday and Sunday with paid and comp plays should tell you how close I am.
Just have to keep working harder to produce top play winners. Tonight I feel the Chargers are that top play.
30 DIME - SAN DIEGO CHARGERS - (if 3 1/2 you buy the 1/2 and lay 3. Don't get beat by the hook ever.) - The bye week couldn't have come at a better time for the Chargers.
Their offensive line needed a week off, and coming out of their bye week and playing at home on Monday night against a team they will be supremely confident against is a perfect situation for a big win.
I give Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan all the credit in the world for this turn around but let's not put the cart before the horse here just yet.
Denver's 5 wins have come at Cincinnati in week one courtesy of the tip ball miracle, week two at home over Cleveland, week 3 at Oakland and the last 2 weeks at home over Dallas and New England.
Yes, they are 5-0 SU and ATS on the year, but I question just how good this team really is based on their level of competition and where they have played them.
Beating the Bengals and the Raiders on the road is not enough for me to anoint you the second coming just yet. I will make the Broncos prove it to me with a win over their current nemesis.
San Diego has beaten Denver 3 in a row at home and beaten them big to the tune of 48-20 in 2006, 23-3 in 2007, and 52-21 in 2008.
Yes, I understand it's a new regime with McDaniels and Nolan, but I'm just not sold on the fact Denver can turn this horrific defense from last year around so quickly and tonight will be Denver's biggest test yet.
I feel they will fail and fail miserably against this Charger bunch who need a big win, are fresh off their bye week and will attack this Denver defense all night long.
San Diego has 2 losses this year at home to the Ravens, and at Pittsburgh against the Steelers and even though they lost, they put up 26 and 28 points while doing so.
At the end of the day this game tonight is going to come down to who makes more plays, Kyle Orton or Philip Rivers and for my dollar, it's Philip Rivers.
San Diego is the play tonight.
10 DIME - LA ANGELS - Must win. Simple as that.
And I look for the Angels to play today as if their lifes depend on it.
Jered Weaver was as dominant as any pitcher was at home this year, and his 10-2 home mark and 1-0 in this years playoffs is good enough for me.
Andy Pettitte isn't facing the Twins here folks, he is facing an Angels team that can light him up in a hurry and I believe they will.
In his last 2 appearances in Los Angeles he has given up 9 earned in losing both and I feel the Angels will get to him early tonight.
The Yankees have lost 3 of his last 5 starts overall, so it's not like they have been performing really well behind him and let's remember this isn't a place the Yankees have played particular well either.
At the end of the day I am more impressed with Weaver's 7 1/3 innings at home against the Red Sox in the ALDS allowing 2 hits and 1 run than I am anything Pettitte did against the Twins.
Angels get on the board in this series today.
LA ANGELS (Weaver over Pettitte)
10 DIMER - LA DODGERS - Just as Kuroda of the Dodgers was the sacrificial lamb last night for Los Angeles in their pitching rotation, such is the case with Joe Blanton tonight.
Blanton's last 2 starts of the regular season - starts he knew would determine whether or not he got a post season start - saw him implod against both the Marlins and the Brewers, lasting less than 6 innings in both being tagged for 5 runs in each.
As for Randy Wolf, he has been a savior for the Dodgers down the stretch allowing more than 2 runs in just 2 of his last 10 starts.
Now he is back at Citizen Bank Park, a place he will be very comfortable having spent 9 seasons with the Phillies.
He started the first game ever played in the stadium with the Phillies on April 12, 2004.
Overall he is 9-7 with a 4.30 ERA in 27 starts including 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 17 strikeouts in his only two starts there as a visitor.
Much like the Angels who are in a must win, so are the Dodgers here and with Wolf on the mound, I like my chances with the small dog Dodgers.
Los Angeles is the play.
LA DODGERS (Wolf over Blanton)
FREE SELECTION - DENVER-SAN DIEGO OVER
