Teddy Covers
3 Units Arizona Diamondbacks (-120)
The Dbacks came out of the All Star break poised to make amends for their dismal first half. At one point, Arizona won 10 of 15, but they’ve slumped this past week, losers of six straight. Expect a bounceback performance tonight as Max Scherzer takes the hill. The D-backs were stymied by Roy Oswalt last night, Joe Blanton the night before and Cliff Lee prior to that, a trio of opposing starters that are pitching at an elite level right now. Houston’s Brian Moehler is a big step down from that trio. The Astros have lost each of Moehler’s last five starts and Moehler has only one quality start to show for that last five trips to the hill. He’s been lit up at home by the relatively light hitting Giants and Mets in his last two starts in Houston, with a 2-6 record and a 6.44 ERA pitching at home this year. Opposing batters are hitting .300 against him. His control has declined in recent weeks and his strikeouts are way down, very typical numbers for a 37 year old hurler that is simply running out of gas at this time of year. In Max Scherzer’s lone previous appearance against the Astros, he struck out seven without walking a batter or allowing a hit, a walk or a run in 4.1 innings of work. Scherzer is coming off a tough outing at Atlanta in which he allowed six unearned runs. Prior to that outing, he’d been rock solid – Arizona was 5-2 in his previous seven starts, and he’d thrown seven quality starts in his previous eleven trips to the mound. Even after yesterday’s loss, the D-backs are still 14-7 in their last 21 against teams with a losing record, a trend worth riding tonight. Take Arizona.