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Sunday, June 22


Danks horrendously poor against Twins

The Chicago White Sox could possibly be sending the worst pitcher to the mound when they play the Minnesota Twins Sunday. John Danks has steered the White Sox to s 3-13 record in his last 16 starts against the Twins, including seven straight loses.

Danks has given up an average of just over seven hits per game and has only three times allowed less than six hits. Danks has also given up an average of four runs to the Twins and have only allowed less than three runs twice.


Visiting mounds have been kind to Keuchel

Dallas Keuchel has become the ace of the Houston Astros staff and he has been able to elevate the team on the road. Through Keuchel's seven road starts this season, the Astros are 6-1.

Keuchel has only allowed an average of 1.5 runs per game on the road this season. Interestingly enough though, the under has only hit on two of those outings.

The Astros and Keuchel will be in Tampa Bay Sunday.


Santana falling off a cliff for Braves

The Atlanta Braves thought they got the steal of the offseason with Ervin Santana, but his play has completely fallen off. Since May 1, Santana is 2-4 and the Braves are 2-7 with him on the mound.

Santana has allowed three or more runs seven times and has seen his ERA more than double over that span.


Dickey's road record needs to be seen to be believed

The Toronto Blue Jays will be sending R.A. Dickey to the mound at the Great American Ball Park Sunday. The Jays should be weary as Dickey is led the club to a 1-5 record on the road this season.

Though Dickey has been giving up a solid five hits per game on the road, he has been giving up almost four runs per game.
 
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Rangers, Angels hook up

Texas (35-38) at L.A. Angels (39-33)

First pitch: Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ET

Line and Total: Rangers -115, Angels +105, Total 8

American League West foes, the Rangers and Angels, send their aces to the mound in the finale of their three-game series on Sunday night.

Texas has dealt with numerous injuries all season long and has struggled with losses in seven of its past 11 contests coming into this series. The Rangers are currently in the middle of a nine-game road trip -- all against AL West opponents -- and lost their last series against the Athletics after taking the first game by a score of 14-8. They were defeated in Wednesday's rubber-match, 4-2, as OF Shin-Soo Choo provided all the offense with a two-run single. Twenty-year old 2B Rougned Odor (.302 BA) has found a nice rhythm of late and is 12-for-34 (.353) with two home runs, 6 RBI and eight runs over his past 10 contests entering Friday's action. Los Angeles comes into this three-game set losing five of its past seven games and was defeated twice in three attempts against the Indians to start the week. The Angels looked poised to earn a win on Thursday afternoon with a 3-1 lead in the 10th inning, but ended with a disappointing loss as Nick Swisher jacked a grand slam in the bottom half of the frame off closer Ernesto Frieri.

OF Mike Trout (.311 BA) extended his hitting streak to 13 games on Thursday night and is 19-for-49 (.388) with seven doubles, a triple, five homers, 16 RBI and 13 runs during his streak. Each of the team’s aces will take the mound in this exciting matchup with RHP Yu Darvish (7-3, 2.39 ERA) getting the call for Texas while RHP Jared Weaver (7-6, 3.67 ERA) goes for host Los Angeles. The road has actually not given the Rangers too much trouble and they are 19-18 in away games coming into this series while the Angels are an impressive 20-14 at home. Texas has owned this series over the past three seasons, going 26-15 overall while having an impressive 12-9 edge in Anaheim over that time. In the one series already played between these two clubs this year, the Rangers were able to take 2-of-3 games in Angels Stadium as they outscored their opponent 22-10.

Yu Darvish has continued to improve on his first two stellar seasons and has pitched 6+ innings in 11 of his 13 starts this year while allowing zero earned runs in five of those outings. One of his problems in the past was his control as he walked more than 3.4 batters per nine innings in each of his past two years, and has dropped that rate down to 3.2 BB/9 this year while also allowing a career low 0.50 HR/9. Darvish continues to be an impressive strikeout pitcher, mowing down 109 batters in just 90.1 frames (10.9 K/9) and has 10+ strikeouts in four of his past seven games. The right-hander is coming off what is possibly his worst outing of this year on Tuesday when he lasted only five innings against the Athletics while allowing seven runs (4 ER) on eight hits and five walks with eight strikeouts in his third loss of the season. Darvish has always pitched well against the Angels, going 7-1 with a 3.82 ERA and 1.27 WHIP while striking out 88 batters (11.6 K/9) and allowing nine home runs in 68.1 innings.

Trout has gotten the best of Darvish in his career, going 9-for-31 (.290) with a double, 4 HR, 6 RBI, six walks and 11 strikeouts. SS Erick Aybar has also done well (8-for-23, 2 doubles, 1 HR) in the matchup while 2B Howie Kendrick is hitless in 19 at-bats against Darvish with seven punch-outs. The Rangers’ bullpen has not been good this year, going 14-12 with a 4.51 ERA and 1.40 WHIP while saving only 16-of-25 (64%) games coming into this series. They have been even worse on the road with an ERA of 5.20 and a 1.53 WHIP entering Friday. Joakim Soria (1.80 ERA, 15 saves) has blown just one save this year while having a 34:3 K-to-BB ratio in 25 innings of work.

Unlike many other pitchers who lose speed on their fastball, Jered Weaver has been able to adjust, and despite his four-seam heater clocking in at an average of 86 MPH, he has still struck out 7.1 batters per nine innings; his most since 2011. Weaver has struggled with long-balls though, allowing them at career-high rate of 1.32 HR/9 this year and has given up at least one tater in each of his past seven starts. Weaver has not had the best stretch coming into this contest, allowing 4+ earned runs in three of his past four starts while getting a loss each time. In his last start on Monday, Cleveland tagged him for four runs on five hits (2 HR) and one walk over six innings while he struck out just four batters. Weaver has started 32 times against the Rangers in his career, going 13-8 with a 3.66 ERA and 1.23 WHIP while striking out just 6.8 batters per nine innings in that time.

SS Elvis Andrus (.354 BA, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HR, 5 RBI in 65 AB) and OF Shin-Soo Choo (.452 BA, 6 doubles, 3 RBI in 31 AB) have always done very well against Weaver, while star 3B Adrian Beltre is just 15-for-71 (.211) with 1 HR, 5 RBI and 14 strikeouts versus the right-hander. OF Alex Rios has also done poorly (.160 BA, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 9 K’s in 25 AB) against the veteran. Coming into this series, the Angels’ bullpen is 10-8 with a 4.46 ERA and 1.38 WHIP, and has gone 16-for-27 (59%) in save opportunities. Closer Ernesto Frieri (5.83 ERA, 11 saves) blew his third game of the year on Thursday and has already allowed eight home runs in 29.1 innings on the mound.
 
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Dave Cokin

Sunday Bonus Play 2:10 PM

MLB (973) CHICAGO WHITE SOX (974) MINNESOTA TWINS

Take: (973) CHICAGO WHITE SOX +137

Okay, I’ll freely admit that it never even entered my mind that I might be writing good things about John Danks at any point this season. But the veteran White Sox southpaw has done a heckuva job lately, and has been a definite asset to his team. There’s no way I would have predicted 11 quality starts for Danks at this point in the campaign. He’s basically had only three substandard outings all season, and none of those have come recently.

Danks should have a good chance succeeding today at Target Field. The Twins are markedly less productive against southpaws in terms of the offense. Certainly there are some decent sticks in that Twins lineup, but I think they’re clearly more daunting as a whole against righties. I’m not trying to oversell Danks here, as I’m expecting some regression to come based on the metric he’s shown so far this season. But if you’ve paid attention to some of my previous notes on pitchers who fall into this category, I feel it’s best to wait for the correction to start showing up than guessing when it will start to happen. In other words, even if the xFIP for Danks continues to indicate he shouldn’t be getting results this good, I’d rather be on him than against him for the time being.

Danks draws a very tough assignment here as his adversary will be Phil Hughes. This is one of the better stories of the 2014 campaign. Hughes is pitching at a very high level after being given up on by the Yankees. I don’t think there’s much question that the change in scenery has worked wonders for Hughes, and at this point he’s well deserving of a spot on the All-Star team. With that game taking place on the Twins home field, Hughes is a huge favorite to make the team as it presently stands.

It’s definitely not easy to try and beat Hughes right now. But I’m giving the offensive edge to the White Sox here based on those mediocre Twins stats against lefties, and it’s worth noting that Danks has made the cash register ring three straight times as an underdog. I don’t see this line as being out of whack, but I did make the Twins a little smaller chalk than they’re currently being offered at. Plus, if it’s close at the finish line, I’m virtually positive we won’t be seeing Twins closer Glen Perkins. He has worked each of the last three days after needing a week off due to back issues, so I would be stunned to see him anywhere near a pitching mound today. It’s not a landslide of factors favoring the road team, but I do think it’s a decent spot to go for a good underdog price, and the White Sox are the choice today.
 
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Jim Feist

MLB Comp Pick for Sunday June 22, 2014: 4:10 PM ET

MLB (959) MILWAUKEE BREWERS VS (960) COLORADO ROCKIES

Take: (960) COLORADO ROCKIES

Reason: Your free pick for Sunday, June 22nd, 2014, comes in baseball as Milwaukee and the Rockies meet at Coors Field in Denver. Milwaukee is favored but a long way from home. They will be facing young Tyler Matzek, whom they've never seen, and the kid was brilliant in his only Coors Field start, shutting down the Braves, 8-2. The Rockies are 14-6 in their last 20 home games vs. a team with a road winning percentage of greater than .600. The Brewers are 3-8 in the last 11 meetings, plus 16-37 in the last 53 meetings in Colorado. Play the (960) COLORADO ROCKIES.
 
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Teyas Sports

FREE PICK YANKEES UNDER 7 1/2

DID YOU KNOW? WHEN UMP ANGEL CAMPOS IS BEHIND HOME PLATE (PHILLIES @ CARDS TODAY) THE HOME TEAM IS 41-17 HIS LAST 58 GAMES CALLING BALLS AND STRIKES
 

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