Matt Rivers
For Tuesday take some coin back with the Dodgers.
Certainly I would rather have Aaron Cook these days over Eric Milton but all in all the Dodgers, even without Manny, are a better club than the Rockies and to get a pretty penny back today is enough to give it a go on the blue.
Los Angeles seems to have recovered after struggling once they lost their best player and with a bunch of, granted not great, but quality players like Furcal, Pierre, Loney, Kemp, Ethier, Martin and others I will take my chances today with the visitors at Coors.
Colorado is a mediocre team these days, period. The World Series losing squad from a few years ago is just not this team. I definitely love the way Todd Helton has rebounded of late and Atkins, Hawpe and Tulowitzki and a few others are solid ballplayers but the Rockies are not as good as the Dodgers and even with the superior hurler are giving too much.
Cook is a former All-Star and a guy that just looked great in that last start in Atlanta but he is still not a pitcher that I fully trust and certainly can get hit today.
Milton is, no doubt, past his prime and will not throw another no-hitter, that I can promise you, but the lefty is trying to stay up in the bigs and should be more than motivated today.
The bottom line is that this price is a bit too much and a small play on the dog is certainly therefore on the docket.
For Tuesday take some coin back with the Dodgers.
Certainly I would rather have Aaron Cook these days over Eric Milton but all in all the Dodgers, even without Manny, are a better club than the Rockies and to get a pretty penny back today is enough to give it a go on the blue.
Los Angeles seems to have recovered after struggling once they lost their best player and with a bunch of, granted not great, but quality players like Furcal, Pierre, Loney, Kemp, Ethier, Martin and others I will take my chances today with the visitors at Coors.
Colorado is a mediocre team these days, period. The World Series losing squad from a few years ago is just not this team. I definitely love the way Todd Helton has rebounded of late and Atkins, Hawpe and Tulowitzki and a few others are solid ballplayers but the Rockies are not as good as the Dodgers and even with the superior hurler are giving too much.
Cook is a former All-Star and a guy that just looked great in that last start in Atlanta but he is still not a pitcher that I fully trust and certainly can get hit today.
Milton is, no doubt, past his prime and will not throw another no-hitter, that I can promise you, but the lefty is trying to stay up in the bigs and should be more than motivated today.
The bottom line is that this price is a bit too much and a small play on the dog is certainly therefore on the docket.
n paper it does look like a mismatch. But this is another perfect example of why games aren't won on paper.The Indians are way underpriced here. Pavano actually hasn't been bad. He has a fat 6.10 ERA because his first couple of starts weren't good.But in his last eight starts, he's pitched 47 2/3 innings and given up just three homers with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 39-to-eight. Since his opening game, Pavano is 4-3 with a 4.53 ERA. That includes pitching on the road against the Yankees, Red Sox and Tigers. Cleveland has won four of Pavano's last five starts.By contrast, Garza has struggled when facing the Indians. He's 0-3 against them with a 6.12 ERA in five career starts.There's a strong intangible at play here, too, in that Tampa Bay suffered its greatest collapse in franchise history last night blowing a 10-0 lead in an 11-10 loss to the Indians. Cleveland rallied for seven runs in the ninth.It could take a day or two for the mentally fragile Rays to get past that searing loss. The Rays also could be psyched out playing in Cleveland where they have lost 14 straight times.Keep in mind, too, the Rays are without one of their best players with second baseman Akinori Iwamura out for the season.
