Atlanta (-175) at NY METS By Karl Garrett, Featured Handicapper
I don't know what in the world I was thinking backing the Mets as my comp play last night, as this team is so offensively-challenged it is even funny anymore.
That being the case, the G-Man will go UNDER the posted total in Tuesday's Braves-Mets contest.
Atlanta played a make-up game OVER yesterday afternoon, but have held UNDER the posted total in 4 of their last 5 games.
New York meanwhile, has been LOW in 5 of their last 9 games. At home this season, the Mets have played UNDER to a 30-26-2 clip.
Braves starter Derek Lowe has allowed 3 earned runs or less in each of his last 7 starts, and the way the Mets are swinging the bats these days, I would be very surprised if New York reached the 3 run mark tonight.
Mets starter Oliver Perez has been pitching decent ball of late, as his last 16-plus frames of work have seen just 4 earned runs score.
Have to look for the pitching to dominate the hitting this Tuesday night, and for the Braves and the Mets to stay UNDER the posted price.
1? UNDER
Milwaukee at PITTSBURGH (even) By Drew Gordon, Featured Handicapper
Now on a 41-32 roll with the plays I'm giving away! For today's complimentary play, we're looking at the Milwaukee/Pittsburgh match up...
I'll admit it's tough to back a team that's struggling like the Pirates are right now, but in this particular case, I'm expecting them to build off a nice 9-5 win over the Brew Crew yesterday with another strong effort tonight. Why? Simple, for as much as the Bucs are sputtering, so are the Brewers, and tonight's pitching match up strongly suggests more trouble for Milwaukee. Read on...
Have you guys seen Manny Parra pitch lately? True, he's won his L4 starts, but he's also posted a disgusting 6.48 ERA over that span, getting saved by tremendous run support from this Brewers offense. However, one questions whether that offense will appear again tonight, as they face off with the Bucs Ross Ohlendorf (more on that later). Also, the fact Parra is 3-6 with a 5.51 ERA on the road this season doesn't help inspire much conidence either!
I just mentioned Ross Ohlendorf because if there's one thing the Pirates righty does well, it's pitch at PNC Park, going 4-0 with a stellar 1.93 ERA in his L6 starts there! He also happens to be pitching well overall, going 3-1 with a solid 3.07 ERA over his L5 outings! Point being, despite the Pirates struggles, this pitching match up sets up nicely for them to build off last night's impressive offensive performance (9 runs on 16 hits, incl. 3 dingers), while Ohlendorf gets it done where he's at his best, at home!
Bottom line, with both teams struggling, this one comes down to the pitching match up, and the edge here clearly goes to the Bucs with Ohlendorf at home. Look for them to build a little "mini-momentum" off of last night's effort in this one, as the Brewers offense can't save Parra this time around.
Small play on Pittsburgh behind Ohlendorf over Milwaukee and Parra in this MLB match up.
1? PITTSBURGH
Florida (pick) at HOUSTON By Sports Gambling Hotline, Featured Handicapper
Monday winner on the Angels to make it an 18-8-1 comp play run the last 27 days.
Tuesday night, the Marlins and Astros have at it once again, this time at Minute Maid Park. Just last week, Florida took 3 of 4 from Houston, and all 4 of the games featured plenty of offense.
It will be Ricky Nolasco, and Bud Norris matching pitches for the second time in as many starts, and while Norris "outdueled" Nolasco for the win just 5 short days ago, neither hurler was particularly impressive, as Nolasco allowed a whopping 10 runs in his 3 innings of work, while Norris allowed 4 run in 5 innings, but qualified for the "W".
Florida is on a 9-2 run their last 11, and they are thinking October baseball these days in South Florida. The same cannot be said for the sinking 'Stros who just snapped a 3 game slide, and are only 3-11 their last 14 Tuesday night affairs.
Nolasco is certainly not the same hurler he was when he made his ML splash last season, but we have a feeling that Norris, and his 3-0 season mark is going to take the hit tonight against the streaking Marlins.
Play on Florida.
3? FLORIDA
St. Louis (+155) at LA DODGERS By Jeff Benton, Featured Handicapper
Brutal beat with the Panthers last night in NFL preseason action. Still, I’m on a 26-15 roll with my free selections, and I’ll get back on track Tuesday by taking the red-hot Cardinals plus the big price against the freefalling Dodgers.<o
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After last night’s 3-2 win over L.A., St. Louis has now won five in a row and nine of its last 10, including four straight wins on the road. The Cardinals are also 4-1 against the Dodgers this year, 38-17 in the last 55 meetings and 9-3 in their last 12 games at Dodger Stadium.<o></o>
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Speaking of Los Angeles, its dream season is starting to fade away. It is 14-17 since the All-Star break, losing seven of its last 10 games overall, including four straight at home to playoff contenders (three to Atlanta, one to St. Louis). In fact, since starting the season with 13 consecutive home wins, the Dodgers are a dead-even team in their ballpark – and often as a big favorite.<o></o>
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Now, I’ll grant that Los Angeles has the starting pitching edge in this game (hence this big price), but it’s not THAT great of an advance. Dodgers ace Chad Billingsley was passed over in his last scheduled start because of a hamstring issue (and you know those things can flare up at any moment). And even before he got hurt, he wasn’t pitching that well, posting a 6.14 ERA in his last four starts, including a 10-0 loss at St. Louis. That was his fourth career start against the Redbirds, and L.A. lost all four (with Billingsley failing to get out of the sixth inning in any of those contests).<o></o>
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As for St. Louis rookie starter Mitchell Boggs, the only thing I care about is he’s giving his team an opportunity to win when he pitches. The Cardinals are 5-1 in his six starts this year, the only loss being a one-run setback to the Reds a week ago. Bottom line: To be getting this kind of a underdog value with a team as hot as the Cardinals against a slumping opponent that they flat-out own, well, I’m jumping all over it!
4? ST. LOUIS (based on 1? to 10? scale)
St. Louis (+180) at LOS ANGELES By Chris Jordan, Featured Handicapper
Chad Billingsley is stepping to the hill for the first time in 11 days, but that won’t be enough for the struggling Dodgers against a red-hot Cardinals team.<o></o>
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Last night it was a fine pitching performance by Chris Carpenter, as the Redbirds outlasted Los Angeles 3-2 for their fifth straight win and their ninth in the last 10 games. Tonight it’s going to be the offensive barrage to back rookie hurler Mitchell Boggs.<o></o>
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St. Louis is on winning runs of 4-0 on the road, 8-1 against the National League West, 6-1 against right-handed starters and 5-1 when Boggs is on the rubber<o></o>
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On the flipside, the Dodgers have lost four of five and seven out of 10 overall, including five straight at Chavez Ravine. They’re also on losing slides of 2-6 against the Central Division, 4-11 in the second game of a series and 2-6 versus right-handed starters.<o></o>
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St. Louis has won nine of the last 12 in Los Angeles, and this season the Cards are 4-1 against L.A.
1? CARDINALS
Boston at TORONTO (+140) By Michael Cannon, Featured Handicapper
Take the Blue Jays as the home dog over the Red Sox.<o></o>
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I understand the logic behind this line but with the way Boston has been playing on the road I’d be a fool not to take a chance on Toronto with this kind of a return.<o></o>
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The Red Sox have lost eight of their last nine on the road and have lost every road series since the All-Star break with the exception of a three-game sweep of the pathetic Orioles. Over the last nine road games the vaunted Boston offense has produced just 27 runs and hit .202 as a team.<o></o>
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Toronto will start rookie Ricky Romero. The left-hander is 10-5 with a 3.70 ERA on the year. He’s going to have his work cut out with Josh Beckett starting for Boston. But Beckett hasn’t faced the Blue Jays this year and he was shelled by them last year.<o></o>
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Beckett was 0-2 with a 16.71 ERA in two starts against Toronto last year and is 1-2 with a 6.85 ERA in four career starts at Rogers Centre.<o></o>
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Take the Blue Jays at the nice plus return as they grab the home win.
3? TORONTO
Baltimore at TAMPA BAY (-220) By Dominic Fazzini, Featured Handicapper
The Cardinals won Monday, but failed to cover the run line. Despite that, however, I'm still 7-2 over my last nine complimentary selections! Time to get back to winning today!
Rays starter David Price (5-5, 5.13 ERA) has been wildly inconsistent this season. But there actually has been a pattern to his inconsistency. The left-hander is 0-4 with an 8.07 ERA in seven road starts, and 5-1 with a 2.72 ERA in seven home outings.
Price has made one career start against the Orioles, allowing two runs (one earned) and four hits in 5 1/3 innings at Baltimore on Sept. 22.
Rookie Jason Berken (2-10, 6.63) will take the mound for the Orioles, who are 8-22 since the All-Star break. The right-hander gave up four runs (three earned) and eight hits in five innings Wednesday against Oakland.
Berken has dropped 10 of his last 11 decisions, and Baltimore is 3-12 in his 15 starts. The rookie is 1-4 with an 8.48 ERA in six road starts, and he is 1-2 with an 8.76 ERA in three outings this month.
Tampa Bay is 8-1 in its last nine home games against Baltimore. It should have no problem adding another victory to that total today. Take the Rays on the run line.
3? TAMPA BAY -1 1/2 RUNS
L.A. Angels at CLEVELAND (-105) By Bobby Maxwell, Featured Handicapper
Delivered the FREE winner Monday with the Rangers getting it done at home against the Twins. Today I'm backing the Indians as they host the Angels in Cleveland.
I know the Angels have been the hottest team in baseball the last few months, but in their history they haven't had much luck in Cleveland. I'm going with the Tribe in this one as the Angels are throwing a rookie in just his second career big-league start.
Trevor Bell made his debut on Wednesday when he allowed four runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings at home against the Rays and his offense did the majority of the work in the 10-5 win.
On the other side, the Indians have Fausto Carmona (2-7, 6.37) on the mound having not looked too bad lately. Since he came off the DL on July 31, Carmona has made three starts and given up a combined five runs in 17 innings. Wednesday he allowed two runs in six innings against the Rangers but it wasn't his fault for the loss as the offense got nothing in the 5-0 final.
For his career against the Angels, Carmona has made two starts and allowed two earned runs in 13 innings.
When this series is in Cleveland, the Indians are 6-2 in the last eight meetings. They are also on streaks of 7-2 in series openers, 4-1 after an off-day and 4-0 when Carmona starts a series.
I'm looking for the Cleveland offense to be able to plate some runs off the rookie while Carmona delivers a solid effort. Play the Indians.
3? CLEVELAND
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