Primetime Wednesday
By Judd Hall
Usually pennant races don’t start heating up until late August, but that’s not the case this season. There are three primetime games on Wednesday feature clubs that are looking to improve their playoff positioning. Let’s delve right into the action.
Mariners at Tigers – 7:05 p.m. EDT
Everyone thought that the Mariners were dead in the water after posting an 11-18 mark in May. Fast forward to the present and Seattle sits just four games out of first place in the American League West.
A big reason for the M’s recent success is Felix Hernandez (10-3, 2.51 ERA) anchoring a starting rotation that is fourth in Major League Baseball with a 3.74 earned run average. Hernandez has been damn near been an automatic win for bettors as Seattle has gone 9-1 in his last 10 starts, while he has a strikeout-to-walk ratio that is nearly 4:1.
Even more impressive is that Seattle’s ace hurler has performed at such a high level without any offense. The Mariners are 28th in the big leagues in scoring, crossing home plate 363 times in 2009. During Hernandez’s last 10 starts, they’ve given him 2.2 runs per game.
Things looked great for the Tigers before the All-Star break, winning four of their final five tilts. But a three-game sweep on the road to the Yankees has Detroit holding onto a wafer thin one-game lead in the AL Central.
Detroit will be sending Armando Galarraga (5-8, 5.09 ERA) to the hill. If Jim Leyland is looking for anything out of his No. 2 starter, it’s consistency. Galarraga hasn’t strung together more than four good starts in a row this year. In his last outing on July 11, Galarraga gave up four earned runs on nine hits in six innings in a 5-4 defeat at home to the Indians.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants have made the Mariners $1.32 road favorites (risk $132 to win $100) with a total of eight.
Bettors would like to take the Tigers at home as they’ve gone 7-2 in their last nine tests at Comerica Park. However, they’ve dropped their last two games that Galarraga started on home turf. Seattle has flourished with Hernandez taking the ball on the road, winning six straight and eight of the last 10 matches.
In terms of totals, the ‘over’ would be considered the smart bet as it’s cashed in 16 of the last 24 head-to-head meetings. However, Detroit has watched the ‘under’ go 8-1 in its last nine matches against AL West squads and is 21-7-1 in the M’s last 29 road contests.
Giants at Braves – 7:10 p.m. EDT
Perhaps we’re starting to see the wheels fall off of the Giants’ bandwagon now as they’ve dropped four of their last five games. Now they find themselves looking up at not only the Dodgers, but the Rockies have overtaken San Fran for second place in the National League West.
One things is certain, San Francisco wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for Tim Lincecum’s (10-2, 2.27 ERA) fantastic season. The reining NL Cy Young Award winner will be looking to bounce back from a 2-1 loss in which he scattered five hits for one earned run over seven innings in Pittsburgh on July 17.
Atlanta is starting to look like they could make a run at the NL Wild Card now as they’ve won eight of its last 11 games this season. Look no further than the Braves’ bats as they’re batting .320 with nine homers and 35 runs batted in over the last week…the best of any club in that time frame.
When you have that kind of protection at the plate, it makes a starting pitcher’s job much easier. That’s what Jair Jurrjens (8-7, 2.77 ERA) is hoping for on Wednesday. Jurrjens has had three quality starts in his last four outings this season, with the offense spotting him an average of seven runs in those starts. It also helps when you have a closer like Rafael Soriano (1-1, 1.41 ERA), who has converted seven straight save situations and hasn’t given up an earned run in six appearances.
The Giants are listed as $1.10 road faves with the total setting up at 7 ½.
It’s going to be awfully hard to fade Lincecum in this spot as he’s 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA for his brief career against the Braves. Making matters worse for Braves’ fans is that Jurrjens is 0-2 with a 3.46 ERA all-time against San Francisco.
If you want to justify a wager on Atlanta, then just tell people that the road team is 2-5 in the last seven head-to-head meetings.
Red Sox at Rangers – 8:05 p.m. EDT
Talk about a game that means something to both sides.
Boston is now tied for the AL East lead with the Yankees after dropping three straight contests. Meanwhile, the Rangers are winning just to keep within 2 ½ games of Los Angeles in the AL West.
The Red Sox will be expecting a solid effort out of knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (11-3, 4.31 ERA). It’s not like the BoSox are looking for a miracle here as they have gone 6-1 over his last seven starts this season. Wakefield had his knuckleball dancing on July 8 at home against the A’s, compiling eight strikeouts with one walk in a 5-4 win.
Texas counters with Vicente Padilla (7-5, 4.67 ERA) on Wednesday night. It’s been a rough stretch for him recently as he’s dropped two of his last three outings, giving up five runs in each outing. It also doesn’t help that the Rangers have failed to score a “W” in his last three home starts. Padilla, however, did go seven innings to pick up a 6-3 win in Boston on June 7.
LVSC has installed Boston as a $1.08 road “chalk” with the total rolling in at 10 ½.
Everyone knows that the Rangers are a serious ‘under’ team, as evidenced by their 56-33 mark to that effect. When the total is at least 10 runs, the ‘under’ is 38-21-2 for Texas…that means you’re cashing in at a healthy 64 percent clip.
As far as the sides go, you’re best bet is to go with the Red Sox. Boston is 10-4 in the showdowns with the Rangers. When they play in Arlington, the Sawx have come out on top in four of the last six meetings.
