Free Pick: Tampa Bay Moneyline
The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox have developed a nice little rivalry over the last couple of years, and some might find it hard to believe that Tampa has actually had Boston’s number a little bit during that time. On Thursday, they will go at it again, with a matchup of two pretty good pitchers.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Kansas City Moneyline
We rode the Zach Greinke train to a win last week and I see no reason why we should hop off at this point. The young right hander has truly been the best pitcher in the Major Leagues in 2009, and it’s not even really close. The big news in his complete game win over the White Sox last week was the he finally gave up a run. Should we be surprised, though, that the run was unearned? Greinke has now pitched 41 consecutive innings without surrendering an earned run, a streak that dates back to his last two starts of 2008.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Seattle Moneyline
Quietly and without much notice Seattle’s Eric Bedard has become his old self again. Sure, he might break down later in the year, but we are just trying to win some money for right now. Through 26 innings this year, Bedard has 29 strikeouts, a sign that shows that his good stuff might just be back. Bedard’s resurgence has everything to do with the improvements that he has made on his fastball, getting the velocity back up into the high-90s where it used to be. In addition, the left hander worked hard on his curveball during spring training, and that is paying dividends.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Milwaukee Moneyline
When the Pirates roll into Miller Park to take on the Milwaukee Brewers, the pitching matchup will be one of the most interesting of this week in baseball. The Pirates have come up with some strong pitching performances in the first month of the season, and a couple of those are the work of right hander Ian Snell. Snell flashed brilliance in 2007, but came crashing down to earth in 2008. He has good stuff, with a mid-90s fastball and good slider, but Snell’s bugaboo has been control in the last couple of years. After going seven scoreless innings against Atlanta two starts ago, Snell was roughed up in San Diego of all places last time out.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Boston Moneyline
On Friday night at Fenway Park, the Yankees and Red Sox will get together for the first time in 2009, and the game will feature two of the AL’s best young arms. Boston’s Jon Lester came on in 2008, proving himself as a top of the rotation type of arm with his dominating three-pitch repertoire. The Yankees will counter with righty Joba Chamberlain, a guy who can sometimes be overpowering, but is often erratic.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Kansas City Moneyline
Don’t look now, but Kansas City’s Zack Greinke is the owner of a 34 inning scoreless streak, which stands as baseball’s longest since Diamondbacks ace Brandon Webb went for 42 in 2007. Greinke might be the best pitcher that no one has ever seen right now, but it won’t be that way for long. With a dominating fastball that runs into the upper 90s, a plus curveball, and a deceptive changeup, Greinke has been able to both keep hitters off balance and overpower them in the early going.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: New York Moneyline
The Cardinals have been getting just what they expected out of Todd Wellemeyer, but it looks like it is just a matter of time before the right hander runs off of the tracks. Standing at 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA through two starts, Wellemeyer is the definition of league average. On Tuesday, Wellemeyer will return home – the place where he surrendered five earned runs and twelve hits in only five innings of work against the Pittsburgh Pirates on opening week.
Free Pick: Los Angeles -1.5
The Los Angeles Dodgers ride into Houston fresh off of a perfect six-game home stand and the owners of an eight-game winning streak. They lead all of baseball in run differential, posting a +42 through their first 13 games. The amazing thing is that they’ve done the majority of their damage without much help from Manny Ramirez, who until a two home run performance Saturday was homerless to start the year.
The Dodgers will start youngster Clayton Kershaw, who hopes to build upon a great performance in his last time out. He used a live fastball and strong changeup to limit San Francisco to only one hit and one run in seven innings of work. Kershaw struck out 13 Giants, but was left with a no-decision after the bullpen temporarily relinquished the lead.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Los Angeles -11.5
In my opinion the Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers have proven the how dominate they can be in the first game of the playoffs. The Cavs destroyed the aging Pistons, the Nuggets showed why they got Chauncey Billups and the Lakers kept playing like the best team in the league over the Jazz.
In the second half of their game against the Utah Jazz the Los Angeles Lakers struggled a bit on defense, but it wasn’t long before they were able to stop the bleeding and got back to totally out playing the Jazz on both ends of the floor.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Cleveland -11
The was no bigger mismatch to start the NBA playoffs this time around than the Cavs against the Pistons.
Usually when these two go head to head it is an all out battle, but the Cavs have now surpassed the Pistons by leaps and bounds. Not only are the Cavs just the better all around team hands down, but the Pistons just have absolutely no answer for LeBron James who literally scored at will in game one.
Ultimately I see LeBron James holding up the Eastern conference championship trophy, but there are a few teams in the East that could stop King James from getting back the finals.
Here is how the playoffs match ups look in the Eastern conference:
Miami Heat vs. Atlanta Hawks
This will be a great match up! Not only is Dwyane Wade pretty unguardable at this point, but he has also inspired his team should take the Heat deep in the playoffs. The Hawks are the all around better squad, but Wade is too much to handle for any opposing team right now. He is on a mission! I expect the Heat to advance to at least the second round. Heat in six.
Continue Reading »
Free Pick: Lakers +1.50
Usually when these two teams meet in Portland the game is an instant classic!
In their last meeting the Blazers wipped the floor with the Los Angeles Lakers and a brawl almost broke out after a hard foul by Trevor Ariza put Rudy Fernandez in stretcher. Although Ariza wasn’t ejected or suspended for the foul on Fernandez because honestly it looked worse than it really was, tempers flared and the final result was another loss for the Lakers in Portland and a suspension for Lamar Odom who left the bench when it looked like a fight was about to break out.
Continue Reading »
