Well, yesterday was about as harrowing a journey through a 2-2 night that I can remember. Tampa went up 5-2, then blew the lead to spoil the Run Line. The Giants fell behind by 4 runs, came back to tie it, then in extras scored 3 times to cash the Run Line. Kansas City fell behind Chicago 4-1, cut it to 4-3, and in the 5th (the last inning of our wager), scored twice to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom half, the White Sox put runners on the corners with nobody out, and had a player thrown out at home trying to tag up. Finally, Texas jumped out to an early 5-run lead, then watched as Minny outscored them 9-1 the rest of the way. Sheesh!
For today, there are 2 afternoon games, so if we're making a play on those, we'll try to get it posted soon. Otherwise, everything will go normally. Some feedback, please: did folks like how I grouped the best player-matchups by team yesterday, or did that just make things more confusing?
NL
Cliff Lee - Everything this guy touches turns to gold, lately, so it's tough to see him giving up more than a run or two to the Dbacks, who struggle mightily on the road.
Dan Haren - Haren held the Phils to a team BA of .190 earlier this year, but got burned by a Shane Victorino home run. If he keeps home runs solo, this game looks like a 2-2 tie heading into extras.
Nyjer Morgan - Morgan is a very reasonable 4-for-11 off Jason Marquis, but his teammates have done ZIP!
Jason Marquis - It looks like the Jewish pitcher with the French name is getting back into form, throwing 7 outstanding innings against the Pirates his last time out. Against the Nats, Marquis is 1-0 this year, going 8 shutout frames. A real key is that Adam Dunn is batting .179 against him in 28 AB.
Yovani Gallardo - Gallardo has held the Buckos to a team BAA of .164 this year, giving up just 3 runs in 15 innings, while compiling a 1-0 record.
Ryan Braun - Braun is 4-for-5 off Maholm this season, to raise his lifetime numbers to .368 in 19AB with a homer and 7 driven in.
Mike Cameron - Cameron is an even more impressive .423 hitter off Maholm with 3 homers and 9 RBI.
Jair Jurrjens - A fine start against the Phils went to waste because of a lack of run support, but more importantly, his poor efforts against the Dodgers are now behind him. Jurrjens faces a Mets team that is batting just .196 against him, and now they don't even have David Wright.
Kinda, sorta, San Fran - There are a handful of Giants that have had MILD success of Arroyo, but none that has just pasted him...the closest we got is Freddy Lewis, who is 4-for-11.
Adrian Gonzalez - Only 5 AB career against Rich Harden, but he's 4-for-5 with a homer and 2 RBI.
Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday - The Cards centerpieces are a combined 8-for-16 off Kershaw, but have just 1 RBI between them.
Rafael Furcal and Russ Martin - The Dodgers hit Wainwright relatively well, in general, but as is the case every time they're in St. Louis, they can't get anybody home. Furcal is 2-for-4 off Wainwright this year, and 7-for-13 overall, while Martin is 2-for-3 against him this season, and a blistering 7-for-11 lifetime.
AL
Scott Podsednik - Podsednik is a remarkable 16-for-30 in his career against Zack Greinke, including 7-for-10 this year.
A.J. Pierzynski - It's really a wonder that Greinke has an ERA of 1.61 against the Sox, since Pierzynski also hits him hard. A.J. is 6-for-11 off him this year, and is a .432 batter lifetime in 37 AB.
Jermaine Dye - How about one more White Sox position player, Jermaine is hitting .390 off Greinke in 41 trips, including 3 homers.
Robb Quinlan - He probably won't get in the starting lineup, but in the event he does, Quinlan is 6-for-12 off Jeremy Sowers.
Jhonny Peralta - J-honny is batting a cool .357 off Jered Weaver, with a homer and 4 RBI.
Grady Sizemore - He didn't face Weaver earlier this year (though Weaver still gave up 4 runs in 5 innings), but Sizemore is batting over .300 against him with a pair of homers.
Shin-Soo Choo - .357 average in 17 AB against Weaver, but no power numbers.
Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro, and Jose Lopez - I lumped these three Mariners together because of the similarity of their numbers off Verlander. Gutierrez is 6-for-20, Lopez is 8-for-25, and Ichiro is 9-for-26.
Placido Polanco - Somehow, he's faced Ian Snell 10 times, and has collected hits in 5 of those trips.
J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis - Both hitting in the low/mid 300's off Roy Halladay, but that's about it for Boston.
Nick Markakis - Not only is this guy just locked in right now, he's 4-for-9 off Jeff Niemann.
The Twinkies - Really, if I were going to pick a game for the Twins to steal in Texas, it would have been today's, not yesterday, but so it goes. Offensively, Orlando Cabrera (.366 in 41AB), Michael Cuddyer (8-for-18, HR, 3RBI), Brendan Harris (4-for-8), Jason Kubel (4-for-10), Joe Mauer (.360 in 20AB), Justin Morneau (6-for-16, 3HR, 10RBI), Nick Punto (.412 in 17AB), and Delmon Young (3-for-6) have all crushed Kevin Millwood, who, in 10 starts against the Twins in his career, is 0-7.
Melky Cabrera - The Yankees have defeated young Brett Anderson twice already this year, thanks in part to Melky's 4-for-5 numbers in those games, which includes a homer.
TOP PLAYS
1) Washington Nationals vs.
Colorado Rockies (RL -1.5, +111) - If all goes according to plan, this one could very well be a Rockies runaway. Marquis has been very good against the Nats once already this season, and Balester, well, isn't terribly impressive. The Rockies won a tough one last night, and it looks like some of the Nationals luster has come off after a decent little stretch a couple weeks back. In addition, last night's 1-run victory was the first for the Rockies in August. This team has a knack for either winning decisively, or losing and playing very poorly. They win more than they lose, so we'll play the Run Line and try to capitalize on a huge starting pitching mismatch. LOSS
2) Pittsburgh Pirates vs.
Milwaukee Brewers (1st-5 -0.5, -110) - Yes, a very specific wager on this one. The Pirates are playing better ball than the Brewers right now, but it's darn tough to complete a sweep of a team that, arguably, is better than you, and that's what the Pirates are trying to accomplish. Paul Maholm has had minimal success against a powerful Brewers lineup, and his 7+ ERA is proof positive he doesn't like facing 'em. On the other side, Gallardo has been nothing short of brilliant against the Pirates. Thus, rather than take the chance that the Pirates will surge late for another win, we only want the opening 5 frames. And to peel off about 50 cents of the chalk, we'll play the Brewers to lead after 5. LOSS
3) New York Mets vs.
Atlanta Braves (RL -1.5, -110) - Jair Jurrjens against a team he owns, that's the big reason here. We'll go ahead and play the Run Line, since this game is either a blowout (with the Braves facing a converted reliever), or a close game late, in which case I'd expect the home team (with a solid pen, might I add) to pull it out. About the only thing I don't expect is a close Atlanta victory. With that in mind, we'll play for the Braves to put up a crooked numbers on Bobby Parnell, and then cruise to a redemptive win. *WIN*
4) Cincinnati Reds vs.
San Francisco Giants (+105) - Barry Zito took the loss in his last start, but he's once again looking solid after the All Star break, and the Giants are rolling, despite playing on the road. Bruce Bochy's talking-to apparently struck a chord, as the Giants came storming back to win a wild one yesterday. Today, they get to try to steal one from Bronson Arroyo, who is suddenly pitching better, but will undoubtedly surrender a run or two to a Giants lineup that is starting to put a lot of guys on base and coming up with some key hits. *WIN*
5) Texas Rangers vs.
Minnesota Twins (1st-5, +115) - I would like to keep this one as a matchup of starters, as well, since I think Texas will make a good push late in this game to try to take the series. Early, however, I think there will be some hangover from the loss last night, and the footsteps of the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card race. Scott Baker dominated the Rangers earlier this year, and he's coming off one of his best starts of the season, maybe his best. Kevin Millwood is a record-setter in this matchup, having faced the Twins 10 times and is still without a win. Maybe he's due, but I'm not convinced. He has struggled with just about every batter in the current Twins lineup, and injuries to key players or not, he's going to have his hands full. LOSS