Good morning Pregame and Happy Independence Day! On this day 238 years ago today, one of the biggest underdogs of all time put pen to paper to sign and ratify the Declaration of Independence. By taking up a pen and signing their names to this document, these men were, in essence, signing their own death warrants, for they had to know that as soon as the Brits saw this, they would come looking to hang the men who signed this in an act of treason. Fortunately, General Washington's men prevailed and the rest is history. God bless America! Which of course leads us to betting on baseball games. Makes sense, right? First, to recap Thursday, I was 1-1 with a canceled bet. I won with the Dodgers/Rockies Under 10.5, but I lost with Pittsburgh. The D'backs scored 7 runs in the 9th inning to secure the last game in the series at Pittsburgh. The bet on the Texas Rangers was canceled when Yu Darvish did not start tonight. He will go tonight against the Mets. In the spirit of the underdog, I will be playing two dogs today among my 3 premium plays. I will start off today with a free play:
Minnesota ML (-109) vs New York Yankees Kyle Gibson takes the mound today versus New York and he is looking to extend his string of solid outings. Looking at Gibson, he has only had one bad start in his last 5 outings and has not surrendered a run in 4 of his last 7 starts. He has pitched solidly at Target Field this year, with a 4-1 record and 1.54 ERA. He will be opposed by Chase Whitley, who got off to a nice start but has dropped harshly back to earth. In his last two starts, Whitley has allowed 13 earned runs in just 7.1 innings and has not made it past the fourth inning in either start. Whitley did face the Twins earlier this year and allowed just 5 hits and 1 earned run in 5 innings. Now that the Twins have seen him, they will make the necessary adjustments. Minnesota comes into this game having lost 8 of 10, and have scored just 34 runs in that stretch. Today they have a chance to break out of that slump against a pitcher who has been hit hard himself lately. And Kyle Gibson has a chance to add another solid start to his season and shut down the Yankee offense. I am looking for Gibson to shut down New York today and I look for the Twins to find just enough offense to pull out the win. Play the Twins to win the game.
Leans
Kansas City ML (+106) at Cleveland Royals have won 8 of their last 10 on the road against division opponents
Washington ML (-159) vs Chicago Cubs Really like the Nats here, but don't like that high price. Tanner Roark's numbers at home are very impressive.
All lines from 5 Dimes
BOL everyone and enjoy the holiday!