...never know what "whatever" will include. Spent a great deal of time the last few days doing CFB work to break some of the MLB monotony, which happens even when you're winning. And of course we want to be as prepared as possible, naturally. Without the Guessing Lines Bowl show(s) I have to force myself not to be lazy. Anyhow, thread coming on that stuff sooner rather than later, but the matter at hand is............
Colorado at Philadelphia: Well, we do almost always look to fade Outman these days, especially given that he's a bullpen guy turned starter, and we really don't want our money riding on the Rockies bullpen on the road. On top of that Gonzalez is listed as questionable for Tuesday. If I were to try and make a case for Colorado, it would be that Hamels has been SOMEWHAT more hittable lately and hasn't pitched past the 6th inning, but the Rockies are 8-13 v/LHS. Slight breeze blowing out which would make it easy to take the over, which will probably be .5 run higher because of that and the "teams", and often times these young pitchers rise to the occasion when facing someone like Hamels, so I might well look at the under, since the Phillies record against LHS is equally as bad.
Atlanta at NYY: Ouch, the Braves are simply not bettable right now, although if it were the only game in town the Yankees would clearly be over valued, perhaps making a RL play an option. Since the Yankee just saw Hudson last week and he was one of the few Braves pitchers to keep them in check, I'd have to think NY gets to him this time, but hard to ignore his very fine WHIP and as a veteran might not have too much trouble adjusting to Yankee Stadium. Kuroda has been great, but I can't ignore the fact that many of these Braves saw him when he was with the Dodgers, and as poorly as Atlanta has been playing, they are indeed capable of putting up big numbers. I might take a flyer on Atlanta.
Cincinnati at Cleveland: I'd have to wait for a clear lean until after the Monday game, but initially I'd have to lean to the Reds since they just crushed Tomlin last week. Often times it's the pitchers who make the adjustments, but this is Josh Tomlin who simply throws strikes (very few walks) and has given up far more hits than innings pitched, and against a free swinging team like Cincinnati that can be dangerous, again. Leake's been inconsistent, if nothing else, and he too was hit fairly hard last week by the Indians. The total will probably be high simply because of that, and of course the fact that it's hot, humid, and the wind will be helping. Tough game to bet under on for sure, but we'll see what the number is and what it does. We obviously want the best one, and the best one might be the first one.
St. Louis at Detroit: Well, it's usually suicidal to fade Verlander at home, but he's been off a bit lately and he'll obviously command a premium price. Lynn does not suck, and the Cardinals have seen much more of JV than the Tigers have of Lynn. Weather very warm and breeze probably blowing in from RF, so it will be very interesting to see what this total is and what it does. With a DH we'd expect both pitchers to pitch most of the game unless one of them gets hammered, and we like the Tigers closer(s) a bit better, if it should come to that, but I can easily see taking the Cardinals here at a price that Lynn usually wouldn't be available for. It's not like St. Louis doesn't have any sticks, and they'll of course have a DH as well.
Tampa Bay at Washington: Well, how cool was it to see Andy Petitte take Bryce Harper to school. Wang walks too many people for me to back, more than likely, and some of the Rays saw him when he was with the Yankees. Price is often time someone you can fade on the road, where his numbers are nowhere near what they are at the Trop. And after he was hit hard at home by the Mets, I can see making a case for the over in this one, although the Rays will obviously have to have Price hit. You've got a Rays team that excels against RHP and a Nats team with a great W/L record versus a LHP, so something has to give. I don't really trust either bullpen, so I come back to the total here and if it's a decent number like the over here, even with rested teams.
Minnesota at Pittsburgh: Well, the Pirates have been tearing the cover off the ball while the Twins bats have gone cold again, not to mention the fact that Mauer is questionable with a QUAD injury suffered Sunday. The Pirates have a phenomenal home record and are rested, even though it's the first game back for them. Even though Diamond has been bar-none the Twins best starter, and the Pirates haven't seen him, he got a dose of reality against the Phillies and threw a ton of pitches. Corriea has been very hittable, and the little thing to remember here is that Doumit returns to Pittsburgh, so he would probably be doing the catching regardless of whether Mauer was hurt or not, because there's no DH. It may well be time to take a flyer on the Twins here, since obviously the Pirates will be a bit over valued, if that's ever possible. I lean to the under here, although neither bullpen has been impressive lately. This is the most intriguing game so far.
I'll add some more games later. Back to Akron-UCF for a while. B-Watson says they'll suck but Terry Bowden says "not so fast, my friends"................