No shadows with little sun on Wednesday at Anaheim, but the play on the Under worked without a sweat. Sure wish they were all that easy. I’ll go with a live dog that I believe offers sone value for the Thursday comp.
ROCKIES (Rusin) @ DIAMONDBACKS (Hellickson)
Take: ROCKIES +134
These are two teams in interesting position right now as far as the standings are concerned. Neither the Rockies nor the Diamondbacks are considered to be legit contenders to make the playoffs. That’s probably an accurate assessment. But Colorado is eight games out of the wild card right now, and Arizona is only five back. Long shots or not, that’s one hot streak away from being right in the mix.
In other words, while our perceptions say one thing, and I won’t argue against those opinions, the fact is there’s plenty of reason for these two teams to consider adding a body or two at the deadline, rather than simply calling it a day and selling off talent. No beef here if that’s what they choose to do. But considering their respective positions in the standings, the hope is that no fire sales are conducted where available talent is simply sold off to the highest bidder, regardless of what is offered in return.
As for tonight’s game, this one is going on my ticket strictly based on value. I have Chris Rusin and Jeremy Hellickson almost dead even on the pitching data. The Diamondbacks have slim edges on overall offense and in the bullpen, but those are absolutely not runaway advantages. Basically, it’s a game where I’m getting lots of bang for my buck with the underdog. I calculated this game at right around -120 and the D-Backs are being asked to lay far more than that. Baseball is a price is right endeavor, and in this case, that right price is with the Rockies.
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My MLB Grinder: 2* Best Bet is loaded