Beat Your Bookie
100 milw
50 phillies
50 st.louis
Cappers Access
(MLB) Cubs RL
(MLB) Tigers
GINA
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 7:07 p.m. est.
New York Yankees (66-58) at Toronto Blue Jays (64-60)
(R) Darrell Rasner (5-9, 5.18) vs. (R) A.J. Burnett (15-9, 4.67 ERA)
New York Yankees have lost six of their last 10 games, 13 of their last 21 and five of its last 6 on the road. Go with the Blue Jays at home with their ace A.J. Burnett on the hill. Toronto is 7-0 in Burnett's last 7 starts and has won the right-hander's last four versus the Yankees. New York's right-hander Darrell Rasner is 1-5 with a 6.80 ERA in his last nine games and New York has lost six of Rasner?s last 7 starts on the road.
Toronto Blue Jays -130
Jeff Bonds
Wash/phili Over 9 (2 Dime)
Houston Astros +230
Texas Rangers +109
Mr A
Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles
The Red Sox have won eight of their last 11 road games and has beaten the Orioles in five of the last six meetings, four of the last five in Baltimore.
Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka (14-2, 2.74 ERA) is 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his last three starts. The right-hander allowed four hits and five walks with seven strikeouts in six shutout innings of a 2-1 victory in his only start against the Orioles this season on July 13.
Baltimore's Daniel Cabrera (8-7, 4.78) is 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA in his last three starts. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 4.63 ERA in four starts against the Red Sox this season, 2-10 with a 6.81 ERA in 15 career starts versus Boston.
Take Boston! The Red Sox are currently playing well away from home and Daisuke Matsuzaka has been terrific on the road, 6-0 with a 2.04 ERA in nine road starts. Boston has won eight of Matsuzaka's last 10 road starts. Contrary, the Orioles have dropped seven of their last 10 games at Camden Yards and six of Cabrera?s last 7 starts versus the Red Sox at home.
Boston Red Sox -170
David Malinsky
GAME: New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays Aug 19, 2008 7:07PM
SPORT: Major League Baseball Picks
PICK: Toronto Blue Jays
REASON FOR PICK: 4* TORONTO over NY YANKEES
We have been letting the ?trickle down? effect work in the marketplace on this one, with the Yankees drawing the usual money in an underdog role to get the price into the low 120?s. Now it is time to step in once again vs. the most over-rated team in the game, and a most vulnerable starter.
While the injuries to the pitching staff have generated much of the tabloid fodder for a disappointing Yankee season, the bottom line is that without Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui, the offense has been strictly middle of the pack in the American League, where they rate 7th in runs scored. And while Matsui may finally return tonight, there is little reason to expect him to get right back into form, particularly against A. J. Burnett. And it is the pitching mismatch that really keys this one.
Burnett has over-powered the Yankees to the tune of 3-0/1.24 in his last four starts against them, including a gem from this mound right before the All Star break, when he carried a shutout into the 9th inning of an eventual 4-1 win, posting more strikeouts than hits + walks combined. That was part of an explosive current 7-0/2.89 run that he has here in the Rogers Centre, and in a game that both he and the Blue Jays behind him will bring a special focus (they only trail New York by two games in the standings), we can expect that form to continue.
And then there is Darrell Rasner. We cashed a 6* ticket against him in his last outing, and the fact that he is even taking the mound as the starter tonight tells you all you need to know about the current Yankee state of affairs. Rasner is merely a journeyman with mediocre stuff, and all it took was some time for the SCOUT ing reports to get around before he become easy fodder for A. L. hitters. He has worked to an ugly 1-5/6.80 over his last nine appearances, with 63 hits allowed vs. only 27 strikeouts, the kind of ratio that relegates you to mop-up middle relief, if you can even keep a job at all. But Joe Girardi has no other viable options, so he must send him out there again. And a guy whose stuff is easy to read on a second look now faces an offense that got to him for four runs (three earned) over five innings from this mound on July 12th, despite being without Alex Rios and Vernon Wells. They are both back now, keying a current 5-2 surge over the Tigers and Red Sox that builds plenty of confidence for this setting.
JEFFERSONSPORTS ADDING
SEATTLE-108
ST. LOUIS-198
SAPKOWSKI
Best bet:
Cubs vs. Reds over 3 in 1st 5IN
Premium:
Twins vs. Okland over 3.5 in 1st 5IN
