- Apr 7, 2008
- 4,291
- 0
- 36
Big Al
At 7:10pm our selection is on the Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins 'over' the total. Injuries continue to devastate the young arms of the Florida Marlins pitching staff. Before this season even started, Josh Johnson, Sergio Mitre, and Anibel Sanchez were out of commission for the Marlins. One of the young guns picked to step in and fill the holes, righthander Burke Badenhop, just went on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. Enter 21-year-old righthander Ryan Tucker. Prior to this season, Tucker had never pitched above single A ball, and now he is being thrust into a starting role with the Major League club. And although Tucker is 2-1 in his first three starts, which certainly has to be considered a success, he also has given up sixteen hits and ten walks in sixteen innings so far with the Marlins. Tampa Bay's righthander James Shields has had a very eventful season so far in 2008. Shields has run the gamut from a complete game shutout to a suspension for a brawl, to some pretty ugly outings including a game in which he surrendered 10 hits and seven earned runs in less than four innings. And most importantly, Shields has some of the most one-sided home/away stats of any starter in baseball. This is an away game for the Rays and Shields and that is not a good situation for either of them. Shields is a disasterous 1-4 with a 6.99 ERA away from Tampa's Tropicana Field. The over is 14-3 (with 4 pushes) in the Marlins' last 21 interleague games, and 21-6-4 in their last 31 overall. Take the 'over'. As always, good luck...Al McMordie.
At 7:10pm our selection is on the Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins 'over' the total. Injuries continue to devastate the young arms of the Florida Marlins pitching staff. Before this season even started, Josh Johnson, Sergio Mitre, and Anibel Sanchez were out of commission for the Marlins. One of the young guns picked to step in and fill the holes, righthander Burke Badenhop, just went on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. Enter 21-year-old righthander Ryan Tucker. Prior to this season, Tucker had never pitched above single A ball, and now he is being thrust into a starting role with the Major League club. And although Tucker is 2-1 in his first three starts, which certainly has to be considered a success, he also has given up sixteen hits and ten walks in sixteen innings so far with the Marlins. Tampa Bay's righthander James Shields has had a very eventful season so far in 2008. Shields has run the gamut from a complete game shutout to a suspension for a brawl, to some pretty ugly outings including a game in which he surrendered 10 hits and seven earned runs in less than four innings. And most importantly, Shields has some of the most one-sided home/away stats of any starter in baseball. This is an away game for the Rays and Shields and that is not a good situation for either of them. Shields is a disasterous 1-4 with a 6.99 ERA away from Tampa's Tropicana Field. The over is 14-3 (with 4 pushes) in the Marlins' last 21 interleague games, and 21-6-4 in their last 31 overall. Take the 'over'. As always, good luck...Al McMordie.