Power Sports

San Diego vs. Minnesota
Pick: Minnesota -148

It was right here, in this very space, yesterday that I said the DH wasn't hardly enough to save the Padres in this series. Wouldn't you know - They ended up losing 16-0 to the Twins on Tuesday! Maybe it's about time we start taking this Minnesota playoff push seriously as they now have a positive run differential on the season. After the way yday unfolded, I see no reason why we shouldn't expect them to win again tonight, as they have a better starting pitcher going (Ervin Santana). I'll say it again - San Diego is the worst team in baseball (-160 run differential).

The addition of the DH to their lineup is simply not enough for the Padres to compete here. Their offense ranks 30th (dead last) in runs scored, batting average and OBP. That side of the ledger has certainly been the main contributor to the team's overall run differential, also the worst in all of baseball. But after yday, it's pretty clear to me that the pitching could use some work as well! Minnesota became the first team in MLB HISTORY to homer at least once in each of the first seven innings of a game!

Now the Padres will have a better starting pitcher going Wednesday. Dinelson Lamet has made three consecutive quality starts, although the team has still lost all of them. But, the road has been unkind to Lamet as his ERA & WHIP are 5.16 and 1.390 respectively. Did I mention that San Diego is just 26-44 in road games this year, getting outscored by 1.4 rpg? While it's true that Santana has been a bit shaky of late for the Twins, this figures to be among his easiest starts of the year while it should be one of the more challenging ones for Lamet.