4-20-14

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River city sharps

3 units - seattle mariners (-110)

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ANDRE GOMES

1* Under 188.5 - Bobcats vs Heat

709 Dallas Mavericks @ 710 San Antonio Spurs
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 709/710 - Under 206 @ -110
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 709 Dallas Mavericks (+9.5) @ -110

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Jeff Clement

7 Units Pittsburgh Pirates -125

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Ecks and Bacon Happy Easter

Ben lee lost on Saturday in the NBA with the Raptors -2/Nets.

"Mr Chalk" won on Saturday in MLB with the A's -$205/Astros.

For Sunday E&B like a four team five point teaser in the NBA Playoffs.

(1) Spurs from -9 to-4/Mavricks

(2) Heat from -9.5 to -4.5/Bobcats

(3) Bulls from -4.5 to +.5/Wizards

(4) Rockets from -5 to Pk/Trailblazers


In the NHL Playoffs E&B like the Canadiens -$$160/Lightning.

In MLB in the American League "Mr Chalk" likes the Royals -$200/Twins.

Ben lee is 5-3 +$24 for week twenty five 99-110-5 -$1825

"Mr Chalk" is 9-6 +$56 for the 2014 MLB season

All E&B selections will be for $50 unless noted

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BASEBALL33

Miami Marlins — Seattle Mariners
Miami Marlins

Kansas City Royals — Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins RL+1.5

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Cappers Access

Cubs +120
W. Sox +190
Wizards +4.5

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SPORTS WAGERS


NHL Playoffs - Game 2
N.Y. RANGERS -½ +100 over Philadelphia

Regulation only. You can never underestimate the psychological advantage a team has when they keep beating up on the same team over and over. Such is the case when the Flyers play at Madison Square. In three games at MSG this season, Philly is 0-3 and has not scored more than one goal in any of those games while being scored on 11 times. Philadelphia has dropped 13 of the past 16 games in New York and they didn’t belong on the same ice with them in Game 1, despite it being close for two periods. Furthermore, the Flyers have just one win over their past nine games against a team over .500. To make matters worse and we can’t overstate this enough either, Ray Emery is forced to play again because Steve Mason is still on the rack. Emery is a backup goalie and while he wasn’t the reason the Flyers lost Game 1, the players do not play with the same confidence they do when their #1 guy is in there. The Bolts are going through the same situation and it’s not pretty.

Aside from those two significant intangibles, the Rangers are playing outstanding hockey. You could sense in Game 1 the confidence they were building with each passing shift. The Rangers limited the Flyers to 15 shots in Game 1, including just one in the third period and over the course of the regular season, they have kept Philly’s top line of Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Jakub Voracek in check. In fact, the Rangers are playing at a level defensively that John Tortorella could only dream about. New York held the opposition to one goal or less, 31 times this season and now Henrik Lundqvist appears to be back at the top of his game. New York is the superior defensive team by a wide margin, more confident, they have superior goaltending and they’ll play Game 2 at a venue that the Flyers can’t win at.


NHL Playoffs - Game 2
Detroit +192 over BOSTON

OT included. We’ve been preaching all year how undervalued these Red Wings are and while we have them in the series, we can’t pass up this opportunity to take back nearly 2-1 in a game they can win. Indeed the Bruins are dangerous and indeed they could win the next four games but Detroit is still playing with house money and they are just as dangerous as any team in the East. Mike Babcock had the Red Wings so well prepped for Game 1 that it was a thing of beauty to watch. Detroit has all the ingredients to pull off another upset. They have speed, something the Bruins have trouble with, they have outstanding young talent and they have enough talented and impactful veterans (Datsyuk, Alfredsson, Franzen, Legwand, Kronwell) that know exactly how to approach these types of games. Detroit’s defense and goaltending was outstanding in Game 1.

Boston has played a ton of hockey over the past two years and it could be taking a toll. They went to the finals last season. They had more players than any team to appear in the Olympics in Russia. The B’s may have peaked a bit too early this year instead of saving their best for the playoffs. Boston is slower than Detroit and while they have a great cycle game, the Red Wings had a plan to neutralize that and they succeeded in doing so. Detroit defeated Boston in three of the four games they played during the regular season. They defeated them in Game 1 and they now take that psychological edge and momentum into Game 2. It’s hard to imagine the Bruins being down 0-2 after two home games but don’t discount that. The Red Wings are a confident group and when a confident bunch of guys with a slew of young talent get on a roll, look out. The tag here is too juicy to pass up on.


NHL Playoffs - Game 2
SAN JOSE -½ +120 over Los Angeles

Regulation only. The events of Game 1 are of no consequence in Game 2 so expect Los Angeles to be better here. The problem is that it still won’t be enough. The Kings are possession monsters, leading the NHL in that category. However, they struggle to get pucks in the net, especially on the power play. Los Angeles scored on just 15.1 percent of opportunities; Carolina, Florida and Buffalo were the only teams worse with the man advantage. The addition of Marian Gaborik, who has one power-play goal in 19 games, has not helped the Kings' struggles demonstrably thus far. The Sharks will not make life any easier on L.A.'s power play. They rank sixth in the NHL on the penalty kill. More than that however, is the fact that the Kings limped into the playoffs by losing four of their last five regular season games and have just two wins (Phoenix and Edmonton) over their last eight games. In the Kings last three losses they have allowed 14 goals against. Jonathan Quick is widely regarded as the one of the best in the game but that’s based on what? One outstanding playoff series when the Kings won the Cup? Fact is, Quick isn’t as good as advertised. He’s had save percentages of .821, .875 .833, .850 and .852 in five of his last eight games and under .876 (.821, .875 .833) in three straight. San Jose’s room full of snipers should have little trouble scoring a few more against a suddenly fragile Quick in Game 2.

The Sharks are deep with scoring talent and can compete with Los Angeles in the puck possession game. San Jose is third in the NHL in shot attempt differential and sixth in goals per game. The Kings only score 2.42 goals per game, good for 27th in the NHL and that’s the big difference between the two. Had L.A. been close in Game 1 and played well, we might be looking at this game a bit differently. However, the Kings were blown out in Game 1 and haven’t been playing well for over two weeks now. The Sharkies have outscored their last three opponents by a count of 14-5. Their 29-7-5 home record was best in the West and they had a goal differential overall of +49. Simply put, the Sharks are in much better form and they’ve never looked hungrier.

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SPORTS WAGERS

Milwaukee @ PITTSBURGH
Milwaukee +114 over PITTSBURGH


How do we know that this year’s edition of the Brewers is different from Brewers teams of the past decade or so? Well, a game like yesterday was precisely the type of game the Brewers would have lost in years gone by. Milwaukee had a 4-1 lead going to the bottom of the fourth when Pittsburgh rallied for five runs to take a 6-4 lead. Down 7-6 going to the ninth, the Brewers rallied for two runs in the top of the inning and Francisco Rodriguez closed it out with a perfect ninth. Milwaukee is now 13-5 and they’re finding ways to win. They have also defeated the Pirates in all five games this season and there’s no reason they can’t defeat them again. Geritt Cole has pitched beautifully since being called up last season but he’s laboring a bit this year. Cole has already been tagged for three jacks over his three starts this year. Throw out his start against the Cubbies at Wrigley and in his other two starts, he’s walked five batters and struck out just six over 13 innings. Remember, Cole put up mediocre Triple-A numbers before being called up and while he has a high ceiling, Cole is finding the second go around much tougher now that hitters have had time to study him.

A hamstring injury cost Marco Estrada a third of the season last year. When he returned he had a dominant second half, which mirrored his superb second half in 2012. Estrada has now shown plus-plus ability. Estrada has pitched well over his first three starts, missing bats and inducing ground balls at a good clip. Estrada logged 19 IP against the Pirates a year ago and posted excellent strikeout numbers (9 K’s/9) outstanding command and a 3.03 xERA. Pittsburgh has started cold, batting just .227 through its first two weeks and Estrada might be the best Brewer pitcher of them all. Estrada’s skills command our full attention and as a pooch against the struggling Pirates, he and the Crew are a much better option taking back a tag than the Pirates are spotting one.

N.Y. Yankees @ TAMPA BAY
N.Y. Yankees/TAMPA BAY over 8½ +104


It took a visit from the Yankees to wake up the Rays bats and wake up they did. In the first two games of this series, Tampa has 32 hits and scored 27 runs. Tampa Bay has worn out both the Yankees starters and bullpen and there is no question they will see the pen again today in relief of Vidal Nuno. Let us bring you up to speed on Nuno. He’s appeared in eight games in the majors, three as a starter and he’s about to turn 27. Nuno turned some heads with a solid 2012 season at Double-A (though he was a bit old for the level), followed up by an impressive spring training and start to 2013 at Triple-A. However, he has never really been able to get over the minor league hump. Nuno is a 48th round draft pick in ’09 who has never been on any top prospect lists. He was actually released from the Indians farm system in ’10 before spending some time playing independent ball. That is where the Yankees found him and he has moved quickly through their system. Nuno does not have a typical starter’s frame at 5-11 195, nor does he have a plus pitch in his repertoire. He has to rely on a deceptive delivery along with a nearly side-arm slot to keeps hitters off-balance. Arm angle makes him much tougher on left-handed batters. Nuno throws four pitches and can locate all of them well: fastball, slider, curveball, and change-up. Fastball tops out at 91 mph with pretty good location. He will use his fastball to work ahead in the count and try to get hitters to chase his secondary stuff out of the zone but he’s not fooling anyone at this level. His career numbers at this level are awful, albeit a small sample size, but expected him to thrive today against a scorching hot club would be unreasonable.

Cesar Ramos draws the Yankees for his second start. He likely won’t be on much of a pitch-count leash having been in the Rays bullpen at the start of the season. He’s coming off a shaky outing and the Yankees have fared quite well against left-handed pitching (.797 OPS). New York’s offense has also gotten cranked up over the last week with an .824 OPS over the past seven games. Ramos has been primarily a lefty specialist that was overexposed vs. RH bats. With marginal command against righties and a 91-mph fastball that they torched, he just doesn't have the goods to sustain a sub-4.00 ERA in an expanded role. Ramos has appeared in 148 major-league games over his career and 144 of those were in relief. At the age of 30 and with brutally awful numbers as a starter, we highly doubt he’s going to catch lightning in a bottle here. Both these pitchers have a great chance of blowing up, prompting us to step in.


Seattle @ MIAMI
Seattle +100 over MIAMI


Kevin Slowey has appeared in four games this season, all in relief. He now makes his first start of the season after allowing 15 hits and seven runs in 12 innings in relief. The Marlins are 0-4 in the four games that Slowey has appeared in. He missed all of 2012 after the Twins gave up on him after the 2011 season when they traded him to Colorado for a player to be named later. He never pitched for the Rockies and six days later he was traded to Cleveland for Zach Putnam. He subsequently spent the entire season on the minor-league disabled list. Slowey was out-righted to Columbus and removed from the Indians' 40-man roster on October 31, 2012. He subsequently elected to become a free agent and signed with the Marlins as a non-roster invitee. Not being able to crack the Twins rotation is equivalent to being the 11th man on the 76ers bench. In 92 innings for the Marlins last season, Slowey allowed 106 hits in 92 innings. He has a career ERA of 4.58 and a career BAA of .290. He's a fly-ball pitcher who struggles to keep the ball in the park. Slowey's K rate was in steep decline when he was banished to the minor leagues in 2011. His excellent command rate is owed entirely to the fact he rarely walks batters. Slowey defines a control artist who relies on fly ball outs to get out of innings. The problem is those fly balls are too often line drive rockets into the outfield or balls that leave the park entirely. He'll certainly be helped by getting to face opposing pitchers a couple of times a game but Slowey is a complete stiff that isn’t a stranger to most of the Mariners hitters from his days as a Twinkie. Dude is unplayable.

Brandon Maurer might not seem like an attractive starting pitcher target in 2014. After all, he had an ugly 6.30 ERA and 1.57 WHIP with Seattle in 2013 and he has struggled with back issues early in his career. But there are also reasons to view him as a growth stock. His skills in the second half with the M’s last year were excellent with 8.4 K’s per nine, 2.2 BB/9 per nine and a 47% groundball rate. Maurer already has one of the better curveballs in the AL. He had a 39% K% and 11% swinging strike rate with that pitch. His problem was his 93-mph four-seam fastball, a pitch that batters hit hard, especially lefties (.607 SLG). With more effective heat, Maurer could take a big leap forward and deliver a ton of profit in 2014. We’ll out that to the test here.

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EZWINNERS

2* Cardinals +140
2* Twins +165
2* White Sox +165
2* Astros +215
2* Giants +106
2* Orioles +150

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ADVANCED SPORTS INVESTMENTS

(records are of current month only)
BASEBALL RELEASES
JEFF (14-18-3 -6.88)
1X- TORONTO -115 CLEVELAND (1PM)

JIMMY (17-13 +2.11)
1X- MILWAUKEE +104 PITTSBURGH (130PM)
1X- SF +100 SD (4PM)

MARC (20-16-3 +2.96)
1X-PHILADELPHIA/COLORADO – OVER 9.5 -115(4PM)
1X- NYY/TAMPA – OVER 8.5 +105 (140PM)

NHL RELEASES
JIMMY (7-7 -3.69)
1X- PHILADELPHIA/NYR – UNDER 5 -105 (12PM)

MARC (8-7-1 +.20)
1X- TAMPA/ONTREAL – OVER 5 -120 (7PM)

NBA RELEASES
JEFF (5-5 -.50)
1X- CHICAGO -4.5 WASHINGTON (7PM)

JIMMY (1-3 -2.30)
1X- MIAMI/CHARLOTTE – UNDER 188 (330PM)

MARC (9-3+ 5.70)
1X- DALLAS/SA – OVER 206 (1PM)

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Gordon24

Reds

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KING OF THE SPREAD

Tampa Bay Lightening vs Montreal Canadiens

Bet Under 5.5 Goals
3 Units

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Fargo Enforcer bulls

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RTG Sports


3* Dallas Mavericks +10 (BH) ***

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Big al Elite heat