4-13-15

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VegasButcher - NBA 207 – 177 @ 55% for +12.3 Units

Cleveland Cavaliers -6.5
Milwaukee Bucks -2
Chicago Bulls -2.5
Portland Trail Blazers +8.5

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Port Port Sports

NBA - MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (+14)

MLB
NEW YORK YANKEES (+105)

1ST 5 INNINGS: TAMPA BAY RAYS (+120)

ATLANTA BRAVES (-105)

OVER 7 MIAMI MARLINS @ ATLANTA BRAVES (-115)

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BASEBALL TED (MLB)

Miami Marlins +100

New York Yankees +103

Cincinnati Reds +122

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STEVE RANDALL (NBA)

Milwaukee -3

Chicago-2

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PNW Picks

Padres
Astros
Angels
Cubs
Mets
Braves

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Larry Ness' 10* Division G.O.M. (new week / new start!)-MLB

My 10* Division Dominator (AL West) is on the Oak A's at 8:10 ET.
The Oakland Athletics went 3-4 at home to open the 2015 season and take to the road for the first time this season when they begin a 10-game trek with a three-game series against the Houston Astros on Monday. Oakland had won THREE of its first five games in the homestand but wasted a four-run, ninth-inning rally when Tyler Clippard served up a solo HR to Nelson Cruz in the 10th, handing the Athletics their second straight extra-inning loss (lost 5-4 in 11 innings on Saturday). Houston returns home after taking two of three at Texas over the weekend. The Astros needed extra frames to capture the rubber game Sunday, as pinch hitter Hank Conger belted a two-run shot off Logan Verrett in the top of the 14th before Samuel Deduno escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half to help the Astros even their record at 3-3.
A pair of veterans are set to face off in the series opener when Oakland southpaw Scott Kazmir will counter Houston righty Scott Feldman. It will mark the first of 19 meetings between the two division foes in a series that has been controlled by the A's since the Astros made the move to the American League West before the 2013 season, as Oakland is 26-12 against Houston these last two seasons. No one could have predicted Scott Kazmir’s performance in 2014. He set a career-best win total with a 15-9 record while the All-Star's 3.55 ERA was his best since 2008. From April through July, he was 12-3 with a 2.37 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and .215 opponent batting average. However, in August and September, he was 3-6 with a 6.05 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and .285 OBA, though he ended the season with a win in Texas, allowing two runs -- one earned -- in seven innings on Sept 26. All in all, the A’s were 21-11 in his 32 starts, which is his most games started since 2007 with Tampa Bay.
The left-hander took the mound Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers looking prove a two-month letdown at the end of last season wasn't indicative of a regression to the kind of pitching that had him out of the major leagues two years prior. After a 2-0 spring with a 1.00 ERA in four starts, he was plenty confident and so was his manager. "I don't know how you get much better than that," Bob Melvin told MLB's official website. "When you look up there and see his ball-strike ratio is like 23-to-5 in his first 28 pitches, you know he's on it." Kazmir was superb in his season debut, limiting the Rangers to one hit and two walks while striking out 10 over seven scoreless innings of a 10-0 win.
Scott Feldman also pitched well in his first outing of 2015, allowing just one run and five hits over 6.2 innings against Cleveland, but was saddled with the loss due to a lack of offensive support. Since recording a career-high 17 victories with Texas in 2009, the 32-year-old has hit double digits in losses in FOUR of the last five seasons, including back-to-back 12-loss campaigns in 2013 and 2014. Feldman owns a 5-8 record and 5.55 ERA in 26 career games vs Oakland, including 17 starts (teams are 5-12 and his ERA in those starts is 5.97).
The 31-year-old Kazmir is looking to prove his first campaign with Oakland was no fluke and his first start got him heading in the right direction. The lefty is 2-1 in seven career starts vs the Rangers (teams are 5-2), posting a 3.32 ERA while holding Houston to a .233 average. It also bodes well here (for us Oakland bettors) that Houston was just 21-26 vs lefties last season and in 32 night games vs lefties, averaged just 3.6 RPG. Oakland’s recent domination of the Astros (see above) continues tonight with the A’s grabbing a comfortable win.

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Baseball Prophet

Royals

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Chris James Sports

Reds

Yankees

Royals

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Dom The Dominator

Dom's pick for 4/13/2015

NBA Rockets-11 1/2 over Hornets 6pm

NBA Magic+7 over Heat 6:35pm

NBA Nuggets+16 over Clippers 9:35pm

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OC Dooley

2 Units Cubs -135

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MLBPredictions / Brent

Athletics @ Astros Pick for April 13th, 2015
The first week of baseball is officially in the rear view as it was great to see the boys of summer back which signals nice weather and lots of baseball ahead. We already have had a near no-hitter (Sonny Gray, Trevor Bauer and relievers), a three-homer game by Adrian Gonzalez against the Padres, two 6-0 teams in the AL Central, and the first serious blow of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry as Clay Bucholz was pummeled for 7 runs in the first inning of their Sunday Night game in the Bronx. Monday’s games brings us some afternoon action as well as some days off, but we do have a handful of night games on the schedule so let’s take a look at an AL West matchup to open up the second week of the Major League Baseball season.

Oakland Athletics @ Houston Astros

My Pick – UNDER 8.5 (-110)

The Oakland Athletics will travel to Houston tonight to open up a ten-game road trip by taking on a divisonal rival in the form of the Houston Astros. It will be a battle of the veterans this evening as Scott Kazmir looks to build on a stellar first start of the year opposite Scott Feldman for the Astros who also pitched very well to open his season but took a tough luck loss in the process. Kazmir struck out ten over seven innings while allowing just an infield single and two walks in his season debut in Texas last Wednesday. Kazmir has always pitched well against Houston as the lefty is 2-0 over five starts with a 1.83 ERA and 36 strikeouts over 34.1 innings against the Astros. For his part, Feldman gave up only one run on five hits over 6.2 innings against the Cleveland Indians last week but ended up in the loss column despite the strong effort. What is even more impressive and likely unknown about Feldman is that he has tossed eight straight quality starts dating way back to August 20th of last season, and his owns a 1.87 ERA over that stretch. Run support has been the demise of Feldman over his last several starts. In his last five starts, he owns a 1.84 ERA. He also owns an 0-3 record while receiving just five runs of support over those five starts. Houston just doesn’t seem to hit the ball for Feldman and it seems they are struggling to do that for any of their pitchers to start this season. As a team they are hitting only .195 on the season while players that were relied upon to provide the bulk of the offense like Evan Gattis (0 for 20, 12 strikeouts), last year’s AL Batting Champion Jose Altuve (5 for 26) and George Springer (4 for 23, 10 strikeouts) have not found their grooves to this point. The Oakland bats were among the worst on the road in the AL last year as their .234 batting average away from O.Co Coliseum was the fourth-worst mark in the junior circuit. Take the UNDER 8.5 tonight in a matchup of crafty veterans at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

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BETTING AS A BUSINESS

NBA

Philadelphia +2 / Milwaukee 7:05 ET 1.25 Units
(Play ON Philadelphia)

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STEEL CITY CAPPERS

1* Baltimore -105

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Rocky's Lock Club

10* LA Angels/ Texas OVER 9

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Sports Insights

PHI 3.5-110
ORL 6.5-110
NO -13-110
TB +125
TEX +130