Tuesday 8-22-17 Free Plays / Trends / Betting Info / Etc

[Can'tPickAWinner]

Bruce Marshall

Rangers vs. Angels
Play:Rangers +122

The Rangers shook off of a couple of tough losses vs. the Chisox with a crucial win in the series opener at Anaheim. Winners of 9 of 12, Texas looks for more success tonight against Angels starter Ricky Nolasco and his 5.16 ERA. All Jeff Bannister hopes for with starter Tyson Ross is five innings of work and let the bullpen take it the rest of the way.

[New York Knight]

Marlins are 0-7 in Straily's last 7 starts.

Phillies are 5-1 in Nola's last 6 home starts.


MIA +110 / PHI -120 (Game 1)

[Can'tPickAWinner]

Wunderdog

Los Angeles @ Pittsburgh
Pick: Pittsburgh +103

Pittsburgh suffered a tough loss Monday night when Yasiel Puig homered in the 12th inning. The Pirates have Jameson Taillon on the mound tonight and they have won 13 of his last 16 starts when he has four days of rest. Also, even with last night's win, the Dodgers are just 2-8 their last 10 games at PNC Park. Taillon gave up four runs in five innings against St. Louis on Thursday, but he previously had two quality starts in wins over San Diego and Toronto. Brock Stewart will make his third start for Los Angeles and has yet to record a decision this season. Stewart has allowed nine runs (four earned) his last nine innings. He gave up two runs on three hits in just 1 1/3 innings at Arizona his last appearance on August 10.

[New York Knight]

Dodgers are 53-10 in their last 63 overall & 4-0 in last 4 vs Pirates.

Pirates are 2-7 in their last 9 overall.


LAD -115 / PIT -105

[New York Knight]

Under is 7-1 in Blue Jays' last 8 on turf.

Under is 14-2 in Rays' last 16 home games vs. a right-handed starter.


TOR/TB Total: 8

[Can'tPickAWinner]

Larry Ness

Milwaukee vs. San Francisco
Pick: San Francisco -102

Milwaukee had won six of seven to climb back to within two games of the Cubs, as the Brewers began a three-game road series against the San Francisco Giants on Monday. Yes, the Giants owned MLB's third-worst record plus MLB's worst moneyline mark but the Brewers had lost nine of their last 10 at AT&T Park. Make that 10 of their last 11, as the Brewers wasted an excellent effort from staff ace Zach Davies (6 IP / 2 unearned runs allowed) by being held to just four singles in a 2-0 loss.The setback dropped Milwaukee 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs (idle on Monday) in the NL Central, as well as 3 1/2 back of Arizona for the second wild-card spot. San Francisco improved to 3-2 on its seven-game homestand but at 51-76 on the season, who really cares.

Jimmy Nelson (9-6, 3.74 ERA) will take the mound for Milwaukee against San Francisco's Jeff Samardzija (8-12, 4.79 ERA). Nelson was 9-5 with a 3.24 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 158 strikeouts in his first 22 starts of the season but he's coming off back-to-back poor outings (that's being kind!), surrendering 15 runs (12 earned) on 19 hits over 10 innings in his last two starts, giving him a 10.80 ERA. Nelson evened his career record against San Francisco at 2-2 on June 7, when he gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings of a 6-3 victory. Samardzija has won four of his last five starts but even after a solid stretch, the Giants are just 11-14, minus-$524 in his 25 starts this season.

Samardzija remains a consistent underachiever but he does seem to be on a little bit of roll, while the 'wheels have come off' for Nelson in his last two starts. There is also the issue of Nelson's 4.22 ERA compared to his 3.39 home ERA. The Giants can only play the role of spoiler the last 1 1/2 months of the season but my bet is that they play that role well, here.

[Can'tPickAWinner]

ASA

Padres vs. Cardinals
Play: Padres +1½

Lance Lynn has had a strong season for the Cardinals but he has walked 16 and struck out just 13 in his last 4 starts combined. With that said, the Cardinals do seem priced awful high here considering they've lost 5 of their last 7 overall. Also, looking at their last 8 games they've only had 1 win by more than a single run. That means, of course, that the Cards at -1.5 runs would be 1-7 their last 8 games and we're grabbing the value here with the Padres on the run line. San Diego has Clayton Richard toeing the rubber in this one and the Padres southpaw is back on track after a rough stretch. Richard has a fantastic 1.29 ERA in his last 3 starts and he did not allow a single run in 2 of those outings plus in the other one he helped lead San Diego to a win over the vaunted Dodgers! The only loss for the Padres with Richard on the mound in his last 3 starts came by just a single run and, again that is the added value of having the run line here in this spot. San Diego is available at a very fair small price on the run line at +1.5 runs and the Cardinals are a horrible 4-13 this season - and 21-38 since 2015 - in games following an off day.

[Can'tPickAWinner]

Buster Sports

Toronto Blue at Tampa Bay
Play: Toronto Blue +175

The Blue Jays come to Tropicana Field tonight for a 3 game series with Tampa Bay. We believe there is tons of value with the Blue Jays tonight. The starting pitchers are for the Jays RH Chris Rowley (1-0, 2.61 ERA) and he will face the Rays RH Chris Archer (8-7, 3.84 ERA) These two pitchers faced each other in Toronto less than a week ago, with the Jays winning 5-3. Rowley has pitched well in his first two starts for Toronto and he held the Rays to 2 runs over five innings in his last start. We see a similar outcome for him tonight. As for Archer, he has pitched very well against the Blue Jays this year. However, this will be the fifth time the Jays have seen him this year. Archer did not receive a decision in any of the prior four starts, however Tampa Bay lost all four games. At the time of this writing, Toronto are getting +175 and we believe there is tons of value with the HUGE underdog tonight.

[Can'tPickAWinner]

The Prez

New York vs. Detroit
Play:New York -175

The Yanks visit new Tigers Stadium on Tuesday night for the first of a three-game set. First pitch is schedule to take place at 7:10 p.m. ET at Comerica Park with the Yankees sending Masahiro Tanaka (8-10, 4.92 ERA) to the hill to oppose the Tigers Matthew Boyd (5-6, 5.70).

The pinstripe crew continue to hold onto their Wild Card slot despite their struggles with finding the win column this month. New York rests atop the Wild Card standings holding a 2.5 game lead over the Minnesota Twins. There is, however, a lot of season remaining and there are eight American League franchises within five games of a postseason (Wild Card) spot with roughly 40 games left to play before the Fall Classic tournament begins.

The Yanks dropped two of three to the Red Sox over the weekend and continue to miss the big bat of rookie Aaron Judge who was 1-for-12 with five strikeouts this past weekend. Judge is batting .169 since the All-Star break and the Yankees are 9-10 overall in the month of August.

It would be a mistake at this point of the 2017 campaign to believe that the current Detroit roster is giving their all for coach and country. The front office were sellers pre-and-post non-waiver trade deadline and the team is 54-68 on the season 15 games out of first place in the AL Central and nine-games out of the final AL Wild Card spot.

There is little to no spoiler left in the aging Tigers roster. Boyd has not been in good form as of late. The Detroit lefty started the 2017 campaign with solid surface numbers has been screaming negative regression for quite some time. His advanced metrics continue to offer evidence of a 5-plus xFIP and poor K:BB ratios and his performance as of late is living up to his underlying peripherals.

Tanaka was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Aug. 9 after reporting arm fatigue. While it has been a roller coaster ride of a season for Tanaka the Yankees right-hander is 3-3 with a 3.00 ERA over his last nine starts and has recorded at least eight strikeouts in six of his last 11 outings.

[New York Knight]

Indians 8-0 in last 8 vs teams above .500 & 6-1 in Carrascos last 7 home starts.

Red Sox 2-10 in last 12 @ CLE.


BOS +174 / CLE -190

[Can'tPickAWinner]

Bruce Marshall

Washington at Houston
Pick: Washington

This is a pretty big price to give the Nats and Tanner Roark, who is 6-2 on the road and has delivered three straight quality starts. The host Astros have lost in two of Charlie Morton's last three starts, and his control has been an issue lately with 11 walks in his last four outings.

[Can'tPickAWinner]

Bob Balfe

Dodgers -105

It always feels too good to be true when the best team in baseball is even money. Brock Stewart has not pitched this much this season so I see why Vegas put the line where it is at, but the Dodgers just win baseball games. This team has something very special and it would be shocking if they don’t get to the World Series. At this price there is no downside to taking LA.

[New York Knight]

Cubs 11-0 in last 11 road games vs righty starters, 7-0 in Lackey's last 7 starts & 15-5 in last 20 meetings at Reds.



CHC -149 / CIN +137

[New York Knight]

GAME: Los Angeles Dodgers (88-35) at Pittsburgh Pirates (60-65)
DATE/TIME: Tuesday, August 22 - 7:05 PM EST
WHERE: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
LINE: N/A TOTAL: N/A

Preview: Dodgers at Pirates
Gracenote
Aug 22, 2017

The major league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers had gone a month without losing back-to-back games, and their newest acquisition helped make sure the stretch would continue. Red-hot Los Angeles is 22-4 since dropping consecutive contests on July 20-21 as it continues its four-game series against the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.

While Yasiel Puig delivered a tiebreaking homer in the 12th inning on Monday, Curtis Granderson continued to make a seamless transition since joining the Dodgers on Saturday, following his solo shot in Sunday's loss with a grand slam in the series opener. Granderson also clubbed a grand slam on Thursday in his last game with the New York Mets, giving him six blasts and 15 RBIs in his last 10 contests. The Pirates hit three homers in the series opener, but all were of the solo variety as they tumbled to their seventh defeat in nine games. Josh Harrison has gone deep three times in his last five contests for Pittsburgh, which is seven games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central and eight out of the second wild card.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, KTLA, SportsNet LA (Los Angeles), AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh

PITCHING MATCHUP: Dodgers RH Brock Stewart (0-0, 1.64 ERA) vs. Pirates RH Jameson Taillon (7-5, 4.64)

Stewart has made just one appearance - a 1 1/3-inning relief stint at Arizona on Aug. 10 - since a start at Atlanta on Aug. 2 in which he gave up two runs on three hits and three walks over a season-high four frames. He made his first start of the year on July 26, getting tagged for five runs and five hits in 3 2/3 innings. Stewart allowed one run in three frames of relief versus Pittsburgh last August.

Taillon has been inconsistent since returning from surgery for testicular cancer, permitting two runs or fewer in seven of 12 starts while surrendering at least four runs in the other five turns. He did not factor in the decision last time out, giving up four runs over five frames versus St. Louis. Taillon faced the Dodgers in his fourth career start in June 2016, giving up four runs in four innings.

WALK-OFFS

1. Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw will make a rehab start Saturday for Triple-A Oklahoma City after tossing a four-inning simulated game on Monday.

2. Pirates LF Starling Marte was hitless in six at-bats Monday, snapping a string of six straight multi-hit performances.

3. Los Angeles 1B Adrian Gonzalez needs one hit to reach 2,000 while SS Corey Seager has hit safely in 10 straight games.

PREDICTION: Dodgers 5, Pirates 4

[New York Knight]

GAME: Oakland Athletics (54-71) at Baltimore Orioles (61-64)
DATE/TIME: Tuesday, August 22 - 7:05 PM EST
WHERE: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
LINE: N/A TOTAL: N/A

Preview: Athletics at Orioles
Gracenote
Aug 22, 2017

The Baltimore Orioles are nearing the tail end of their string of 16 consecutive games against American League West opponents and still are looking to post back-to-back wins versus teams from the division. The Orioles have a chance to put an end to that drought when they continue their three-game series against the visiting Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.

Baltimore, which has played its last 14 games against AL West foes, used the long ball to post its fifth straight victory in a series opener, going deep four times to close within 3 1/2 games of the second wild card. Adam Jones highlighted a 4-for-4 effort with a pair of solo shots, leaving him one shy of a seventh consecutive 25-homer season. Baltimore is third in the AL with 185 blasts while Oakland ranks sixth (171) after Jed Lowrie and rookie Boog Powell hits solo shots in the team's fourth loss in five contests. It was the first career homer for Powell, who is scheduled to meet his namesake - the former Orioles slugger - for the first time prior to Tuesday's game.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, NBCSN California (Oakland), MASN (Baltimore)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Paul Blackburn (3-1, 3.46 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Ubaldo Jiménez (5-8, 6.47)

Blackburn is coming off the shortest outing of his brief major-league career, a four-inning stint versus Kansas City in which he yielded four runs and eight hits but escaped with a no-decision. He also allowed four runs - and a season-high 10 hits - in his previous turn but came away with another no-decision against Baltimore on Aug. 11. Tim Beckham, Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop each recorded a pair of hits against Blackburn.

It was a somewhat familiar script last time out for Jimenez, who was rocked for six runs and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings in a loss at Seattle. He struck out a season-high 11 in 5 1/3 frames at Oakland in his previous turn, settling for a no-decision after giving up three runs and six hits. The 33-year-old Dominican has managed to keep both Lowrie (1-for-15) and Khris Davis (1-for-7) in check.

WALK-OFFS

1. Schoop is 4-for-8 with five RBIs in his last two games after belting a three-run homer on Monday.

2. Athletics 1B Ryon Healy has hit safely in nine consecutive contests.

3. Baltimore 3B Manny Machado was hitless in five at-bats Monday after being named AL Player of the Week earlier in the day.

PREDICTION: Orioles 6, Athletics 4