7-26-09

[Mr. IWS]

Fellas. You could really help out our forum by voting for us by going to this page and clicking the link below

http://www.investwithsports.com/toplist

then click on the little button that says, sports100.

There are no pop-ups or anything like that, and it helps us get more traffic to the forum.

Thanks a lot.

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 7-26-09

Ben Burns

Brewers RL
Jays/Rays under 9

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 7-26-09

Scott Spreitzer's 25* MLB BLOCKBUSTER BLOWOUT! *10-2, 83% Winners!
I'm laying the price with the Astros on Sunday.

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 7-26-09

BIG AL's #1 PITCHING MISMATCH GAME OF THE MONTH!
At 1:35 pm our NL Pitching Mismatch Game of the Month is on the Washington Nationals over the San Diego Padres.

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 7-26-09

Larry Ness' 20* PERFECT STORM

My 20* PERFECT STORM is on the Hou Astros at 2:05 ET.

When the Mets lost 3-1 Wednesday night to the Nationals, they had been held to one run or been shut out in 12 of 27 games since All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran was placed on the DL on June 22. The team's record stood at 10-17 in that span (New York was last in the majors over that span with 81 runs and a .231 batting average), as the Mets fell 10 games behind the surging Phillies in the NL East. After a travel day on Thursday, the Mets came to Houston for a three-game road trip to wrap up a 10-game trip since the All Star break. Johan Santana got the start. The two-time Cy Young award winner took a career mark of 59-17 (2.67 ERA) in MLB's second half into the game, the best all-time winning percentage (.776) of any pitcher with more than 75 second-half decisions. However, the Mets lost 5-4, stranding 10 runners, while scoring fewer than five runs for the 15th time in their last 20 games. It dropped them to 2-6 on their current road trip, while getting outscored 38-20. Out of nowhere, the Mets snapped a three-game skid last night with a 10-3 victory over the Astros. New York matched its season high for HRs in a game (three), had 12 hits and reached 10 runs for just the THIRD time this year. Jonathon Niese, just recalled from the minors, pitched seven impressive innings while cruising to his second major league win. DO NOT expect a "repeat performance" this afternoon. The Mets placed Gary Sheffield on the DL prior to the game (strained right hamstring), leaving them yet another bat 'short.' On the mound will be veteran Livan Hernandez. He is coming off a solid outing in his last start (6-2 win over the Nats in which he went seven innings while allowing two ERs) but prior to that, Hernandez had gone 0-4 with a 7.46 ERA over his six previous starts (all NYM losses). Let's remember that Hernandez pitched for both the Twins (10-8 with a 5.48 ERA) and Rockies (3-3 with an 8.03 ERA) last year, allowing an incredible 257 hits over 180 innings. He won a spot in the new York rotation this spring and enters this game 6-5 with a 4.93 ERA overall in 18 starts (team is 8-10). He'll be opposed by veteran Brian Moehler of the Astros. Moehler began his career with the Tigers back in 1996 and from 1997-2000 won 47 games (at least 10 each year). However, he's struggled since then, not playing at all in 2004. He was a minor surprise last year (11-8) and in 2009 (his 13th big league season), takes a 7-5 mark with a 5.02 ERA (16 starts / team is 10-6) into this game. However, that hardly tells the whole story. Moehler is 6-2 with a 3.60 ERA over his last 10 starts (team is 8-2) and has been one of the mainstays of the rotation the last two months. The Astros went 42-24 in the second half of last season and this year began their second-half 'push' a little earlier, having gone 12-5 after July 4. That includes a three-game sweep of the Cards earlier this week, as the Astros enter this game just one game behind the Cubs and 1 1/2 games behind the Cards in the NL Central. The Astros head out on the road next week for three games at Wrigley and then three in St Louis, so a win here would be nice. The Mets are a dismal 20-31 on the road this year and off a major offensive outburst yesterday, figure to "revert to their current form" on Sunday vs a red-hot Moehler. Meanwhile, let's not forget that Hernandez was on a winless streak of six games (7.56 ERA) before he ran into the sad-sack Nationals (own MLB's worst record!) this past Monday. PERFECT STORM 20* Hou Astros.

Good Luck...Larry