8-17-09

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Unlocked Sports

We were 2-1 yesterday which makes us 4-2 since Friday.

Minnesota Twins vs Texas Rangers

Pick: Texas -130 (4 units)

After yesterday’s win over Boston the Rangers currently hold a ½ game lead of the AL Wildcard race over the Red Sox. They open a 4 game series tonight versus Minnesota. The Twins have struggled as of late, dropping 11 of their past 15 contests and have a poor road record of 23-34. The Rangers send Tommy Hunter (5-2, 2.26) to the mound. Hunter’s numbers speak for themselves. The Rangers are 4-1 in his last 5 starts and 4-1 in his last 5 starts of a series opener. He will be facing Francisco Liriano (5-11, 5.39) who managed to get his first win since July 4th last Wednesday versus Kansas City. I like the Rangers in this one because they are playing at home where they are 39-22 this season and are in the heat of a playoff race. Additionally, Texas is 13-3 in their last 16 contests as a favorite and 9-0 in their last 9 as a home favorite. Minnesota is 1-5 in their last 6 versus a team with a winning record.

Lay 4 units on Texas.

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Greg Shaker AAA Sports (COMP)
MLB: Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers - Rangers (Liriano/Hunter) -130
Game Date: 8/17/2009
Note: There are a lot of ways to win at Baseball handicapping and while I certainly do not win every game I play, I always feel that I am putting myself in the best situation to do so. Baseball is a finesse sport and that means that regardless of how good you handicap the result of a contest, shit is going to happen sometimes. We are putting ourselves in the best situation tonight with Texas hosting the Minnesota Twins. First and foremost is the fact that Texas has the second best Home Money Won Stats of all teams in Major League Baseball over the last 12 years, just behind the Rockies. The reason is a simple one. This park at Arlington is quite different than any other in the AL and Texas is Taylormade to suit it. Once again this year, they are showing us why that is true with a 39-22 record here. They also just happen to strike lefties well here with a 20-7 Mark verses these guys in their last 27 played here. Liriano has thrown well verses the Rangers but he is not throwing so well right now save for a nice performance verses the Royals. He has struggled greatly on the road and low and behold the Twins have as well. Minnesota has only a glimmer of hope left for the playoffs and it is showing recently, losing their last two series to the lowly Indians and Royals. Texas is going to be eating at home today, they are going to have plenty of rest, and most will have the comfort of their loved one's waiting on them hand and foot. Twins will not have that and have enjoyed only those complimentary peanuts offered by the airline. Hunter has proven to be a quality Major League Starter, he is throwing well, he is throwing well here and he will have the advantage of throwing at the Twins for the first time. Let's lay this number, which is at bit high, but I think well worth the risk.

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Triple Crown

3* Under KC

(NC Comm Line)

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Eddie Roman

Executive play- Carolina

$10,000 play- Jaguars

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Drew Gordon
Today's Games...

1. 100,000? Dolphins

2. 50,000? Padres

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Nick "BookieKiller" Parsons | NFL Side Mon, 08/17/09 - 8:00 PM
triple-dime bet 282 NYG -3.0 (-110) Bodog vs 281 CAR

***10*** NFLX TOP PLAY on the GIANTS!

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Who Will Cover
Carolina (+3) at N.Y. GIANTS By Jeff Benton, Featured Handicapper
My five-day free-play winning streak was snapped Sunday, as the Yankees got whipped in Seattle. Still, I’m on a 26-14 roll with my freebies, including hitting my first three NFL preseason selections. For Monday, I make it four in a row in the NFL by backing the Panthers plus the points at the Giants.

Perfection is hard to argue with, and Carolina is a perfect 8-0 in Week 1 preseason games going back to 2001. No, the Panthers didn’t cover in all eight (5-2-1 ATS), but that’s because they were favored in virtually all of those contests. Tonight, they’re catching three points, meaning if they continue their Week 1 winning streak, we’re pocketing money.

Not only have the Panthers have come out of the gate strong for eight straight wins, but since losing Fox losing three of his first four games in his first year as coach in 2002, John Fox is 17-7 SU in preseason action. I don’t think that’s just some fluky trend; that tells me Fox wants to get his players in a winning mindset from the get-go.

Of course, wanting to win doesn’t guarantee anything. You’ve got to have talent on your roster, and Fox does – remember, the Panthers went 12-4 last year and won the tough NFC South. Most importantly as it pertains to this game, Fox is going to trot out a trio of quarterbacks with NFL experience: starter Jake Delhomme will play most if not all of the first quarter, followed by veteran Josh McCown and third-year pro Matt Moore, who actually played in 10 games (starting three) in 2007.

As for the Giants, we won’t see Eli Manning for more than two series, and that means New York’s signal-caller for the majority of the game will be former No. 1 overall pick David Carr, second-year pro Andre Woodson (who was a disaster last preseason), and rookie Rhett Bomar. Uh, advantage Carolina!

Finally, the Giants have lost back-to-back preseason openers, including a 24-21 home loss to Carolina two years ago. Give me the points here, even though I see another outright Panthers win.

3? CAROLINA (based on a 1? to 10? scale)

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Who Will Cover/Baseball
Milwaukee (-115) at PITTSBURGH By Michael Cannon, Featured Handicapper
Take the Brewers for the road win over the Pirates.

Wow, can Pittsburgh get any worse? It’s a good thing the fans have the Steelers and Penguins because they certainly don’t have a baseball team to root for.

Milwaukee has owned the Bucs recently as well, winning 18 of the last 20 matchups.

Pittsburgh has lost 12 of its last 13 and seem primed to take over the bottom spot in the majors from the Nationals. There isn’t anybody in the Bucs lineup that strikes fear into the opposition, so it doesn’t matter how good the pitching is because there won’t be any runs for them to work with.

The Brewers really need to take advantage of this road trip. After the Pirates the Brew Crew will take on the Nationals, so if Milwaukee is going to make a run now’s the time.

I think they’ll be up for the task tonight.

Take the Brewers as they grab the road win.

4? MILWAUKEE

San Francisco at NY METS (pick) By Karl Garrett, Featured Handicapper
G-Man is on a 23-15 comp play run the last 38 days.

Monday night at Citi Field, I expect the Mets to find a way to win yet another against the Giants.

San Francisco is a "go-with" at home this season, but on the road it has been a different story, as yesterday's 3-2 loss drops the Giants to 24-34 on the highway this season. Worse still, San Fran is just 11-28 the last 39 times they have faced the Mets in New York.

New York is now a commanding 10-2 the last 12 series meetings against San Francisco, and while Mets hurler Livan Hernandez doesn't fool too many people these days, San Fran starter Joe Martinez is not exactly mowing them down himself.

Martinez is 2-1 for the season - 1-1 in the starters role - with an ERA of 6.00.

Sure, the Giants could light up Hernandez tonight, but based on San Francisco's road woes, and the fact the Mets are a decent 32-26 at home this year, the G-Man will side with the Metropolitans to get the job done.

2? NY METS

St. Louis (-160) at L.A. DODGERS By Dominic Fazzini, Featured Handicapper
The Rays scored four in the eighth Sunday to give me a victory over Toronto on the run line. That makes it 12 wins in my last 16 complimentary selections, including seven of the last eight, and I don't plan on slowing down now!

Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter (12-3, 2.27 ERA) has been unbeatable since the beginning of July -- literally. The right-hander is 7-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last eight starts, and allowed two runs and eight hits with 10 strikeouts in seven innings Wednesday against Cincinnati.

Carpenter is also perfect in five career starts vs. the Dodgers, at 4-0 with a 2.18 ERA.

Los Angeles will send right-hander Charlie Haeger to the mound. Haeger, who will be making his season debut, is 1-2 with a 6.35 ERA in 19 career major league games (one start).

Haeger, who throws a knuckleball, had a 16.62 ERA in four games with San Diego last year, and was 11-6 with a 3.55 ERA in 22 starts with Triple-A Albuquerque this season.

St. Louis has won eight of its last nine games, and should have no problems today with its ace going against a marginal big-leaguer. This one might get ugly by the fourth inning. Take the Cardinals on the run line.

4? ST. LOUIS -1 1/2 RUNS

LA Angels (+110) at BALTIMORE By Sports Gambling Hotline, Featured Handicapper
Our comp play run is 17-8-1 the last 27 days.

We are having a hard time understanding the price on this game, as Baltimore is now 48-69 after yesterday's loss, while Los Angeles stands at 70-45 for the year.

Yesterday's win by the Angels also has them at 9-3 the last 12 meetings in Baltimore, and a whopping 36-17 overall the last 53 series meetings with the O's.

Ervin Santana is fresh off his best start of the season, as he threw a complete game 3 hit shutout at the Tampa Bay Rays his last time out. Even if he does get roughed up by Baltimore, the Halos have plated 28 runs in the first 3 games of this series, so we would tend to believe LA will have enough offense to make up for any of Santana's shortcomings.

David Hernandez is just 1-2 his last 3 starts for the O's, and his ERA in that span is quite close to 6.

We will go with the AL West leaders, as the make it 3 of 4 versus Baltimore before leaving Camden Yards.

Play on the Halos.

3? LA ANGELS

Minnesota at TEXAS (-135) By Bobby Maxwell, Featured Handicapper
With tonight's FREE winner, we go to Arlington for a comp play on the Rangers as they host the Twins.

Texas had a very nice weekend, taking two of three from the Red Sox in the battle of the top two teams in the A.L. Wildcard race. It was a big dose of confidence delivered to the team that tells them they are going to be around in the hunt for a playoff spot throughout September.

Now they will continue to crank it up as the Twins come to town. Tonight the Rangers send righty Tommy Hunter (5-2, 2.26 ERA) to the hill to face the Twins' lefty Francisco Liriano (5-11, 5.39).

Texas has won 11 of its last 14 home games and Hunter has been magnificent lately. He's allowed three runs or less in eight of his last nine starts, including Wednesday when he blanked the Indians on six hits over 7.2 innings of a 5-0 Rangers' win.

Liriano is just 3-6 on the road with a 6.01 ERA and the Twins have dropped each of his last three roadies and four of his last five starts overall. He faced these Rangers back on July 19 in Texas and gave up three runs in six innings of a 5-3 loss. In his last two roadies, he's given up 10 runs in 10.1 innings in losses to the Angels and the Indians.

Minnesota has struggled lately, dropping 11 of its last 15, including Sunday's home loss to the Tribe. The Twins are also on slides of 5-16 on Mondays, 2-7 against right-handers, 1-7 against the A.L. West and 5-11 when Liriano faces a winning team.

Texas has won 20 of its last 27 against southpaw starters and it is 26-12 at home against teams with losing records.

Look for the Rangers to continue rolling at home. Play Texas.

4? TEXAS

Minnesota (+120) at TEXAS By Drew Gordon, Featured Handicapper
Now on a 41-31 roll with the plays I'm giving away, including the Rangers over the Red Sox 4-3 Sunday! For today's complimentary play, we're looking at the Minnesota/Texas match up...

One day removed from giving you the Rangers as my Free Play winner, I'm going against them tonight versus the Twins. The reasons are simple, but let's start with the fact they're coming off a huge emotional series win over the Sox, and a letdown here should very much concern Rangers-backers in this one.

But that's hardly the only reason to like the Twins in this spot, as you shouldn't understimate Francisco Liriano in this match up either. Twins lefty is coming off his best start of the season, locking down the Royals to 1 run on just 3 hits over 7 innings, while striking out 8 and walking just 1 batter! Liriano backers know when he's "on," he can be downright nasty, and this is precisely one of those times. Not to mention, Liriano has superb numbers in Arlington, posting a miniscule 1.13 ERA in 3 career games (2 starts)!

On the flip side, critics of this play will argue that going against Tommy Hunter is crazy talk, and its hard to argue against a pitcher who's turned in 5 quality starts in his last 6 outings. However, Hunter's ERA is 2+ runs higher at home (0.87 away vs 3.09 at home), and that's a number that's VERY hard to ignore. Not only that, but Minnesota is swinging the bats extremely well, batting a red-hot .316 against righties over their last 10 games! Consider this before you jump aboard the Rangers bandwagon tonight. In the end, look for Liriano to build off his excellent effort against the Royals, (doing it in a place he's got great career numbers), as his teams desperately needs to get back on track.

Take Minnesota behind Liriano over Texas and Hunter in this MLB match up.

3? MINNESOTA

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Tony Weston
MONDAY'S PLAYS

25 Dime Panthers



Panthers at Giants

PANTHERS - While it’s only the preseason, the Carolina Panthers have been solid and a money maker over the last six years.



Since 2003, Carolina has gone 17-7 SU in the preseason and 14-10 ATS. Tonight, the Panthers will continue their winning ways in the preseason as they cash in on the road at the Giants and flirt with the outright win. I’m not going to suggest taking the Money Line on Carolina, but do take the points (about 3, depending on where you’re playing this) and take the Panthers on the road.



Consider that, since 2001, Carolina has gone a perfect 8-0 SU in preseason openers and has gone 5-2-1 ATS in that stretch while the Giants have lost each of their last two preseason openers.



The last time these two met in the preseason the Panthers picked up the win in New York as about a 1-point favorite, winning 24-21.



Tonight, Carolina will flirt with the outright win and cover as a dog.

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

ats lock

4 rangers
3 padres

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

BOB BALFE

Jags/Dolphins OVER 33

Both teams have quarterbacks that are capable of doing damage in preseason action. The Jaguars have great depth at receiver this season, but not so much at runningback. Look for the Jags to pass the ball a lot more to keep their backs fresh and uninjured. Miami will get their first look at QB Pat White who could end up doing some major damage with his legs against 3rd string players in the 4th quarter. Look for both teams to score enough to put this over the total.


MLB

Milwaukee Brewers -120

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Freddy Wills

3-Dime MLB POD

The Bottom Line

Take Rangers -133 3Dimes

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Gamehunter
UNDER ARI/ATL 1ST 5 INNS 4 RUNS (-115) (1.75 UNITS)

PITTSBURGH +112 (1.75 UNITS)

ANGELS -108 (2.25 UNITS)

UNDER MINN/TEX 9 RUNS (+110) (1.5 UNITS)

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

Seabass

100* Steam Play Milwaukee Brewers

[Mr. IWS]

Re: 8-17-09

GoodFella

Two Team 7 pt Teaser: -120 at both BookMaker & 5Di?mes:

#279 Jacksonville +10 to #281 Carolina +10