Category: Baseball

The Milwaukee Brewers will be host to a very dangerous and young Toronto Blue Jays team tonight for the first game of a 3-game set at American Family Field. Alek Manoah will be on the hill for the Jays. He is the next Roger Clemens, if there can be one. Manoah has presence and swagger. He is 8-2 with a 2.00 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP, and that gets things done. Adrian Houser will be tapping the rubber for the Brew Crew. Houser is upside down, at 4-7, with a 4.24 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. Toronto is 16-7 in their last 23 interleague games and are the side to consider.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TORONTO BLUE JAYS

The Philadelphia Phillies will take their 3-game losing streak into Petco Park tonight to open a 4-game set with the San Diego Padres. The Phillies were on a run after telling Joe Girardi to take it on the arches but have come back down to earth. Harper and company had better be clicking on every cylinder tonight because they will be facing the San Diego native, Joe Musgrove. His numbers are off the charts. Musgrove is 8-0 with a 1.59 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. Over his last 3 turns, his ERA is 0.86 and his WHIP just 0.76. Southpaw Ranger Suárez will get the nod for the Phillies. He is 5-4 with a 4.43 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. Edge: San Diego. The Padres are 20-13 at home and 12-4 in their last 16 against a left-handed starter. The Friars will be without their superstar, Manny Machado, but Musgrove will keep the Phillies’ bats in check and come out on top in this one.
TONIGHT’S PICK: SAN DIEGO PADRES

The Toronto Blue Jays will look to avoid being swept by the Chicago White Sox today in a matinée on the south side. The first two could have gone either way, with the Jays losing by just one run in each, so they are due. Ross Stripling will be at the helm for the Jays. Strip is 3-2 on the season with a 3.28 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, and is 2-0 lifetime against the Sox with an ERA that doesn’t exist, at 0.00. The White Sox will counter with Lucas Giolito, who is not the force he once was. Giolito is 4-3 with a 4.78 ERA, a 1.49 WHIP, and was lit up in his last turn against the Astros, yielding 8 runs on 7 hits, resulting is a 13-3 beatdown by Houston. Toronto is 5-0 in their last 5 after losing the first two games of a series and get back on track today.
TODAY’S PICK: TORONTO BLUE JAYS

Gerrit Cole pitched a gem yesterday and the New York Yankees went on to beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-2, at The Trop in game 1 of their 3-game set. With yesterday’s win, the Bombers have 50 wins on the season and it’s only June 21st – are you kidding me!! Tonight southpaw Nestor Cortés Jr. will be on the hill for New York. Nasty is 6-2 with a 1.94 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP, and last faced the Rays on Wednesday in the Bronx where he yielded just 3 hits, 1 run, and the Yanks went on to win 4-3. Tampa’s injury list continues to grow. Tonight they will be without Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot, who went down in yesterday’s loss, and with Wander Franco and Brandon Lowe on the list as well, that is not good when you are facing the best team in baseball. New York has won 6 of the 8 meetings this year with Tampa and it’s never an away game when the Yanks play in St. Pete. It’s their home away from home. The Rays are just 2-8 in their last 10 overall and have yet to announce a starter so the books have not released a line but you can bet it’s going to be high. Sometimes you just have to buck up.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The Los Angeles Angels are starting to turn things around and so is Mike Trout. Trout homered yesterday for the fifth time in their 5-game series with the Seattle Mariners, with the Angels winning 4 of the 5. Tonight they head south to open a 3-game set with the 23-42 Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium. Noah Syndergaard will be toeing the rubber for the Halos. Thor has pitched better than his 4-5 record reflects. He has an ERA of 3.53, a 1.18 WHIP, and owns a 2-1 lifetime record against KC with an ERA of 2.50. The Royals are expected to counter with the young lefty Kris Bubic and he has struggled. Bubic is 0-4 with an 8.36 ERA, a 1.89 WHIP, and if you couple that with the Royals being just 1-8 in their last 9 in Anaheim; you have to take the Angels.
TONIGHT’S PICK: LOS ANGELES ANGELS

The New York Mets will go for their 4th straight win and a series win of the Miami Marlins today at Citi Field but hold on a minute. Miami will be sending Sandy Alcántara to the hill and if anyone can slow down the Mets he can. The Sandman is 6-2 with a 1.68 ERA, a WHIP of only 0.96, and over his last 3 it gets better. He is 1-0 with a 0.76 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP, and if that’s not dominance I don’t know what is. The Mets will counter with Chris Bassitt. C Bass has been inconsistent this year. He is 5-4 with a 4.01 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Over his last 3 turns, he is 1-2 and his ERA has jumped to 5.19 with a WHIP of 1.21. Alcántara will be working on five day’s rest and the Marlins are 4-0 in his last 4 starts in this situation.
TODAY’S PICK: MIAMI MARLINS

With last night’s 1-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, the Tampa Bay Rays have now lost 4 straight but losing streaks end and so will this one. The Rays and Orioles will play the middle game of their 3-game set today and the expected starters are lefty Jeffrey Springs (3-2, 1.45 ERA, 0.91 WHIP) for Tampa and Kyle Bradish (1-4, 6.86 ERA,1.67 WHIP) for Baltimore. The last time Springs faced the Orioles on May 21st, he threw a gem. He went 5-2/3 innings, yielding only 1 hit, no runs, and the Rays went on to win, 6-1. His opposition in that game was Kyle Bradish, who was tagged for 5 runs on 5 hits in 5-1/3 innings of work. The Rays are 5-1 in Springs’ last 6 starts and had their way with Bradish the last time they faced him so why should today be any different?
TODAY’S PICK: TAMPA BAY RAYS