Category: Baseball

The Atlanta Braves have their daggers out and are looking for a sweep of the Oakland Athletics in an early one at the Coliseum today. Not so fast. The leftie Sean Manaea will take the hill for the A’s and he has been delivering. Manaea is 7-4 on the season, with an ERA of 3.87, and a WHIP of 1.22. Oakland is 7-1 in Manaea’s last 8 starts and 4-1 in his last 5 home starts. Counter that with Atlanta’s Julio Teherán. Teherán is 6-6 on the season, with an ERA of 5.30, and a WHIP of 1.44. Atlanta has struggled on the road against southpaws, going 12-30 in their last 42. Edge Oakland.

Today’s Pick:

Oakland Athletics

The Los Angeles Dodgers manhandled the San Diego Padres last night in a 10-4 shellacking and will look to continue their dominance over the Padres when they play the second game of a 3-game set tonight at Petco Park. Two lefties will face each other, with Rich Hill going for the Dodgers and Dillon Overton for the Padres. Hill is having a mediocre year, with a record of 4-4, a 4.60 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. San Diego picked up Overton from the Seattle Mariners and he will be making his first start as a Padre. Overton is 0-0, with an ERA of 6.38. He made 1 start and 8 relief appearances for Seattle this year, where he yielded 15 runs over 18-1/3 innings of work, which is not good. Los Angeles has won 6 out of the 7 meetings this year against the Friars, and they are 4-0 in their last 4 trips to Petco Park. The Dodgers can hit southpaws, going 5-1 in their last 6 against them. This could be a long night or short night for Overton.

Tonight’s Pick:

Los Angeles Dodgers

The New York Mets won their last 5 out of 6 on the road and will return home to Queens tonight to face the Philadelphia Phillies. New York has won 4 out of 6 meetings this year against Philadelphia and will try to add to that when they send the flamethrower Jacob deGrom to the hill. DeGrom has been lights out over his last 3 starts, with a record of 3-0, an ERA of just 0.72, and a WHIP of just 0.76. The Phillies will counter with Ben Lively. Over his last 3, Lively is 0-1, with a 4.91 ERA, a WHIP of 1.42, and Philadelphia is 0-4 in his last 4 starts. DeGrom has dominated the Phillies with a record of 8-0 in his last 8 overall and 4-0 in his last 4 home starts against them. The line is high in this one but the Mets should get the victory.

Tonight’s Pick:

New York Mets

The Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles will play the rubber game of a 3-game set tonight at Rogers Centre and Toronto clearly has the better pitcher taking the rubber. The Jays will hand the ball to JA Happ and over his last 3 starts he has been sharp. During this span, the left-handed hurler is 2-0, with a 1.86 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. This cannot be said about Ubaldo Jiménez who will get the nod for Baltimore. In his last 3 outings, he is 1-1, with a bloated ERA of 11.48, a WHIP of 2.25 and was drilled by Tampa Bay on Friday, allowing 9 runs on 7 hits in just 2-1/3 innings of work. Baltimore is 6-20 in their last 26 road games and 0-5 in their last 5 games against southpaws. Toronto’s heavy bats should get to Jiménez tonight.

Tonight’s Pick:

Toronto Blue Jays

The Oakland Athletics have now won 4 in a row after last night’s triumph over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. The Astros will try to end the A’s surge tonight when David Paulino takes the mound. Over Paulino’s last 3 outings, his ERA is high at 5.28 but he is 2-0 over that span. Houston usually bounces back from a defeat, going 4-0 in their last 4 after a loss. Oakland will send Jesse Hahn to the rubber. Hahn is 1-1 over his last 3, with an inflated ERA of 10.50, and a 2.00 WHIP. Oakland is 0-6 in Hahn’s last 6 road starts and 1-4 in his last 5 against Houston. I’m taking another shot at the Astros tonight.

Tonight’s Pick:

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros should get a win tonight at home over the Oakland Athletics. Oakland has won 3 in a row but their road record is less than impressive at 12-25. Sean Manaea gets the nod for Oakland. Manaea has been average thus far, with a record of 6-4, an ERA of 4.05 and a 1.15 WHIP. The A’s have had issues at Minute Maid Park, with a record of 1-6 in their last 7, and they are 0-5 in Manea’s last 5 starts against the Astros. Mike Fiers gets the call for Houston and he has been throwing flames. Fiers is 2-0 over his last 3, with an ERA of just 0.89, a WHIP of 0.84, and Houston is 5-1 in his last 6 starts. The line seems a little fishy in this one, it should be higher, but all the numbers point to Houston.

Tonight’s Pick:

Houston Astros

Two teams that have been struggling, the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox, will face each other tonight on the south side at Guaranteed Rate Field. New York has lost 10 of its last 12 and will send the young lefty, Jordan Montgomery to the hill to try to straighten things out. Montgomery has been steady, going 5-4 on the season, with a 3.74 ERA, and a WHIP of 1.25 in 74.2 innings, and he is 3-0 in his last 4 starts. Chicago has lost 6 of its last 7 and will send the southpaw, David Holmberg to the rubber. Holmberg is 1-1, with a 2.84 ERA, and a 1.04 WHIP in 31.2 innings of work. In their last meeting on April 19th, the Bombers clobbered the White Sox 9-1, and New York is 15-6 in the last 21 meetings. I like New York’s chances in this one.

Tonight’s Pick:

New York Yankees