Category: Baseball

The Boston Red Sox will send the flame-throwing southpaw Chris Sale to the hill today to try to even up the series after getting bamboozled last night, 10-5, by the visiting Tampa Bay Rays. Sale has been outstanding for his new team, posting a 1.23 ERA, with a 0.68 WHIP, in 14.2 innings of work. The Rays will send Jake Odorizzi to the hill and in 12 innings of work thus far, he has a 4.50 ERA, and a 1.00 WHIP. The Rays are 1-4 in their last 5 meetings with the Red Sox, 2-5 in their last 7 trips to Fenway, and 3-9 in their last 12 against lefties.

Today’s pick:

Boston Red Sox

The Washington Nationals dropped 2 out of 3 to the Phillies last weekend at Citizens Bank Park but can seek revenge when they open up another 3-game set in an early one today in Washington. Philadelphia will send Aaron Nola to the hill and he is 1-0 in 6 innings pitched, with a 4.50 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. The Phillies are 1-4 in Nola’s last 5 road starts and 1-6 in their last 7 trips to Washington. The Nationals will counter with their ace Stephen Strasburg who is 1-0, with an ERA of 3.21, and a 1.00 WHIP in 14 innings of work. In 85 career home starts, Strasburg has an ERA of just 2.88, and the Nationals are 20-6 in his last 26 home starts. Philadelphia’s pitching has given up a league leading 18 home runs, and with the Nationals’ Daniel Murphy batting .450, with 2 homers and 9 RBIs, and Bryce Harper batting .344, with 2 homers and 8 RBIs, I like the Nationals chances in this one.

Today’s pick:

Washington Nationals

The Colorado Rockies are off to a fast start, with a 5-2 record, and tonight they will play host to the very young San Diego Padres team. San Diego’s Trevor Cahill was slated for the start today but was placed on the DL with back issues so Jared Cosart will get the nod. In Cosart’s only appearance this year, he struggled, yielding 2 runs, 3 walks and posted only 2 outs. Tyler Chatwood will take the bump for the Rockies and he is 4-0 in 7 career starts against the Padres. San Diego is 0-5 in their last 5 trips to Coors Field. I like the Rocks in this one.

Tonight’s pick:

Colorado Rockies

The Washington Nationals were embarrassed yesterday by the Philadelphia Phillies, getting drilled 17-3, but I don’t see that happening again today. The Nationals will send the flame throwing San Diego native, Stephen Strasburg, to the hill. He is 8-2, with an ERA of 2.37 against Philadelphia, and the Nats are 15-3 in their last 18 trips to Philly. Harper and company get it done today.

Today’s pick:

Washington Nationals

The San Francisco Giants are off to a slow start, going 1-4 in their first 5 games, and you can attribute that mostly to their bullpen. Today however, the All-Star southpaw Madison Bumgarner will take the hill at Petco Park for the second game of the 3-game series. Mad Bum was stellar in his season debut against the Diamondbacks, retiring the first 16 batters and launching 2 home runs but the Giants lost due to the bullpen. The Padres will send Jhoulys Chacin to the bump and he was horrendous in his season debut against the Dodgers, yielding 9 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, in just 3-1/3 innings of work. The Giants are 4-1 in Bumgarner’ last 5 starts and they should get to Chacin today.

Tonight’s pick:

San Francisco Giants

The Texas Rangers were swept by the Cleveland Indians in their home opening series but could have easily won one or two of those games if it wasn’t for their closer Sam Dyson, who gave up 8 runs in his 2 outings. Tonight they will open another 3-game set in Arlington against the Oakland Athletics. The A’s are expected to send Raúl Alcántara to the bump. Alcántara was 1-3 last year, with a bloated ERA of 7.25, surrendering 18 runs with 9 homers in 22-1/3 innings of work. The Rangers are expected to send the ex-Athletic A.J. Griffin to the hill. Griffin went 7-4 in 2016, with a 5.07 ERA, and the Rangers are 5-1 in his last 6 starts, and 4-0 in his last 4 home starts. The overnight line was Texas -155 but has dropped to Texas -135 which is a little fishy but I’m still rolling with the Rangers.

Tonight’s pick:

Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers will look to avoid being swept at home by the Cleveland Indians tonight when they send southpaw Cole Hamels to the hill in in the final game of a 3-game set. Hamels was his usual stellar self in 2016, posting a record of 15-5, with an ERA of 3.32, and Texas is 18-4 in his last 22 home starts. The Indians will counter with Danny Salazar, who was a solid 11-6 in 2016, with an ERA of 3.87. Against the American League West, the Indians are 1-5 in their last 6 when Salazar is on the hill. Marty Foster is behind the dish tonight and Cleveland is 7-21 in their last 28 with him calling the shots. Texas avoids the sweep.

Tonight’s pick:

Texas Rangers