Today In Baseball

John Lackey of the Los Angeles Angels of Anahiem has only seen the Yankees one time this year.  He did manage to get the win going 7 innings and giving up 6 hits.  Lackey didn’t finish up the season strong; the Angels won 4 of the 9 games and winning 1 of the last 4.  But irrespective of that he turned it up on Boston in the post-season; when it really matters.  Although familiarity, or the lack there of can be an advantage or a disadvantage.  There are six players in the Yankees’ line up that have a BA over .300 against Lackey.  And yeah, the Yankees are a different team in the post-season.  In their last meeting Alex Rodriguez went 0-5; I don’t know if Lackey will be that successful.  The Yankees have a hard line up to battle through.

Nevertheless, things will not be so easy for C.C. Sabathia.  He is 0-2 on the season against the Angels with a 6.08 ERA and a .321 BAA.  In Sabathia’s last post-season start he gave up 8 hits but he also had 8 strikeouts.  But the key to that dominant game that he pitched is that he had no walks.  If Sabathia starts giving free passes; watch out because this guy pitches out of his head sometimes.  And I don’t mean pitching out-of-his-mind as if he is in a zone, but you know what I’m saying.  You don’t want C.C. on the mound with Reggie Willits on first and Torii Hunter at the plate.  Problems.

Overall, this will be a great series and I think that we agree these two teams deserve to be playing for the division title.  I think in this first game, I am going with the dog.  Yup.  Angels.  I like the coaching of Mike Scioscia, and he will have his guys prepared.  These guys will find a way to score runs.  And ultimately, I don’t trust C.C’s mental state.  We he faced Minnesota there were pretty drained.  Don’t forget that.

Angels ML

Angels +1.5

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Today In Baseball

I will be back on deck starting next week.  I’ve been working on a film project and I’m working 12-14 hour days.

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Today In Baseball

We have a couple of rubber matches this morning in the N.L. Starting in Houston; Wandy Rodriguez will be on the bump for the Astros.  Rodriguez has been known to be dominate but has had some inconsistency this season.  He did have a good day his last time out pitching 7 innings giving up 1 earned run.  But that was against the San Diego Padres.   Prior to that he gave up 11 runs in 17 innings during inter-league play.  The last time he seen the Pirates they knocked him around pretty good and sent him to the showers after 4 2/3 innings.  In 82 AB’s the Pirates’ line up has 30 hits.  So they will be aggressive and confident.  If the Pirates can get guys on base they can be successful.  When pitching out of the stretch Rodriguez has a .293 BAA and .283 BAA with RISP.  Houston has been on the bottom end of run production and need to have a good day at the plate to keep this game competitve.  They will have that opportunity facing Charlie Morton today.  He has 4 game starts and a .226 BAA.  In 17 innings he only surrendered 5 earned runs and has a 1.50 ERA in 12 innings on the road.  I like the Pirates in this game.

Pirates ML

Pirates +1.5

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Today In Baseball

The New York Yankees, definitely has a line up to be reckoned with.  They are at the top of the league in runs scored, hits, and OBP.  On the road they are hitting .275 and .300 in the last 7 days.  In the last 5 games they have scored 30 runs.  They will be facing Scott Baker of the Minnesota Twins who does have a WHIP of 1.14.  In 92 IP he has only given up 87 hits, and has 74 K’s to 18 walks.  Pretty good huh?  What raises some red flags for me is that he is 0-4 against the A.L. East with an ERA out of this world.  I don’t know if the guy gets intimidated by these teams in the East but he has not had any success; surprisingly given his stats.  In addition to that, the Minnesota Twins have been making some noise and find themselves 7-3 in their last 10 and 1.5 games out of the lead.  They will face C.C. Sabathia, coming off of a rough outing in his last start.  Giving up 6 earned.  When Sabathia has to pitch from the stretch, he loses something off of his pitches and it is evident with his splits.  With runners on he has a .283 BAA and .264 BAA with RISP.  The Twins are hitting .283 at home and .263 RISP.  I am very tempted to take the Twins to win out-right, and I may.  But I like the game total to go over 8.5.

Yankees v. Twins 8.5 ov

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Today In Baseball

Ross Olendorf has been having an up and down season.  In his last two starts he gave up 2 ER in 14 innings.  That was after giving up 6 in 5 innings to Colorado.  But if history does have any weight, he held Pittsburgh scoreless the last time he faced them with a .091 BAA.  The upside to his splits is that he has a .233 BAA RISP and right-handers are only hitting .217 against him.  Ricky Nolasco will be starting for the Marlins.  In his last 5 starts he haven’t gave up more than 2 runs.  For a guy that has a 5.99 ERA; that says a lot.  He got off to a rough start, and now he is beginning to settle down.  The Marlins are 1 game back and have been dominating at home.  This is the rubber game and the better pitcher will win.  To take the Pirates with the points is very economic for me.  Therefore, although I feel strongly about the Pirates, I am considering the Marlins’ recent home record and motivation.  I like the game total to go under 8.5 and the Pirates +1.5.

Pirates ML

Pirates +1.5

Pirates v. Marlins 8.5 un

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