MLB Picks: August 23rd 2011
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Pick: Chicago Cubs +135
The Braves send Mike Minor to the hill tonight where he 0-1 with a 4.98 ERA on the road this season. Atlanta is hitting only .235 on the road this year. 78% of the public is currently on the Braves in this game and we all know fading the public will get you money more times than not. Braves are 2-6 in their last 8 road games with the total set at 11.0 or higher. Cubs are 10-4 in their last 14 games as an underdog. Cubs are 7-3 in their last 10 vs. a team with a winning record. Cubs are 9-4 in their last 13 home games. Cubs are 5-1 in Colemans last 6 starts as an underdog of +110 to +150. Cubs are 4-1 in Colemans last 5 starts vs. a team with a winning record. We’ll recommend a small play on Chicago Cubs tonight! Thanks and good luck, Rocky Atkinson

Pick: Brewers vs. Pirates Over 8.5
I’ll side with the OVER in this game Tuesday between the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates in NL Central action. These teams just played a double-header Monday, meaning that both bullpens are likely taxed. Two below-average starters are going at it tonight in Marco Estrada and Ross Ohlendorf, and neither is likely to go deep in this one. Estrada is 3-8 with a 4.28 ERA on the season, including 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA in two road starts. Ohlendorf is 0-0 with a 7.27 ERA adn 1.845 WHIP through two starts this year. Both teams are hot at the plate right now as well. The Brewers are putting up 6.6 runs/game over their last five contests, while the Pirates are scoring 5.4 runs/game over their last five. The OVER is 4-0 in Brewers last 4 games overall. The OVER is 6-1 in Pirates last 7 games overall. The OVER is 10-1 in Brewers last 11 games as a road favorite of -110 to -150. The OVER is 6-0 in Pirates last 6 games as a home underdog. Bet the OVER in this game Tuesday. -Jack Jones

Pick: Cincinnati Reds -139
Play on Cincinnati at 7:10 ET. Florida has fallen off the map, having lost 15 of 17, and things get no less difficult this evening at home vs. the Reds and Johnny Cueto. Cueto is MLB’s ERA leader at 1.89 in 19 starts. He’s allowed just one run his L15 IP, picking up two wins. The Marlins are 5-19 as a home dog this season. Starter Ricky Nolasco has a 4-10 TSR at home and a 7.00 ERA his last three starts overall. 10* on Cincinnati (w/ Cueto). -Tom Freese (Handicapperspicks.com)

MLB Picks: August 20th 2011
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Pick: Boston Red Sox -130
Expect the Red Sox, who have won their last 4 games in Kansas City, to continue their dominance over the Royals, who have lost 6 of their last 7 overall. KC has been a pure fade with Paulino on the hill. The Royals are 0-6 in his last 6 starts, 0-4 in his last 4 home starts and 0-6 in his last 6 starts vs. a team with a winning record. The Red Sox are 6-2 in Wakefield’s last 8 starts and 6-1 in his last 7 starts as a favorite. We’ll take the Red Sox at a decent price.

Pick: Pittsburgh Pirates -105
The Cincinnati Reds are one of the more disappointing teams in baseball this season and when we see them hit like they did on Friday it makes them even more confusing, Joey Votto, Ryan Hanigan, and Brandon Phillips each homered as the Reds scored 11 runs off of 14 hits. On the mound Homer Bailey allowed six hits and three earned runs while striking out six over five innings of work to get a no decision as it was Travis Wood who got his sixth win of the year and Francisco Cordero got his 25th save. For Saturday afternoon’s game Cincinnati starts Dontrelle Willis who has yet to win a game this year. For the season Willis has allowed 41 hits and 18 earned runs while striking out 28 over 39.2 innings of work. Cincinnati is 3-5 in their lst eight road games, 1-6 in their last seven road games against a right handed starter, and 2-5 in Willis’ last seven starts. Cincinnati is 2-6 in the last eight meetings of these two. TAKE PITTSBURGH HERE -Bob Wingerter

Pick: Detroit Tigers -141
The Tigers have won 18 of their last 21 at home against the Tribe, and I look for them to extend the streak Saturday. The Indians are a lousy 3-13 in Huff’s last 16 starts, 2-10 in his last 12 road starts and 1-6 in his last 7 road starts vs. a team with a winning record. We’ll take the Tigers. -Dave Price (Handicapperspicks.com)

MLB Picks: August 19th 2011
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Pick: Seattle Mariners -110
On Friday the Free MLB Power system Play is on the Seattle Mariners. Game 919 at 7;10 eastern. Seattle fits a tight system that plays on road favorites off a home favored loss by 2 or more runs, if they scored 4 or less runs and had 5 or more men left on base, vs an opponent off a road win and scored 4 or less runs with 5 or more men left on base. Hard to believe Seattle is the 6th best play on the board for me tonight. However they do have F. Hernandez going and he is 7-1 with a 2.29 era vs the Rays. He has better road numbers than Tampa Starter W. Davis does at home. Davis has been mediocre in starts vs Seattle and has a 4.82 era against them. The Rays have lost 6 of 9 after a day off. Look for Seattle to take game one of the series. On Friday the deepest card this season has 5 big plays. The Lead play is a rare 14-0 MLB System play. There are 2 more perfect system MLB plays and 2 NFLX System plays that are cashing over 90% Since 1990. Thursday card swept the board going 3-0. For the free play take Seattle. -Rob Vinciletti

Pick: Cincinnati Reds -133
With the crowd at 58 percent regular season capacity for such a big game it’s obvious the Pirates fan base have given up on their team and for good reason with Pittsburgh flopping 19 of 24 times from July 20-Aug. 14. After winning back-to-back games against Cincinnati 2-0 and 1-0 the Pirates have been sinking in the National League standings. Pittsburgh dropped a series finale to the Reds 3-1 and like the problem has been all season it’s been hitting. The Pirates are a mediocre 27th in Runs, 26th in Batting Average, 26th in On Base Percentage and 28th in Slugging Percentage so no wonder the fans aren’t expecting Pittsburgh to turn around their disappointing start to the second-half. TAKE CINCINNATI MINUS -Bob Wingerter

Pick: Detroit Tigers -140
Play on Detroit at 7:05 ET. Home field advantage plays a big role when these teams play as Cleveland is 13-1 at home facing the Tigers, but 4-17 in Detroit. The Tigers had yesterday off while the Indians did not. Max Scherzer has a 6-1 TSR this season when working on five or six days rest. He is in great form with a 130-45 KW ratio for the season, including 16-2 L3 starts. Cleveland’s Josh Tomlin has a 4.88 ERA on the road where the team has lost his last three starts. 10* on Detroit. -Tom Freese (Handicapperspicks.com)

MLB Picks: August 3rd 2011
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MLB Pick: Cincinnati Reds -131
The three game sweep of San Francisco will go for naught if the Reds don’t continue to win especially against a struggling Houston squad. Cincinnati received an all around solid performance Tuesday in a 5-1 victory with Homer Bailey turning in a great effort on the mound giving up the one run in eight innings on five hits. Unlike Monday when the offense squandered numerous scoring opportunities the Reds scored five runs in the fifth inning with a grand slam off the bat of Edgar Renteria the big blow. The Reds pulled to within two games of the .500 mark but if this team expects to be a factor in the National League Central race they need to duplicate Tuesday’s performance more often where both the bats and arms hold up their end of the bargain. The pitching side of things will fall to left hander Dontrelle Willis who will be making his fifth start of 2011. He has yet to win a game but comes in off of a pair of good starts that saw him give up five runs in 12.1 innings. If Willis can turn in those type of performances going forward the Reds playoff push will be much easier. TAKE CINCINNATI MINUS -Bob Wingerter

MLB Pick: San Diego Padres -118
10* Play on San Diego at 10:05 ET. The Dodgers sure seem to have the Padres number. They have beaten them five straight times, including three shutouts, one of them coming last night, 1-0. Interestingly, all three shutouts were 1-0 finals, so its not like LA is hitting well vs. San Diego pitching either. The Padres Tim Stauffer has a 2.88 ERA in 11 home starts this year. The Dodgers Ted Lilly has a 6.48 ERA his last three starts overall. 10* on San Diego (w/ Stauffer). -Tom Freese

MLB Pick: Milwaukee Brewers +100
Surprisingly Milwaukee is the better team so far this year as St Louis comes in with a 58-52 overall record and Milwaukee is now 61-50 overall on the season. Milwaukee is now 40-15 at home this year. Milwaukee is 21-6 this year at home when the total is 8 to 8 1/2. Milwaukee is 7-1 their last 8 games. Milwaukee bullpen has a 3.31 ERA at home this year. Randy Wolf has a 3.17 ERA at home this year and a 2.21 ERA his last 3 starts. We’ll recommend a small play on Milwaukee today! Thanks and good luck, Rocky Atkinson

MLB Pick: Kansas City Royals -119
The Royals have quietly won each of Hochevar’s last 6 starts, and he has really sizzled in the last 3 with an ERA 3.26. The Orioles, meanwhile, are just 3-7 in Guthrie’s road starts this season and 0-5 in his last 5 road starts as an underdog of +110 to +150. Baltimore took Game 1, but it is 0-5 in its last 5 games following a win and 2-12 in its last 14 in the 2nd game of a series. Take the Royals. -Jeff Alexander (Handicapperspicks.com)

MLB Picks: July 27th 2011
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Pick: Pirates vs. Braves Under 7
We look for a pitcher’s duel tonight between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves. Clearly, both teams are tired after last night’s 19-inning marathon. That gives the edge to the starting pitchers in this one as the positional players will have a hard time focusing at the plate. Plus, we have two excellent starters going at it tonight. Jair Jurrjens is 12-3 with a 2.44 ERA in 18 starts for Atlanta, while Paul Maholm is 6-10 with a 3.26 ERA in 21 starts for Pittsburgh. The UNDER is 14-6-1 in Maholm’s 21 starts this year. These two have also been dominant when facing their respective opponents. Jurrjens is 2-3 with a 2.35 ERA in five lifetime starts (Under 4-1) versus Pittsburgh, while Maholm is 1-1 with a 1.64 ERA in five lifetime starts (Under 5-0) versus Atlanta. Take the UNDER 7 runs in this one. -Black Widow

Pick: Mets vs. Reds Over 9.5
The Mets Bobby Pelfrey hasn’t been missing many bats with his 5.29 ERA over his last three starts. The NYM is 15-4 to the high in L19 as a RD of 25-50 cents. Bronson Arroyo is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA over his L5 starts and the Reds 12-5 to the over as HFs at this price. Play the over and don’t blink. -Dennis Macklin

Pick: Cincinnati Reds -138
Play on Cincinnati at 7:10 ET. After losing 2 straight here at home to the Mets, look for the Reds to win tonight. They are 31-21 off a loss this season and 32-19 off BB losses the L2 seasons. The Mets are 13-33 in road games when off back to back wins by 2 runs or less. NY starter Pelfrey has a 3-9 TSR as an underdog this year. Cincinnati starter Arroyo has a 7-3 TSR if the team lost its last game. 10* on Cincinnati. -Tom Freese (Handicapperspicks.com)

MLB Baseball Picks: July 26th 2011
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Pick: Cincinnati Reds -142
I’ll back the Cincinnati RedS Tuesday behind Ace Johnny Cueto to beat the New York Mets in Game 2 of this series. Cincinnati has been an excellent home team all season, hitting .268 and scoring 5.0 RPG there. The Reds have also thrived against left-handed starters, batting .283 and putting up 5.5 RPG versus southpaws. They’ll be up against lefty Jon Niese, who sports a 3.63 ERA on the season and a 4.07 ERA on the road. Niese is no match for Cueto, who is 6-3 with a 1.98 ERA and 1.003 WHIP in 14 starts this year, including 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA and 0.921 WHIP in five home outings. Niese has never beaten Cincinnati, going 0-1 with a 4.61 ERA and 1.390 WHIP in two career starts against the Reds. While Cueto has never beaten the Mets either, his last start against them came on 5/5/2010 in a game the Reds won 5-4 after he gave up just 3 earned runs in 6 innings. Cueto is perhaps the most improved starter in the league this season as he’s finally learned how to pitch. The Mets are 1-5 in their last 6 games following a win. The Reds are 5-1 in their last 6 games following a loss. Cincinnati is 30-11 in their last 41 home games vs. a left-handed starter. The Reds are 4-0 in Cueto’s last 4 starts as a favorite. Take Cincinnati Tuesday.

Pick: Tampa Bay Rays -126
Play on Tampa Bay at 10:05 ET. Oakland got the suddenly slumping Rays last night, but tonight I like Tampa to bounce back with David Price on the mound. The big lefty has a 12-2 TSR in road night games and 14-3 as road chalk of -125 or greater. The team is 8-1 this season as a road fave of -125 to -150. I don’t see the A’s weak hitting lineup doing much against Price and Brandon McCarthy has a 2-8 TSR in night games this season. 10* on Tampa Bay. -Tom Freese (Handicapperspicks.com)