MLB Picks: July 29th 2011
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Pick: Cleveland Indians -134
I’ll side with the Cleveland Indians Friday in Game 1 of this series with the Kansas City Royals. The Indians come into this series rested after having Thursday off, while the Royals travel from Boston after finishing off their 4-game set with the Red Sox yesterday. I’ll back the Indians because of the rest factor, having the better starter on the mound, and the fact that they are actually playing for something as they are squarely in the middle of the AL Central race. Carlos Carrasco is 8-8 with a 4.25 ERA and 1.295 WHIP in 19 starts this season for Cleveland, while Jeff Francis is 3-11 with a 4.44 ERA and 1.371 WHIP in 21 starts this year for Kansas City. Francis is 1-6 with a 6.11 ERA and 1.572 WHIP in 10 road starts as well. The lefty is 1-2 with a 7.98 ERA and 1.704 WHIP in three career starts against Cleveland. In his lone start against the Indians this season, Francis gave up 5 earned runs in 3 innings of a 2-7 loss. The Royals are 1-9 in Francis’ 10 road starts in 2011. The Royals are 0-6 in their last 6 meetings in Cleveland. Bet the Indians Friday. -Jack Jones

Pick: Chicago White Sox +100
White Sox RH Gavin Floyd (8-9, 4.11 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Tim Wakefield (6-3, 5.15 ERA). Floyd has been sharp over his last two outings, allowing a total of one earned run in 15 2/3 innings while striking out 10 and issuing one walk. The former first-round draft pick earned a win at Boston on June 1 and has never lost to the Red Sox, owning a 5-0 record with a 3.83 ERA in seven games. Wakefield will be searching for his 200th career win on Friday. The ageless knuckleballer has been getting knocked around quite a bit of late but has been bailed out by the Boston offense, which is averaging 10 runs in Wakefield’s last four starts. He is 7-12 with a 4.97 ERA in his career against Chicago. TAKE THE WHITE SOX HERE -Bob Wingerter

Pick: Oakland Athletics -145
The A’s, who are 5-0 in their last 5 games following a loss, hold the edge tonight with Gio Gonzalez stepping to the mound. The southpaw is 7-2 at home with an ERA of 1.87. The Athletics are 19-7 in his last 26 home starts, 25-6 in his last 31 starts as a favorite and 20-6 in his last 26 starts as a home favorite. The A’s are 15-3 in his last 18 starts as a favorite of -110 to -150. It is also worth noting that the Twins are 1-5 in their last 6 road games vs. a left-handed starter. Francisco Liriano is carrying an ERA of 4.82 on the season and is coming off a terrible start in which he gave up 4 runs in just 2 1-3 innings. The Twins are 3-7 in Lirianos last 10 starts when he takes the mound with just 4 days’ of rest. They are also 1-5 in his last 6 starts as a road underdog of +110 to +150. Also, the Athletics are 4-1 in their last 5 home games vs. a left-handed starter. -Jimmy Boyd (Handicapperspicks.com)

MLB Picks: May 6th 2011
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Pick: Kansas City Royals +115
Kansas City is swinging the bat nicely right now and they’ll give visiting Oakland all they can handle this weekend. Getting the call for the Royals will be reliever-turned-starter Sean O’Sullivan. In his last three trips to the bump against the Twins, Indians and Mariners, O’Sullivan has pitched well allowing three earned runs and 10 hits in 17.0 innings of work. That’s good enough for a respectable 1,59 ERA. The only drawback to those three performances has been O’Sullivan’s control. The San Diego, California product has issued 12 free passes in those starts and that number needs to come down in a hurry. Oakland will send lefty Gio Gonzalez to the bump on Friday night. In his last three games against the Rangers, Halos and Red Sox, Gonzalez struggled allowing 10 earned runs and 21 hits in 17.2 frames. Gio earned a soft 1-2 record and an elevated 5.09 ERA thanks to those performances. His efforts against the Royals haven’t been much better either. In four career starts against Kansas City, Gonzalez sports a dismal 1-2 record and a shocking 7.85 ERA! The Athletics have a history of getting out to a slow start in a series dropping seven of their last 10 game one sets. Quietly, the Royals have won six of their last seven inside Kauffman Stadium and they’ll be primed to pull off this upset. Take Kansas City with O’Sullivan. Thank you and best of luck, Tom Stryker.

Pick: Houston Astros +106
The Houston offense has been decent, 10th in baseball in runs scored. They face a Pittsburgh team that is awful at home and ranked 25th in runs scored, 27th in slugging. Houston has a reliable starter in Wandy Rodriguez, who is throwing well with a 33-9 strikeout to walk ratio. He’s 6-4 in his career against the Pirates. Meanwhile, Paul Maholm is struggling, with a 6.11 ERA his last three starts and the Pirates are 1-5 in his 6 starts. Play the Astros. -Jim Feist (Handicapperspicks.com)

Our Monday night MLB predictions take us to Oakland-Alameda County Stadium where the
Cincinnati Reds will look to bounce back against the Oakland A’s after shockingly getting swept at Seattle over the weekend.
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Save for getting off to a slow start to the year, the Reds haven’t played poor baseball since. That is until now as manager Dusty Baker’s squad has won only three times in its L/10 games played (-$474). In doing so, the Reds have lost their grasp on the top spot in the NL Central and currently trail the St. Louis Cardinals by 1.5-games in the division.

Oakland’s fallen off the map in the AL West recently winning just three of their L/10 games (-$384) played to date. They currently sit eight-games out in the division and nine-games out in the AL Wild Card race. Tonight’s game marks the first of six to be played at home, which should be a welcome sight for Oakland who’s played 12 of its 19 June games on the road.

Cincinnati Reds (37-33, +$253) vs. Oakland A’s (34-37, -$1116)
Game Date/Time: Monday, June 21st, 10:05 ET
Game Location: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA
TV/Radio Broadcast: FOX-Ohio, Comcast (CA), XM

MLB Odds: Cincinnati Reds +105 (Mike Leake – R) vs. Oakland A’s -125 (Gio Gonzalez – L): Total 7.5 Runs

After his team battled back with some late inning dramatics vs. San Francisco to get him off the hook for the loss, rookie RHP Mike Leake finally dropped his first game of the year his last time out against Los Angeles. The Dodgers got to him for nine hits and five ER’s through his six IP. He’s now allowed five ER’s in each of his L/2 starts. Cincy’s split his four road starts this season where the righty stands 2-0 with a miniscule 1.67 ERA & 1.19 WHIP with a K/BB ratio of 19/8; opponents are batting .270 against him on the year. This will be his first look at the A’s and the first Interleague start of his career as well.

Gio Gonzalez saw his ERA rise from 3.58 to 4.21 his L/2 outings after allowing a combined 14 hits and 10 earned runs through just 10.2 IP. That’s been his “MO” all season long though, as the lefty has struggled mightily on the road while succeeding for MLB bettors at home. He’s 4-2 with a solid 2.90 ERA & 1.02 WHIP in six home starts this season where he’s given up just 23 hits and 13 ER’s with a K/BB ratio of 40/21 through 40.1 total innings pitched. Though the A’s are 1-2 in his three 2010 Interleague starts, they’re a perfect 7-0 the L/7 times he’s lead their charge at home. He’s never faced Cincinnati in his career.

MLB Insider Tip: Oakland has flat out dominated Cincinnati winning eight of the teams previous nine Interleague betting match-ups dating back to 2002. The club has been much better when playing within its comfy confines evidenced by its 21-13 (+$786) mark at home opposed to its 13-24 (-$902) mark on the road. After a nine-game NL road trip, the Coliseum will be a welcome sight for their sore eyes. The Reds are scuffling, and evidenced by his L/2 starts, there might just be enough tape on Leake for big league hitters to get the best of him now. If no adjustments have been made entering tonight’s start, my MLB predictions have Oakland’s bats teeing off on him to allow Gonzalez to pick up his seventh win of the baseball betting season.

My MLB Prediction: Oakland A’s (Gonzalez)
Source: BetUS Locker Room Featured on: Handicapperspicks.com

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Oakland Athletics
Free Pick: Oakland Athletics +118
Courtesy of Mike Rose (Handicapperspicks.com)
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The team with the best record in baseball will return to the diamond on Friday night at McAfee Coliseum, where the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics will kick off a three game set.

The Rays moved to an impressive 12-1 on the road this year with a series sweep in Seattle before heading to Oakland.

The A’s are tied with Texas for first place in the AL West standings after taking two out of three against said Rangers.

David Price is 3-1 with a 2.34 ERA this year, and he is showing signs of electricity that hasn’t been seen out of a left-hander in Tampa Bay since Scott Kazmir was traded from the Mets.

This will be Price’s first attempt at facing the Athletics in his young career.

LHP Gio Gonzalez is Oakland’s version of Price. Also 24 years old, Gonzalez has shown flashes of potential, but now that he is in his third year in the majors, he is really starting to blossom.

Gonzalez is 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA and has the exact same 27 strikeouts that Price does. Oakland’s southpaw has a 1.29 WHIP and a .215 batting average against, both of which are numbers that any hurler would be proud of.

Gonzalez has made three appearances against the Rays in his career, only one of which was a start. He has allowed six runs in 9.2 innings, but is 1-0 to show for it.

The Rays are just 12-34 in their L/46 visits to Oakland. One has to think that the road run for the Rays is going to come to a close at some point. The oddsmakers have probably run a wee too far with the lines here, as Price is still clearly no more than the fourth best starter in this rotation.

We’re going to back the A’s to make a statement in this series and continue their home dominance over the AL East leaders beginning with a win on Friday night.