MLB Picks: April 9th 2011
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Pick: Cincinnati Reds -101
The 5-2 Cincinnati Reds lost a heartbreaker a couple of days ago to the 1-6 Houston Astros for their first loss of the season. Yesterday’s game was no such thing. The 3-3 Arizona Diamondbacks pounded the Reds 13-2 to take the first of three games at Chase Field. In the second game Bronson Arroyo goes up against Daniel Hudson in what appears a pitching mismatch favoring Cincinnati. Arroyo (104-93 in his career) pitched seven innings allowing three runs in his first start this season while Hudson (9-4 in his career) allowed three runs in six innings during his debut. TAKE CINCINNATI HERE. -Bob Wingerter

Pick: Los Angeles Dodgers -125
LA veteran starter Hiroki Kuroda doesn’t walk anyone, and that’s a huge plus in a big ball park like San Diego, where base runners are hard to find. Kuroda continues to adapt nicely to pitching in the U.S. His strikeout-per-nine-innings ratio has improved in each of his three years in the States, to a career-best 7.29 in 2010. He faces a weak San Diego lineup and is matched up against Dustin Moseley, a converted reliever. The Padres have a poor .298 on base percentage offensively and traded their top offensive player, slugged Adrian Gonzalez, over the winter. Play the Dodgers. -Jim Feist

Pick: New York Mets -127
Washington spoiled New York’s home opener, but I expect the Mets to bounce back strong Saturday. Expect the Mets’ bats to come alive against Washington southpaw Tom Gorzelanny. New York typically hits lefties well. The Mets have seen just 1 this season (Cole Hamels) and they rocked him. The Mets are 5-1 in their last 6 games vs. a left-handed starter and 54-26 in their last 80 home games vs. a team with a losing record. Also, Gorzelanny is just 1-3 lifetime against New York with an ERA of 6.00 and a WHIP of 1.714. The Met’s Chris Capuano has a solid 3.58 career ERA against a Washington club that has struggled against lefty starters. The Nats are just 3-8 in their last 11 road games vs. a left-handed starter. The Nationals are also 21-48 in their last 69 road games and 16-45 in their last 61 games as a road underdog. We’ll bet the Mets. -Jimmy Boyd (Handicapperspicks.com)

Our Friday night MLB predictions take us to the Great American Ball Park where the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds will lock horns in the opener of the division rivals final series of the 2010 season.
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A funny thing happened after Manager Lou Piniella decided to take an early retirement from the sinking ship otherwise known as the Chicago Cubs; they started winning. Maybe it was because they were matched up against another stiff of a ball club in the Washington Nationals, or maybe the team loosened up after the Hall of Fame Skipper vacated the premises. Either way, the Cubs took a solid step forward in attempting to close their 2010 campaign off on the right foot.

The Reds blasted their way to an impressive 5-1 showing throughout the first six legs of their nine game west coast road trip. However, they ended up 6-3 overall after dropping the first two of their series with the San Francisco Giants and needed to go to extras in their marathon 12-11 win in the series finale. Luckily for Manager Dusty Baker’s squad, it had the day off on Thursday to rest up after the long road trip. Now they get to embark on a six-game home stand against division rivals where they sit 10-games over .500 (36-26, $558) for those that made MLB predictions backing them as a host.

Chicago Cubs (54-74, -$2860) vs. Cincinnati Reds (73-54, $1773)
Game Date/Time: Friday, August 27th, 7:10 ET
Game Location: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH
TV/Radio Broadcast: WGN,FOX – Ohio, XM

MLB Odds: Chicago Cubs +1.5 -130 +155 (Tom Gorzelanny – L) vs. Cincinnati Reds – 1.5 +110 -175 (Johnny Cueto – R): Total 9 O Even 9 U -120

Tom Gorzelanny has thrown a ton of pitches entering his 20 th start of the season on Friday night. He tossed 120 pitches for the second consecutive outing in a 5-4 Cubs win his last time out to move Chicago to 7-12 with him leading their charge this season.

He’s been at his best away from Wrigley Field where he sports a 3-2 record with a solid 3.27 ERA, but Chicago Cubs stands just 3-5 in his eight road starts. The Cubs are 1-6 in his L/7 starts vs. NL Central opposition, and he owns a personal mark of 3-4 with a 4.74 ERA in nine lifetime appearances vs. the Reds.

Johnny Cueto’s first start since serving his seven-game suspension didn’t go all too well. The righty was pumped to say the least, and because of it, his control suffered. The righty walked three and served up four home runs through just three innings of an 8-5 MLB predictions defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Now he returns to the “GAB” where he owns a 5-2 record with a 4.12 ERA & 1.36 ERA on the year; the Cincinnati Reds won six of his 11 home outings. He was outdueled by Randy Wells in his lone 2010 start against the Cubs and stands just 2-5 with a 4.17 ERA & 1.43 WHIP in nine career starts vs. Chicago.

MLB Insider Tip : Cincinnati has gotten the better of the Cubs this season winning 10 of the 13 overall meetings ($750); that mark includes a 4-2 ($190) mark at the Great American Ball Park. However, there’s just something about this spot for the Redlegs that I just don’t like at all.

Chicago looked to be playing much looser in its most recent series with Washington. Having traded away a number of players over the last month and capping it off with the departure of “Sweet Lou” might have been the exact elixir this club needed to start eating into its outrageous MLB betting deficit.

Gorzelanny has been one of the Cubs most dependable starters since he returned to the starting rotation, and Chicago is currently in the midst of a five-game road winning streak. Cincy could come out a bit rusty in this spot returning from an extended road trip, and they’ve played to an even 6-6 record after an off day to date. Go ahead and take a stab with the barking dog in the series opener!

My MLB Prediction: Chicago Cubs (Gorzelanny)

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Pitchers that burn holes in our pockets is just another day in the life of trying to beat the MLB odds. Here at BetUS Sportsbook, we’ve got the five worst money burning pitchers in the bigs listed for you to steer clear of in the future. Take a look at the toughest luck pitchers against the MLB Betting odds this year.
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Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals (2-10, -$1,011) – We have such a hard time faulting Greinke for this type of a record. His team, quite frankly, just stinks. Yes, Greinke hasn’t put up Cy Young type numbers again for a second straight year, as he has a 3.60 ERA and 17 walks against 60 strikeouts. Still, those numbers should yield a heck of a lot more than a 1-7 mark. There is major cause for concern, though. Over his L/3 starts, Greinke has only pitched 15.1 innings and allowed 24 hits and 13 runs, and has just a 10/6 K/BB ratio.

Ryan Dempster, Chicago Cubs (3-8, -$869) – The last time that the Cubs won a game that Dempster allowed more than one earned run in was back on April 12th. Yes, he hasn’t done much to help himself lately, especially allowing six earned runs in 6.2 innings against the Cardinals right before Memorial Day, but Dempster’s numbers don’t suggest that the Cubs should be just 3-8 this year in 11 starts. Dempster has a 3.72 ERA and has already fanned 72 batters this year, putting him on a pace for 200+ Ks.

Charlie Morton, Pittsburgh Pirates (1-9, -$758) – Now, here’s a case where the pitcher is just having an atrocious season. It’s pretty clear that the Pirates simply shouldn’t have Morton in the rotation. He is still a young kid and should be babied along in the minors for a bit before giving it a whack in the big leagues. At just 1-9 with a 9.35 ERA, Morton was given a bit of a blessing in the form of a free pass from his next few starts. The Pirates stuck him on the 15-day DL retroactive to May 28th for shoulder fatigue.

David Bush, Milwaukee Brewers (2-9, -$721) – Bush picked up a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand and might not be available for his next start. It might be a good thing for the Brewers if that’s the case. They are just 2-9 in his starts this year and are 1-8 since his second outing of the year. A K/BB ratio of 30/29 for the year represents both far too many walks and not nearly enough strikeouts, while an ERA of 4.99 seems to be the punishment.

Tom Gorzelanny, Chicago Cubs (2-7, -$694) – Gorzelanny has been pitching pretty well this year, as there is no harm in a 3.66 ERA. He has only allowed more than three earned runs twice all season long, but it happens to be that both of those starts were amongst his L/3. However, in his L/5 starts, the southpaw has K’d 36 batters, and if that keeps up, his ERA should once again continue to drop, and hopefully, the Cubs will start winning some games for him.
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