[Jeff Grant]

Early Friday MLB Information (Betting Odds - Matchup Pages)

-The Cubs return home after playing 23 of 35 on the road
-Chicago has won nine of its last 13 games
-Diamondbacks bullpen is 3-2 with a 2.14 ERA since June 22

-Detroit has a major league-high five-game win streak, while also winning eight of 11
-The Orioles have lost 13 of 19
-Tigers SP Doug Fister is 1-3 with an 8.85 ERA over his last four starts
-Orioles SP Jason Hammel has lost three straight starts with an 8.10 ERA
-Baltimore is hoping to activate OF Nick Markakis to start the second half
-Fister has a 7.59 ERA in two career starts at Camden Yards
-Two teams split 10 meetings in 2011

-Marlins OF Giancarlo Stanton will begin the second half on the DL (19 HRs, 50 RBIs)
-Miami 3B Hanley Ramirez had to leave Sunday’s game with a right finger laceration
-Home team has won all five meetings in 2012

-Angels are 42-24 since OF Mike Trout’s call-up, best record in baseball over that span (April 28)
-New York is a season-high 19 games above .500 and possess the largest division lead in baseball
-The Yankees lead the majors with 134 home runs, highest total in team history through 85 games
-Angels closer Ernesto Frieri hasn’t allowed a run in 25 appearances with the team
-Los Angeles has 13 shutouts, most in franchise history before the All-Star break

Read an SBR Forum preview featuring the Angels/Yankees

-St. Louis is 10-14 in one-run games, and 4-7 in two-run games
-The Cardinals have won four of six meetings with the Reds this season

-Blue Jays SP Ricky Romero has lost each of his last three starts, giving up eight runs in two of those outings
-Toronto 3B Brett Lawrie missed Sunday’s game with lower back tightness, batting .324 with a HR in his last eight games

-The Mets have won seven of 11 and have taken four of six from the Braves this season
-Atlanta has won four straight and gone 32-30 since April
-Of the Braves’ first 29 contest after the break, 23 will come against division foes (13-12 record vs. NL East)
-Braves C Brian McCann went 7-for-16 with four HRs and 11 RBIs in his last four games before the break
-3B David Wright is batting just .206 against Braves SP Tim Hudson (71 PAs)

Read an SBR Forum preview regarding this NL East matchup

-The Rays have lost nine of their last 14 games
-Boston OF Jacoby Ellsbury is batting .185 in eight minor league games
-Rays 3B Evan Longoria is likely out until August
-The season series is tied, 4-4, with Tampa taking two of three at Boston May 15-17

-SP Zack Greinke will start a third straight game for the Brewers, something that hasn’t been done in baseball since 1917
-Pittsburgh has won six of seven and 10 of 12, posting the best record in baseball since May 12 (34-19)
-The Pirates have gone 11-1-1 in their last 13 series, winning seven consecutive at PNC Park
-Pirates OF Andrew McCutchen leads the majors with a .362 batting average
-Pittsburgh has the best home record in baseball (29-14), but will be on the road in 16 of 22 to start the second half

-Twins SP Francisco Liriano has a 2.74 ERA over his last eight starts
-Athletics SP A.J. Griffin has a 1.50 ERA in three starts
-Minnesota 1B Justin Morneau is a .320 career hitter against Oakland
-Oakland has won five of its last six games at Target Field

-Colorado has just two series wins in its last 11 tries, while dropping 23 of 35 games
-Phillies setup man Anthony Bastardo has a 5.34 ERA
-Philadelphia hasn’t missed the postseason since 2007

-White Sox SP Gavin Floyd is 3-1 with a 1.37 ERA over his last four starts
-Royals SP Bruce Chen has a career 3.30 ERA versus the White Sox (15 games, 10 starts)
-Chicago 3B Kevin Youkilis is batting .444 with three HRs and 11 RBIs in his last seven games

-The Dodgers have gone 5-15 in their last 20 games
-Los Angeles SS Dee Gordon is out of the lineup for at least six weeks, leading the majors with 30 steals
-San Diego has used 13 different starting pitchers
-The Dodgers are 7-2 against the Padres this season

-In their final two homestands before the break, the Mariners went 7-12 and are hitting .195 as a team at Safeco Field
-Texas had its best record ever before the All-Star break (52-34)
-In three starts versus the Rangers this year, Mariners SP Kevin Millwood is 1-0 with a 1.06 ERA

Read an SBR Forum preview of the Rangers/Mariners

-Houston lost 10 of 11 heading into the break
-San Francisco lost five of six on its recent road trip
-The Giants hit .225 with RISP in the first half, second worst in baseball
-The Giants won two of three against the Astros earlier this year, including Matt Cain’s perfect game

[EVPlus]

Good stuff, Jeff. Do you have any interesting stats on how faves and dogs perform in the first week after the all star break?

Thanks

[Jeff Grant]

Good stuff, Jeff. Do you have any interesting stats on how faves and dogs perform in the first week after the all star break?

Thanks

I was going to look some of this up - but got lost in early football prep

[Snowball]

are you a streak fader or a streak rider ?
i am a streak fader.

[Jeff Grant]

More Early MLB Info


-Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo is batting .354 with four home runs since being called up on June 26, with the club going 8-4 in that span
-Chicago has won five of the last six meetings against Arizona at Wrigley Field
-The Cubs have lost four straight and six of eight overall in the series


-Tigers SP Doug Fister is 0-4 with a 4.89 ERA in six road outings
-Orioles SP Jason Hammel is 2-0 with a 6.61 ERA in three career starts versus the Tigers


-Miami dropped 22 of its last 34 games heading into the All-Star break
-Marlins SS Jose Reyes is hitting .264 this season (career-high .337 in 2011)
-The Marlins are hitting .242 as a team, ahead of only the Padres (.234)
-Marlins SP Josh Johnson is 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA in nine home starts against the Nationals, while going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his last three at this ballpark
-Nationals SP Jordan Zimmerman hasn’t allowed more than three runs in his last seven outings

Will the home team make it six straight in this NL East series?


-Yankees SS Derek Jeter has 12 hits in his last 28 at-bats
-The Angels took two of three from the Yankees at home from May 28-30, evening the season series at three games apiece
-Yankees SP Hiroki Kuroda is 6-3 with a 2.56 ERA in nine home starts
-New York is an AL-best 18-11 against left-handed starters
-The Yankees are a MLB-best 21-8 since June 8 (Angels, 19-9)


-The Reds return home after a season-high 11-game road trip through California
-Cincinnati SP Mat Latos is 2-0 with a 0.72 ERA over his last three starts and has won a career-high seven consecutive decisions
-Latos is 1-3 with an 11.37 ERA in four career starts against the Cardinals, giving up at least seven runs in each of the three defeats
-Reds 1B Joey Votto is 1 for 14 lifetime against Wainwright, his worst showing against any pitcher he’s faced at least 14 times


-Indians closer Chris Perez had his run of 24 straight converted save chances end Sunday
-Cleveland SP Justin Masterson is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays
-Blue Jays OF Jose Bautista is hitting .373 with five HRs and 12 RBIs in his last 11 games against the Indians
-Blue Jays SP Ricky Romero is 0-3 with a 10.80 ERA in losing his last three efforts
-Romero is 2-1 with a 5.79 ERA in four starts against the Indians

Catch up on which teams are going OVER/UNDER the totals with regularity in 2012


-Mets starting rotation ranks third in the majors with a 3.55 ERA
-Braves have won four straight games, with catcher Brian McCann homering in each contest
-Atlanta SP Tim Hudson has won four of his last six games at home against the Mets (2.54 ERA)
-Hudson has limited Mets 3B David Wright to a .206 average in 63 at-bats


-Rays SP Jeremy Hellickson is 0-5 with a 4.23 ERA over his last seven starts, receiving just 13 combined runs of support
-Hellickson is 1-0 with a 4.34 ERA in three starts against the Red Sox this year


-Pirates OF Andrew McCutchen hit .553 with four HRs and 12 RBIs in his final nine games before the break, with the Pirates winning eight of them
-McCutchen is 2 for 13 in his career against Zack Greinke
-Pittsburgh has won seven of James McDonald’s last eight starts
-The Brewers have won 21 of Greinke’s 22 regular-season starts at Miller Park


-Oakland has gone 21-13 over its last 34 games, allowing just 15 runs in winning six of its last seven before the break
-Twins SP Francisco Liriano is 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA in his last four starts against the Athletics
-Liriano is 3-2 with a 2.74 ERA in eight starts since returning to the rotation


-The White Sox have lost 14 of 20 in Kansas City, not winning a series since July 2-4, 2009
-Chicago is 23-16 on the road and will play 16 of 19 away from the Windy City
-1B Paul Konerko is batting .228 with a single HR over his last 15 games
-Kansas City finished its recent 11-game road trip with a 3-8 record
-Royals SP Bruce Chen is 3-1 with a 1.79 ERA in his last seven starts versus the White Sox


-The Dodgers expect both Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp to be back in the lineup Friday night
-Los Angeles hit .198 and averaged 2.2 runs in losing 15 of 20 before the break
-Dodgers SP Clayton Kershaw is 2-3 with a 4.15 ERA over his last eight starts
-Kershaw is 5-1 with a 1.96 ERA in his last eight starts against the Padres
-Padres SP Clayton Richard is 6-1 with a 2.62 ERA against the Dodgers
-San Diego has scored 33 runs during a season-high five-game road winning streak
-The Padres haven’t won six in a row away from home since 2006


-Seattle and Texas have split their first 10 meetings this season
-The Rangers have scored a major league-leading 443 runs, while the Mariners have the AL’s second-worst total (337)
-The Mariners have outscored the Rangers by a 57-42 margin in 2012
-Seattle is batting a league-low .195 at home and has hit an AL-worst 21 home runs at Safeco Field
-The Mariners are 10-17 versus left-handed starters


-San Francisco has dropped seven of nine games
-Houston is 1-10 in its last 11 games, owning the worst record in baseball (33-53)
-The Astros have just three wins in their last 22 road games (9-32 overall on the road)
-Giants SP Madison Bumgarner is 6-1 with a 1.88 ERA in seven home starts (1.09 ERA in winning the last three)
-San Francisco is 9-4 against Houston at home since 2009

[Jeff Grant]

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chicago Cubs

-Arizona will begin a stretch of playing 20 games in a row, the longest such stretch of the season
-The Diamondbacks are 8-2 in their last 10 games against left-handed starters
-Bullpen has a 2.09 ERA in 16 games since June 22
-Arizona is 16-9 in day games, second-best daytime record in the NL (Reds), ranking third in runs per game (4.56) - behind the Cardinals (5.26) and Reds (4.59)
-The Diamondbacks are 59-46 all-time against the Cubs, winning six of their last eight
-SP Ian Kennedy is 18-5 with a 2.81 ERA in his career after the All-Star break
-Kennedy is 4-0 in his last five July starts (7-3, 4.95 ERA in 11 career starts)
-The Cubs are 26-25 all-time against the DBacks at Wrigley Field (2-1 in 2011)
-SP Paul Maholm is 0-3 with a 5.34 ERA in six career starts versus the DBacks

Read my SBR Forum article on this series opener in the Windy City

[Jeff Grant]

Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays (Betting Odds - Matchup)
-Boston holds a 5-4 advantage over Tampa Bay this season
-Bullpen paces the majors with a 2.13 ERA since April 23
-SP Franklin Morales has a 1.11 ERA on the road this season, and has never allowed a run at Tropicana Field


Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers
-Pittsburgh closed out the first half with a 13-2 record, and leads the majors with 198 runs scored since June (Blue Jays, 181)
-The Pirates have won seven straight series against NL Central teams
-Lead the NL and are tied for third in the majors with 52 HRs on the road
-Pirates bullpen has a MLB-leading 2.59 ERA
-SP James McDonald is 4-1 with a 1.27 ERA in five starts versus NL Central opponents this year
-McDonald is 1-2 with a 6.61 ERA in three starts against the Brewers during his time with the Pirates


Detroit Tigers at Baltimore Orioles
-Detroit is tops in the AL with a .727 win percentage over the last 11 games (8-3)
-The Tigers have posted a 39-28 record in road games dating back to Aug. 11, 2011
-OF Austin Jackson is hitting .400 over a career-high 15-game hit streak
-Bullpen has posted a 2.16 ERA over the last 49 games
-The Tigers are 11-9 versus AL East opponents
-SP Doug Fister is 1-3 with an 8.85 ERA over his last four starts
-Fister is 0-1 with a 7.59 ERA in two starts at Camden Yards

[rumnblack]

Good stuff, thx.