[bigboydan]

i think toronto +200 has alot of value.

New York Mets +100
Atlanta Braves -120

Arizona Diamondbacks +115
San Francisco Giants -135

Seattle Mariners +120
Baltimore Orioles -140


Boston Red Sox -240
Tampa Bay Devil Rays +200

Milwaukee Brewers +140
Chicago Cubs -160

Chicago White Sox -110
Los Angeles Angels -110

Houston Astros -140
Cincinnati Reds +120

Texas Rangers +130
Cleveland Indians -150

Minnesota Twins +165
Detroit Tigers -190

Colorado Rockies -110
Florida Marlins -110

Oakland Athletics -220
Kansas City Royals +180

Los Angeles Dodgers -110
San Diego Padres -110

Toronto Blue Jays +200
New York Yankees -240

Philadelphia Phillies -130
Pittsburgh Pirates +110

[mlwitchking]

I like the White Sox at -110 and the Rockies at -110.

[Illusion]

Just be careful with the White Sox. They have a history of playing bad on the west coast.

[Willie Bee]

I like the Rockies at -110 as well. The kids are playing very well on the road and won't face Willis in the 3-game set, instead drawing Mitre, Vargas and Moehler.


Anyone interested in the Astros-Reds might consider the following. I'm not enamored with the -140 price on Houston, but considering some of the numbers below, I'm surprised it's not higher.

Start with Roy Oswalt who opens the series tonight for the Astros in Porkopolis. In 15 career starts vs. the Reds, he's 12-0 with a 2.44 ERA. In those 103 IP, he's walked but 28 while whiffing 88. In the three games he didn't get a decision, Houston lost all three of them, two of them in extra innings, with Roy O leaving one of the games tied and the other two with the lead. Oswalt's first career win came against the Reds in Cincinnati back on 14 May 2001 when he tossed 3.2 scoreless innings of relief.

Andy Pettitte, who gets the nod for the 'Stros in Saturday's game, is 2-1 with a 1.97 ERA the last couple of years against the Reds. Pettitte has a 2.73 ERA in four starts since opening the year being crushed by the Marlins in his first start. However, he's won just one of those four starts as the Astros offense has selected Andy to be the guy they take the night off when pitching, scoring just five runs total in his last three starts.

Taylor Buchholz, slated to pitch the series finale on Sunday, will be making his first start against the Reds. The rookie is 1-1 on the season with a 1.80 ERA, including a 1-0 record as a starter with a 1.22 ERA and just four hits allowed over nearly 15 innings as a starting pitcher.

The Reds will counter with Brandon Claussen, Aaron Harang and Elizardo Ramirez. Starting backwards, the Ramirez-Buchholz match on Sunday pits a pair of righties with three MLB starts between them and neither team having seen the pitcher they will face.

Harang owns a 3-1 record, 4.55 ERA in his five starts so far (CIN is 4-1 in those five games). Harang is coming off a complete game shutout in Milwaukee in his last start (Apr 23rd) in which he needed 120 pitches. He's 10-15 lifetime in the Queen City and 1-5 in nine career starts against Houston with a 5.47 ERA and a whopping 12 HR allowed in 51 IP. Lance Berkman has four of those homers, the only hits Berky has off Harang. Craig Biggio and Adam Everett have chewed him up with a .349 combined average.

Claussen is 1-2, 6.75 so far this season in four starts with the Reds 2-2 in those games. Much of the southpaw's bloated ERA came in his last start (Apr 22nd) in Milwaukee when the Brewers slammed him for four long balls and nine runs in 3+ IP. He's 0-3 in three starts against Houston despite a fine 2.65 ERA in those 17 IP. Preston Wilson and Brad Ausmus have hit him pretty well, but Berkman and Biggio are just 1-for-11 combined.

Since 2001, the Astros and Reds have played 25 series against each other (5 per season), and Houston is 18-6 with one split in those 25 series. In Cincinnati during that span, the Astros are 8-4 in series wins.

[Willie Bee]

With Randy Marsh behind the plate in today's Brewers-Cubs game, that series should see Angel Hernandez on Saturday and Hunter Wendelstedt Sunday.


Pitching matchups for the weekend...

Milwaukee at Chicago: Dave Bush v. Greg Maddux (in progress); Doug Davis v. Glendon Rusch; Chris Capuano v. Carlos Zambrano

Seattle at Baltimore: Gil Meche v. Daniel Cabrera; Flix Hernandez v. Bruce Chen; Jamie Moyer v. Rodrigo Lopez

Texas at Cleveland: John Karonka v. Jason Johnson; Kevin Millwood v. Fausto Carmona; Vincente Padilla v. Jake Westbrook

Minnesota at Detroit: Brad Radke v. Nate Robertson; Carlos Silva v. Justin Verlander; Kyle Lohse v. Kenny Rogers

Toronto at New York: Roy Halladay v. Jaret Wright; Josh Towers v. Randy Johnson; Gustavo Chacin v. Mike Mussina

Philadelphia at Pittsburgh: Brett Myers v. Ian Snell; Cory Lidle v. Paul Maholm; Gavin Floyd v. Oliver Perez

Boston at Tampa Bay: Matt Clement v. Casey Fossum; Lenny DiNardo v. Doug Waechter; Curt Schilling v. Scott Kazmir

New York at Atlanta: Pedro Martinez v. John Smoltz; Tom Glavine v. John Thomson; Victor Zambrano v. Kyle Davies

Colorado at Florida: Jeff Francis v. Shawn Mitre; Josh Fogg v. Jason Vargas; Miguel Ascensio v. Brian Moehler

Oakland at Kansas City: Dan Haren v. Joe Mays; Esteban Loaiza v. Jeremy Affeldt; Joe Blanton v. Scott Elarton

Washington at St. Louis: Tony Armas v. Jason Marquis; Livan Hernandez v. Chris Carpenter; Billy Traber v. Jeff Suppan

Chicago at Anaheim: Freddy Garcia v. Jeff Weaver; Jose Contreras v. Kelvim Escobar; Jon Garland v. Ervin Santana

Los Angeles at San Diego: Jae Seo v. Chris Young; Brett Tomko v. Clay Hensley; Derek Lowe v. Chan Ho Park

Arizona v. San Francisco: Miguel Batista v. Jason Schmidt; Brandon Webb v. Brad Hennessey; Claudio Vargas v. Matt Cain


And just a heads up about next week...All MLB teams will play a pair of 2-game series Mon-Tue and Wed-Thu.

[bigboydan]

Just be careful with the White Sox. They have a history of playing bad on the west coast.

sound advice ILL

[Willie Bee]

Oswalt is 14-0 in 17 career starts versus Cincinnati, and 15-0 overall against the Reds. Sorry about that.

In case you're interested, here's Roy's 19 career dates and boxscores against Cincinnati...

1) 14 May 2001, at CIN; About a week after his MLB debut; Enters in relief of Wade Miller, earns first MLB victory as Astros win 6-4
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05140CIN2001.htm

2) 20 May 2001, at HOU; enters in relief of Jose Lima, Reds win 6-5
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05200HOU2001.htm

3) 30 Aug 2001, at HOU; complete game, 6-1 win
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08300HOU2001.htm

4) 4 Sep 2001, at CIN; moves to 13-2 on season in 7-1 Astros win
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09040CIN2001.htm

5) 18 Apr 2002, at CIN; Leaves after 7 with Houston ahead 2-0. Astros eventually fall 5-4 in 10 inn.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04180CIN2002.htm

6) 3 Jul 2002, at CIN; Picks up win in Astros 11-4 victory.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07030CIN2002.htm

7) 11 Jul 2002, at HOU; first game after all-star break, Astros win 4-3
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07110HOU2002.htm

8) 17 Aug 2002, at CIN; tied 1-1 through 8, Oswalt benefits from 5-run Houston 9th to earn the win in Astros 6-1 triumph.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08170CIN2002.htm

9) 8 Apr 2003, at HOU; Oswalt leaves after 8 with score tied 1-1; Reds win 2-1 in 10.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04080HOU2003.htm

10) 7 Jul 2003, at HOU; Oswalt victor in Astros 7-1 win.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07070HOU2003.htm

11) 18 Jul 2003, at CIN; Oswalt’s first start at new park in Cincy, allows three solo homers but earns win in Astros 5-3 victory.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07180CIN2003.htm

12) 3 May 2004, at HOU; Oswalt leaves with 5-4 lead but Lidge and Dotel cough it up as Reds take it 7-5.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05030HOU2004.htm

13) 1 Aug 2004, at CIN; Oswalt lifted in top of 8th for pinch-hitter trailing 5-4, Houston rallies for 3 in 8th to win it 7-5.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08010CIN2004.htm

14) 1 Sep 2004, at CIN; Berkman and Kent homer to lead Oswalt, Houston to 9-3 win.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09010CIN2004.htm

15) 7 Sep 2004, at HOU; Bullpen tries to blow it but Astros hold for 9-7 victory.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09070HOU2004.htm

16) 10 Apr 2005, at HOU; Three Houston homers give win to Oswalt and Astros, 5-2.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04100HOU2005.htm

17) 15 Apr 2005, at CIN; Lane with two blasts and 5 RBI as Astros roll, 11-2.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04150CIN2005.htm

18) 1 Jun 2005, at HOU; Late 2-run, pinch-hit double by Lane provides cushion in Astros 4-1 triumph.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06010HOU2005.htm

19) 1 Sep 2005, at HOU; Oswalt fails to go 6, but sets career high vs. Reds with 11 K in Houston’s 3-1 win.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09010HOU2005.htm