A’s @ Astros
Recommendation: A’s -144
The A’s proved once again that they’re the best team inbaseball by rallying to get a come for behind victory last night. We’ll lookfor them to cruise to another victory here behind Jason Hammel. Hammel pitched exceptionallywell for the Cubs before coming to Oakland. He has struggled upon his arrival,but has a great chance to get back on track against the lowly Astros, who havelost 6 of 7. Hammel has had great success against Houston in the past. In fact,he’s had the most success of his career against Houston, going 2-1 with a 1.57ERA. Hammel by no means has pitched his best baseball since being acquired bythe A’s, but has also not received much run support. This is the perfectsituation for him to settle down and pick up his first win as a member of thegreen and yellow.
Facing Dallas Keuchel shouldn’t be much of a problem, as hewas 1-3 with a 6.07 ERA in his last 5 starts prior to his last one. Keuchel’sfatigue is becoming very apparent as we enter the 2nd half and hedoesn’t have anywhere near to velocity to be able to just rear back and throw.He has below average speed and counts on mixing up his pitches and hitting hisspots for success. His mechanics have been off due do a lingering wrist injury thatis effecting his command. When he’s missing over the heart of the plate it’sbasically batting practice as his aforementioned velocity is way down. That’snot good news for an A’s squad that will absolutely rake any mistakes. It’s worthlaying the chalk and taking an A’s squad that just continues to put up W’s.Take the A’s.
Recommendation: A’s -144
The A’s proved once again that they’re the best team inbaseball by rallying to get a come for behind victory last night. We’ll lookfor them to cruise to another victory here behind Jason Hammel. Hammel pitched exceptionallywell for the Cubs before coming to Oakland. He has struggled upon his arrival,but has a great chance to get back on track against the lowly Astros, who havelost 6 of 7. Hammel has had great success against Houston in the past. In fact,he’s had the most success of his career against Houston, going 2-1 with a 1.57ERA. Hammel by no means has pitched his best baseball since being acquired bythe A’s, but has also not received much run support. This is the perfectsituation for him to settle down and pick up his first win as a member of thegreen and yellow.
Facing Dallas Keuchel shouldn’t be much of a problem, as hewas 1-3 with a 6.07 ERA in his last 5 starts prior to his last one. Keuchel’sfatigue is becoming very apparent as we enter the 2nd half and hedoesn’t have anywhere near to velocity to be able to just rear back and throw.He has below average speed and counts on mixing up his pitches and hitting hisspots for success. His mechanics have been off due do a lingering wrist injury thatis effecting his command. When he’s missing over the heart of the plate it’sbasically batting practice as his aforementioned velocity is way down. That’snot good news for an A’s squad that will absolutely rake any mistakes. It’s worthlaying the chalk and taking an A’s squad that just continues to put up W’s.Take the A’s.
