Jekyll & Hyde Wednesday
On today’s agenda I have a little sanity and a little madness for you. I like to think of it as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Wednesday. I could tell you that my momma didn’t raise no dummy, but I’d be lying. Oddly enough, Mr. Hyde will be making an appearance during the daytime, and my rational thinking side of Dr. Jekyll will come out at night.
Jekyll and Hyde Wednesday
3:35 ET
Minnesota at Oakland
Something is rotten in Denmark with this game, and I Dane to find out what it is.
The Twins are 48-46, good for third in the AL Central, and in serious striking distance only 2.5 games back. The A’s are 39-53, simply buried in the AL West. Their team is LOL-able and they make me giggle. So why does this spread have Minnesota as just a -108 favorite? Let’s see what I can find here.
Oakland is 3-3 facing the Twins this season. They really should be 2-4 if not for a highly improbable 10-run comeback on Monday night, but such is the ’09 season. They will send rookie Trevor Cahill (5-8, 4.72) to face Glen Perkins (5-5, 4.75). Cahill hasn’t won in a month, and he has an ERA of 10.00 in his last four starts. Perkins meanwhile, has won three of his last four, with an ERA of 4.27. Weird. How about the hitting?
The Twins are tied for 5th in the league batting .269 vs. Oakland’s .247 (T-2nd last). They’ve slugged 26 more homers (103-77) and scored 68 more runs (460-392). We’re talking Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel and Justin Morneau as opposed to…um…Jack Cust!
In Cust we trust? No.
So what gives here? It’s like the books are BEGGING you to take the better team in the Twins. And as we all know, when something seems too easy, it usually isn’t. The only reason I would see to logically back Oakland here is that Cahill is better looking than Perkins. I heard rumors that Mr. Hyde might’ve been into men. Go A’s!
7:05 ET
Seattle at Detroit
As the sun goes down my common sense goes up. With an o/u of 8, Dr. Jekyll is feeling pretty good about his diagnosis in this one - under all night long.
Why am I playing the Under? Gee, where do I even start? I’ll just list out the reasons why.
- Detroit has hit the Under in 3 of 4.
- The Under is 14-4 in Detroit’s last 18.
- The Under is has hit in 8 of the last 10 for Seattle.
- Seattle is 3rd last in MLB runs scored (370).
- The Under is 8-1 in Felix Hernandez’s last 9 starts.
- There is no way in hell 9 runs are scored in this game.
Detroit pitcher Armando Gallaraga (5-8, 5.09) can give you a great outing at any given time, but the star here is Felix Hernandez (10-3, 2.51). This 23-year old hasn’t lost in two months, he’s 8th in K’s (129), and his ERA is microscopic. Listen to the good doctor. Unders may be miserable to root in, but this one won’t require a spoonful of sugar. I wish that my Oakland play made as much sense.
In King Felix we trust!
