Saturday's Front Page Picks (Aug 11)

[Willie Bee]

Blue Jays, Royals Under 9½ (-115)

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:10 PM -
By: LT Profits Sports Group | who2beton.com

Dustin McGowan and Leo Nunez may not be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but both have pitched well and both bullpens have been lights out lately. Play the Under tonight.

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 here last night, and while this game may not be quite that low scoring, we still expect it to stay safely Under this rather high total.

Both of these starting pitchers are in sharp form right now. Dustin McGowan is beginning to realize his enormous potential for the Blue Jays, as he has allowed a grand total of five runs and 20 hits in 28.1 innings over his last four outings! All four of those contests went Under the total. McGowan should be doubly tough on a Kansas City lineup that has never faced him before, and is struggling enough as it is, scoring a total of two runs in the last two games.

Leo Nunez is making just his third start of the season, but he pitched very well in his first two starts, allowing a total of one run in 10 innings. Sure his stamina is very questionable right now, but the Kansas City bullpen has alos been very solid, so an early exit would not be the end of the world.

In fact, both of these bullpens have performed well, as the Toronto pen ranks second in the American League with a 3.55 ERA, while Kansas City has come a long way since having one of the worst bullpens in baseball when this season began.

Free Pick: Blue Jays, Royals Under 9½ (-115)

[Willie Bee]

Detroit Tigers -124 vs Athletics

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:05 PM -
By: Al McMordie | bigal.com

The Tigers send their ace Justin Verlander to the mound in Motown tonight after Detroit was thrashed on Friday. Back the Cats at home in Comerica Park tonight versus the Athletics.

Our Saturday MLB selection is on the Detroit Tigers over the Oakland Athletics. Jim Leyland will hand the ball to his ace, Justin Verlander, while Oakland will start Danny Haren. These two pitchers matched up in Oakland 11 days ago, and Oakland pulled away late in that game to win 7-3.

In that game, both pitchers performed a bit below average: Haren surrendered three runs in six innings, while Verlander gave up four runs in 5.1 innings. In his last start, Haren also struggled a bit in Oakland's 4-3 loss to the Angels. He pitched just six innings and had to throw 113 pitches.

Verlander has a 2.84 ERA in four career starts vs. Oakland while Haren was 0-2 with a 5.31 ERA vs. Detroit before finally breaking through against the Tigers last month. The key, though, for our play on Detroit is on the offensive side of the ball. Notwithstanding their 16 runs yesterday -- just the second time in 35 games that the A's scored more than 10 runs -- Oakland is still the second-worst team in the American League with just 515 runs scored, while Detroit is second in all of baseball with 652 runs. Take Detroit.

Free Pick: Tigers -124

[Willie Bee]

New York Mets -165 vs Marlins

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:10 PM -
By: Ben Burns | sportspic.com

Fresh off career win #300, Mets left-hander Tom Glavine goes for #301 tonight in front of the home crowd at Shea. Make New York your play this evening against the Florida Marlins.

Scott Olsen comes off a decent outing last Sunday, allowing three runs in 7.1 innings. However, that start came against a relatively weak-hitting Houston lineup and it also came at home. On the road, Olsen is 2-6 with an awful 6.71 ERA and 2.087 WHIP.

On the other hand, New York's veteran left-hander Tom Glavine is 6-1 with a stellar 3.14 ERA and 1.197 WHIP at home for the season. The Mets are also a perfect 6-0 the last six times that Glavine faced the Marlins, the three most recent of those victories all coming vs. Olsen. Consider laying the price with the home team.

Free Pick: Mets -165

[Willie Bee]

Mariners -124 at Chicago White Sox

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:05 PM -
By: Michael Alexander | 10starpicks.com

Fighting to stay in the AL West race and the AL wildcard hunt, look for the Mariners to bounce back this evening with Miguel Batista on the mound against the Chicago White Sox.

The Seattle Mariners look to bounce back in Game 2 of their three-game set with the Chicago White Sox after last night's 5-3 loss. The loss dropped the Mariners to 63-50 overall and 3½ games in back of the Angels who won last night over Minnesota. The loss also snapped a three-game Seattle winning streak.

Over their last seven games the Mariners have really torn the cover off of the ball as they are averaging 6.6 runs per game and hitting a sizzling .338 as a team. That is going to be tough chore for White Sox hurler Gavin Floyd who will be making only his third start at home. In his first two, Floyd is 0-1 with a sky high 9.57 ERA. This will be his first career start against the Mariners.

The Chicago White Sox, after high hopes at the start of the season, have basically be relegated to the role of spoilers as they are only 54-61, 10½ games out of first place. The main culprit for the White Sox this season has been their lack of hitting as they are averaging only 4.3 runs per game on anemic .224 hitting. That is going to be a problem for the Pale Hose as they face veteran Seattle pitcher Miguel Batista who comes in at 11-8 with a decent 4.17 ERA and has pitched very well over his last three starts with an ERA of 3.32. Batista will be making his 6th career start versus the Sox while his team's record is 4-1 overall.

Supporting Angles: Seattle is 16-7 (+10.5 Units) against the moneyline after batting .300 or better over a 15-game span this season. Seattle is 12-4 (+9.7 Units) against the moneyline with an on-base percentage of .375 or better over their last five games. Batista is 17-9 (+13.5 Units) against the moneyline in road games over the last two seasons.

Chicago has done fairly well recently playing the roll of spoiler, but there is too much on this Seattle team for them to lose two in a row. I'm taking Seattle in this one.

Free Pick: Mariners -124

[Willie Bee]

Detroit Tigers -122 vs Oakland A's

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:05 PM -
By: Jimmy Boyd | touthouse.com

Detroit has been in a rut lately, but get the home crowd behind them and their ace on the hill tonight. Back the Tigers and Justin Verlander against Dan Haren and the Oakland A's.

The Tigers are struggling, but they will get back in the win column today behind their ace at home.

The Tigers are 8-3 against the moneyline in Justin Verlander's 11 home starts this season. Verlander is 21-5 against the moneyline when playing against a team with a losing record over the last two seasons.

If the Tigers were ever due, it's now. They'll pick on a team which hasn't done much at the plate all season in this spot. Take the Tigers.

Free Pick: Tigers -122

[Willie Bee]

Indians, Yankees Under 10½

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:05 PM -
By: Will Cover | playbook.com

A pair of veteran right-handers meet in tonight in Cleveland when Mike Mussina and the Yankees take on Paul Byrd and the Indians. Look for the Under to pay off in the end.

We cashed easily with our play on the Yankees last night who won 6-1 over the Tribe, and we come right back with an Under call in the second game of this three-game set.

The Cleveland offense is in a major slump and that does not bode well against crafty veteran Mike Mussina for the Yanks. The Tribe is just 13-15 since the All-Star break due to the lack of offense with their pitching very solid of late.

In fact, the Indians have been held to two or fewer runs 11 times since the break. Paul Byrd is on the bump for Cleveland and he is in fine form of late. We look for him to contain the powerful Yankees in this contest!

Free Pick: Indians-Yankees Under 10½

[Willie Bee]

Marlins +155 at New York Mets

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:10 PM -
By: LT Profits Sports Group | who2beton.com

Scott Olsen tossed a Quality Start last time out, and he has always pitched well in Shea Stadium. Look for a post-300 letdown by Tom Glavine as the Marlins pull an upset.

Simply put, the New York Mets are not playing good baseball right now losing three of their last four games, and we just do not trust them laying this much vs. the same Florida Marlins team that beat them last night.

Now Florida southpaw starter Scott Olsen has had his issues off the field, and those incidents probably affected his pitching .However, he did look like his old self in his last start, allowing three runs in seven innings, and he has always pitched well during his career in Shea Stadium, going a perfect three for three in Quality Starts here.

Tom Glavine finally got his 300th career win in his last start for the Mets, so a letdown start here would not surprise us. Besides, Glavine has not pitched up to his normal standards most of this season anyway, with a rather high 4.31 ERA and 1.37 WHIP.

Also do not forget that both of these clubs have better road records than home records, so we will look for a second Marlin upset in as many nights.

Free Pick: Marlins +155

[Willie Bee]

Play A's (+114) at Detroit Tigers

Game Time: 08/11/2007 07:05 PM -
By: Greg Daraban | playbook.com

The Oakland offense came out of a funk yesterday with 16 big runs. And tonight they'll have the better pitcher on the mound in Dan Haren. Back the A's at the Tigers in Detroit.

The Athletics won Friday in a shootout 16-10. It was an offensive explosion for Oakland who has been struggling at the plate in recent weeks.

The Tigers have now lost three in a row. Detroit puts Justing Verlander (11-4, 3.60) on the mound and he will not be the best pitcher in the yard. Oakland's Dan Haren was the AL starter in the All-Star Game and at 13-3 with aa 2.46 ERA, the A's have the mound advantage and will win. Take Oakland.

Free Pick: Athletics +114