The Lock of the night is the Cincinatti Reds going up against the Oakland A's tonight. the Reds have the better starting pitcher, better bats, and are getting +110. Thus making this an hard play to pass up.
Tonight the Reds start Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo is a workhorse type who seems to always kick butt but never gets his due. To me, Arroyo is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball. While his 4.53 ERA may not seem that great, he is turning in nearly 7 innings per start, and it is in those later innings that his ERA has gone up.
Arroyo's 14 starts have been for a total of 94 innings this year. In those 94 innings, he has given up 87 hits and 47 runs while allowing only 9 home runs. If there is one issue that Arroyo struggles with it is walks. He has allowed 37 walks this year which is another reason that his ERA is a little higher than it has been in previous years.
On the other side of the ball, the Oakland A's start dallas Braden. Braden of course threw the perfect game earlier this year, but hasn't picked up a win since then. In fact the A's are something like 1-8 in his starts since that night. Even with Braden's 2 complete games this year he still only averages about 6 innings per start this year. If you take out those 2 complete games, Braden has 12 starts for a total of 68 innings. So other than those 2 games, he is averaging 5 1/2 innings per start. Braden has given up 1 hit per inning this year.
The Reds bring a far superior offense. This offense was shut down in its last 3 games by the Mariners and Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez. So I expect this Reds offense to explode tonight at the expense of Braden and the A's. This is just too strong an offense to stay down for long.
Reds.
Cabrera .251
Phillips .305
Votto .315
Rolen .301
Gomes .298
Bruce .265
Nix .244
Hernandez .290
Now admittedly Cabrera is not producing as well as a lead off man needs to. The .251 batting average is not good enough as he needs to get on base to get things going for this team. Still, the #2-#5 hitters are call it .300 + hitters, and then the bottom 3 average .260 which is better than most teams bottom 3. This Reds offense is a lot to be reckoned with and its the reason this team remains one game out of first place.
The A's offense
Davis .282
Barton .270
Jackson .248
Suzuki .273
Sweeney .297
Kouzmanoff .281
Ellis .285
Pennington .222
The A's dont have a .300 hitter in their entire lineup.This is a lineup that I think Bronson Arroyo will sail through. I dont expect more than 2 runs by the a's tonight at the most and even 2 runs I would be rather surprised. I think the Reds win this game by at least 3 runs, but the lock of the night for tonight is Cincinatti ML + 110.
Tonight the Reds start Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo is a workhorse type who seems to always kick butt but never gets his due. To me, Arroyo is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball. While his 4.53 ERA may not seem that great, he is turning in nearly 7 innings per start, and it is in those later innings that his ERA has gone up.
Arroyo's 14 starts have been for a total of 94 innings this year. In those 94 innings, he has given up 87 hits and 47 runs while allowing only 9 home runs. If there is one issue that Arroyo struggles with it is walks. He has allowed 37 walks this year which is another reason that his ERA is a little higher than it has been in previous years.
On the other side of the ball, the Oakland A's start dallas Braden. Braden of course threw the perfect game earlier this year, but hasn't picked up a win since then. In fact the A's are something like 1-8 in his starts since that night. Even with Braden's 2 complete games this year he still only averages about 6 innings per start this year. If you take out those 2 complete games, Braden has 12 starts for a total of 68 innings. So other than those 2 games, he is averaging 5 1/2 innings per start. Braden has given up 1 hit per inning this year.
The Reds bring a far superior offense. This offense was shut down in its last 3 games by the Mariners and Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez. So I expect this Reds offense to explode tonight at the expense of Braden and the A's. This is just too strong an offense to stay down for long.
Reds.
Cabrera .251
Phillips .305
Votto .315
Rolen .301
Gomes .298
Bruce .265
Nix .244
Hernandez .290
Now admittedly Cabrera is not producing as well as a lead off man needs to. The .251 batting average is not good enough as he needs to get on base to get things going for this team. Still, the #2-#5 hitters are call it .300 + hitters, and then the bottom 3 average .260 which is better than most teams bottom 3. This Reds offense is a lot to be reckoned with and its the reason this team remains one game out of first place.
The A's offense
Davis .282
Barton .270
Jackson .248
Suzuki .273
Sweeney .297
Kouzmanoff .281
Ellis .285
Pennington .222
The A's dont have a .300 hitter in their entire lineup.This is a lineup that I think Bronson Arroyo will sail through. I dont expect more than 2 runs by the a's tonight at the most and even 2 runs I would be rather surprised. I think the Reds win this game by at least 3 runs, but the lock of the night for tonight is Cincinatti ML + 110.
