Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds Over 9 in matinee action
Game Time: 08/28/2008 02:05 PM
By: Al McMordie | bigal.com
With Brandon Backe on the bump for Houston and Aaron Harang going for Cincinnati, the Over is the way to play Thursday afternoon's Astros, Reds tilt at Minue Maid Park.
Our Thursday afternoon MLB selection is on the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros scoring over the total at Minute Maid Park.
When it comes to handing out the award for most inconsistent pitcher in baseball for the month of August, you can pretty much retire the trophy and hand it to Houston's 30-year-old right-hander Brandon Backe. Consider these stats: Sandwiched between three starts in which Backe gave up three, one, and three earned runs respectively, Backe had two starts in which he gave up 11 earned runs (one in less than six innings and the other in less than four innings). Because of this, Backe's stats over his last four starts are about as ugly as any pitcher in the league.
As bad as Backe has been in some of his recent starts, Cincinnati right-hander Aaron Harang has arguably been worse. Like Backe, Harang's last start was strong (at Colorado), but his three previous starts to that were disasterous. One of those starts, which occurred on August 10, was against this same Houston team and resulted in a 13-4 demolition at the hands of the Astros.
In fact, none of Harang's last four starts has gone less than a total of 10 runs combined for the two teams, and even more dramatically, five of Backe's last six starts have gone a total of 10 or more runs. Take the Over.
Free Pick: Reds-Astros Over 9 (-105)
Game Time: 08/28/2008 02:05 PM
By: Al McMordie | bigal.com
With Brandon Backe on the bump for Houston and Aaron Harang going for Cincinnati, the Over is the way to play Thursday afternoon's Astros, Reds tilt at Minue Maid Park.
Our Thursday afternoon MLB selection is on the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros scoring over the total at Minute Maid Park.
When it comes to handing out the award for most inconsistent pitcher in baseball for the month of August, you can pretty much retire the trophy and hand it to Houston's 30-year-old right-hander Brandon Backe. Consider these stats: Sandwiched between three starts in which Backe gave up three, one, and three earned runs respectively, Backe had two starts in which he gave up 11 earned runs (one in less than six innings and the other in less than four innings). Because of this, Backe's stats over his last four starts are about as ugly as any pitcher in the league.
As bad as Backe has been in some of his recent starts, Cincinnati right-hander Aaron Harang has arguably been worse. Like Backe, Harang's last start was strong (at Colorado), but his three previous starts to that were disasterous. One of those starts, which occurred on August 10, was against this same Houston team and resulted in a 13-4 demolition at the hands of the Astros.
In fact, none of Harang's last four starts has gone less than a total of 10 runs combined for the two teams, and even more dramatically, five of Backe's last six starts have gone a total of 10 or more runs. Take the Over.
Free Pick: Reds-Astros Over 9 (-105)