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*CLEVELAND
-232 over Kansas City (7:05 Eastern)
Winners
of 9 of their last 10, the Indians take on
the lowly Kansas City Royals who are only the
absolute worst road team in the majors. Cleveland
owns the best record in the Majors since the
beginning of August (30-11) and they also now
own the lead in the AL Wild Card race. Jimmy
Gobble takes the mound for the Royals and he
just doesn't have the staying power needed
to give KC a shot here. He hasn't lasted more
than 4 and a third innings in any of his appearances
this year. Kansas City has pulled off some
shockers recently but not tonight. They are
just 4-27 over the past two seasons coming
off a three game stretch in which they won
2 games. Cleveland beats bad teams as they
are 41-20 vs. losing teams this season. Road
underdogs of +200 or more
revenging 2 straight home losses
vs opponent and starting a well rested pitcher
who is working on 5 or 6 days rest are 2-34
(6%) since 1997. And, favorites
of -200 or more having won 18 or more of their
last 25 games are 84-14 (86%) in September
games since 97. One star on the Indians.
*BOSTON
-168 over Oakalnd (7:05 Eastern)
What's
happened the the Red Sox? To the joy of Yankees
fans everywhere, Boston has lost five of
their last eight and two in a row at home
which seemed unheard of just a couple of
weeks ago. Can they lose three straight at
Fenway? No way. Boston is 33-5 at home revenging
a loss vs opponent as a home favorite of
-150 or more over the last 3 seasons. They
are also 37-17after a loss by 4 runs or more
over the last 2 seasons and 41-12 in home
games against
AL West opponents over the last 3 seasons.
The Sox look to Tim Wakefield, winner of
7 of
his
last 9 decisions. He comes
in with an unreal 0.880 WHIP over his last
three games. Take Boston for one star.
*BALTIMORE
-122 over Tampa Bay (7:35 Eastern)
Tampa
has lost five of six and look to the hot
Scott Kazmir tonight to turn things around.
But, they face Rodrigo Lopez who is putting
together his best season since 2002. Lopez
is 6-3 against the D-Rays and sports a 3.59
home ERA. He also is 14-5 after giving up
1 or less earned runs last outing over the
last 2 seasons and 11-1 when playing against
a bad team (Win Pct. 38% to 46%) over the
last 2 seasons. Tampa Bay is 5-24 on the
road when playing against a team with a losing
record this season. One star on the Os.
*TEXAS
+145 over Seattle (8:05 Eastern)
Wait
a minute. Did I read this right? A team with a 23-44
road record is laying over -150? Yowser! I realize
that Felix Hernandez has been pitching well and Texas'
Josh Rupe is making his rookie debut but... Texas
scores 5.8 runs per game at home while Seattle scores
4.3 away. The Rangers bullpen is hot and they are
11-1 in home games with a hot bullpen whose WHIP
is under 1.200 the last 10 games this season. They
are also 11-5 over the past two seasons as a home
dog of +125 to +150. Too good to pass up. One star
on the home underdog.
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