Mlb Game Predictions - August 12, 2008

We finished 2-3 yesterday for a -4-unit setback. Today we go with four MLB premium picks including a 4-unit play.

Over on the gridiron, we finished 4-1 for +5.3 units in the first week of the NFL preseason as we nailed our pick on Cincinnati in MNF last night. This week's picks will be available in a few days, so don't miss out. Get your NFL premium picks here.

Today's MLB Baseball Picks:

Game: St Louis at Florida (7:10 PM Eastern)
Pick: 3 units on St Louis +100 (moneyline) (risk 3 to win 3)

No one could have predicted that Kyle Lohse would be sitting at 13-4 for the Cardinals at this point. The Cards took a flier on him as a free agent and it has paid huge dividends for them. Lohse had a 3.87 ERA on June 1, and has a 3.80 ERA now, so he has been highly consistent and dependable. Chris Volstad will be making just his sixth big-league start and has allowed seven runs in 11 innings in front of the hometown fans. The good news for the Cards is that he throws from the right side. The Cards have been a sub-.500 team against LHP, but are 13 games over .500 against RHP at 46-33. Florida has played like a completely different team during day games (24-11) than they have at night where they are eight games below .500 at 38-46. There are Lots of ingredients coming together here that say we have a live, valued dog, so we will put the units on the Cards for this one.

This is a Braves team that looked like they would be challenging in the NL East again, but that was way back when they owned a 28-23 mark. That has dramatically changed over the last couple of months that has seen the Braves take a nosedive out of the NL East, as well as wild card contention as they have struggled to a 27-40 mark since. The Cubs were out of the gate early and often in the win column, but hit a mid-season snag that saw them post a 15-19 mark over 34 games and the questions began to arise. Those questions have since been answered with an 11-3 run. This means the Cubs have now sandwiched a 56-28 season around that bad 15-19 mark. The rotation got better when they acquired Rich Harden from the A's. Harden is healthy and having a huge year where he has posted a 2.27 ERA and even lower against the Cubs at 2.10. Charlie Morton makes his 10th big-league start and with an ERA of close to six he has been mostly ineffective. The Cubs are hot and have their best pitcher on the hill, and should school the Atlanta rookie here.

Talk about a team going into the deep freeze - how about the A's? This team was 50-39 and a serious wild card contender until the wheels completely fell off. They dealt their best pitcher and the offense that appeared to be over-achieving to some degree, hit a hard reality check. The A's have been 4-24 in their last 28, and the offense has simply been offensive, and we don't mean that in a kind sense. Their offense has produced 64 runs in 24 games, or 2.7 a game, and just 28 over their last 13 games or just a tick over two per game. The Rays wheel out Scott Kazmir, who is hard for good teams to hit, so the prospects of the A's scoring a couple here is even suspect. The Rays hit a bit of a speed bump awhile back losing seven straight, but have rebounded nicely at 16-7 since and an even better 10-2 over their last 12. We have to ride the hot Rays over the A's who just can't score.

One thing for sure is that the Angels sent out a loud and clear message by dominating both the Yankees and the Red Sox in recent series’. They have been the best team and seem to be getting better. There is one more thing that comes into play for this one. As good as the Angels have been overall, they have been even more dominant against left-handed pitching. The Angels bring a 23-8 mark over southpaws into this one against the Mariners. They are also 19-5 in their last 24 games overall. The Mariners have just faced another good team at home, the Tampa Bay Rays, and proceeded to drop the last three. The last time these teams met was in Seattle and the Angels left town with the sweep of the three-game set. The best team, in the middle of their hottest stretch of the season, at their best against LHP and there is only one way to play this one - Angels take the opener.

Results: 1-2

MLB Baseball Picks Resources:

• Take a look at our blog baseball here.
• Here we show our MLB Baseball lines and odds.
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• Here we show our 2008 MLB picks season results.
• Check out our updated 2008 MLB gambling preview.
• Take a look at our how to bet baseball here.
• Don't forget to visit our free baseball predictions.
• Here we show our mlb sportsbook reviews.
• View our MLB Baseball Game-of-Day-Preview here.
• Read our MLB prior picks here.

Check out the last five MLB Baseball Picks Newsletters:

MLB-Baseball-Picks-August-11-2008
If the Nats were going to steal one in this series they missed their opportunity. They took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth, and ended up on the losing end, dropping their third straight here...

MLB-Baseball-Picks-August-10-2008
We were on the Red Sox last night as they notched the win. We're flipping over to Chicago for game three in this four game series. Yesterday's loss was costly for Chicago as they lost Jose Con...

MLB-Baseball-Picks-August-09-2008
It is hard to pass this one up. As good as Roy Halladay has been of late, Paul Byrd has been even better. Byrd is pitching to a 0.90 ERA over his last three starts and getting this kind of dog value w...

MLB-Baseball-Picks-August-08-2008
Like any good team the Cubs are prone to having a "hiccup" during the course of a 162-game season and they have experienced theirs. The Cubs went 15-18 for a stretch, but the before and afte...

MLB-Baseball-Picks-August-07-2008
The Dodgers are just 3-6 in Clayton Kershaw’s last nine starts, in spite of the fact he gave up no earned runs in three of them. Two still resulted in losses. That is because the underbelly...