I like the better hitting team and the better pitching team along with defense here with the KC Royals.
Nats are just 2-8 recently averaging just 2.8 runs/game and I expect KC to get back in the win column and have a major hitting advantage.
Lerew has good stuff and I like him on the road Tuesday night.
5*

The Fish visit to an American League ballpark couldn

Joe Saunders (5-7, 4.70 ERA) is coming off an awful start against Milwaukee, giving up 6 runs in 5 2/3 innings. He threw a lot of pitches (111) and gave up 2 homeruns. I'm not impressed with his last few outings.

The Cubs are off a 12-0 embarassment in front of your home fans, you have to expect they'll bring their bats this afternoon. Cubs have hit lefties well this season, batting .289 against them at Wrigley (or 32 points higher than against righties). 5*

Detroit has won a franchise-record eight straight against the NL and is a major league-best 60-22 in interleague play since the beginning of 2006. Rick Porcello (4-6, 6.09) makes his first appearance in 10 days after his last start was skipped to work on his mechanics. From everything I read he is ready and has thrown great. Porcello, who is 4-0 with a 2.12 ERA in five career interleague starts, and has never faced Arizona. Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera, who leads the majors with 19 homers and 59 RBIs, should be in the lineup Saturday after leaving Friday's game after four innings due to dizziness. 5* on the Tigers tonight.

The price is right here with Jake Peavy considering how well Chicago is playing, and how poorly Washington is playing and this pitching matchup. The White Sox have won eight of their last nine games. They also are 24-8 in their last 31 interleague games.
The Nationals have dropped four in a row and six of their last seven. They have scored 11 runs in their last four games, while batting .199 during this time span. The extra day off should help Peavy, a power pitcher and he will get the job done against this weak Nats team.
5*

So far this year Ted Lilly hasn't received much run support, which accounts for his 2-5 record. I believe he ready for a letdown this afternoon after losing his no-hitter in his last outing in the 9th inning. He also had a very high pitch count in that game.
Jered Weaver owns the advantage of never having been seen by the Cubs. He's also pitching for one of the hotter teams in baseball. The Angels have not only won 17 of their last 23 overall, but like most Mike Scioscia-managed teams, they're tremendous on the road.

The Angels are on an 8-1 run in road IL action against lefties, and they're 21-6 in their last 27 on the road against the National League. Look for the Angels to continue their dominant ways and get a win in early Saturday action.
10* Oddsmaker Mistake Mismatch Pitching Play.

Monasterios is coming off his worst outing of the season in which he went just 2.2 innings while yielding 4 runs and looked awful. He is not a good pitcher and will be heading back to the minors soon. The Dodgers are also playing without their SS and leadoff Furcal who is attending a funeral. The RedSox starter Doubront is making his debut. He had a 2.51 ERA in Double-A and a 1.08 ERA in AAA this season. I believe that the Dodgers will have trouble Doubront and the RedSox will continue their dominance at home. 10*

The La Angels come into to this series having won 6 of 10. The Cubs have gotten great pitching so far out of Carlos Silva who is 8-1 and an era under 3 but that one loss did come last time out against an AL team and he really hasn't look good in his previous 2 starts.
The Angels are starting Scott Kazmir. For the first time in years he has lived up to his potential in his last three starts. He's confident and comfortable, and that's good to see. I'm back the better team with the LA ANgels on Friday afternoon.
5*

The Pirates losing streak ends tonight. They are coming off a game where they had more errors(6) than hits(5).

The six errors, including four in the ninth, were the most for Pittsburgh since a six-error performance in an 8-6 loss to San Francisco on May 9, 1988, and one shy of the franchise record.

Ross Ohlendorf will try to end the Pirates' slide. The right-hander had posted three straight quality starts before last Friday, when he allowed season highs of six runs and 10 hits in a 6-2 loss to Detroit. Look for him to get a win at home tonight.

Check out these splits on White Sox starting pitcher M. Buehrle:

Day Games: 5-1
Night Games: 1-6

Tonight he's playing a night game (7pm EST). Play the PIRATES as a 5* play.

Much has been said about Dallas Braden

Chipper Jones and the Braves will try to avoid back-to-back losses at Turner Field for the first time since April when they continue a three-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.
Tampa's starter Davis is coming off perhaps his best start of the season, going 7 innings vs Toronto and yielding just 3 runs. However, he has not had quality back-to-back outings at any point this season. Hanson has a 2.63 ERA in his last 4 outings and has struck out 22 batters over that stretch. He has a 62-19 SO-BB ratio for the season. He has a remarkable 1.06 ERA in 3 career interleague starts. I like the Braves to bounce back at home here on Wednesday night.
5*

The Houston offense is starting to come around. They have a lot of team speed and Carlos Lee is finally hitting.
Also everyone has been hitting KC starter Kyle Davies (5.48 ERA). He walks too many batters (28 in 67 innings) and in his last three starts has an ERA of 8.62. The Astros go with a very good arm in Felipe Paulino, an under the radar pitcher with an ERA of 3.82 for the season and 1.13 his last three starts. Play the Houston Astros as a top 10* Interleague play.

5*

The Minnesota Twins have won 11 of their last 12 interleague series.
Minnesota (36-26) has the best record of any major league team in interleague play since the start of 2008, going 29-12 in that stretch despite Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Braves.
The Twins will throw Kevin Slowey (7-3, 3.45 ERA) who is 3-0 in his last five starts, allowing two runs over 20 2-3 innings spanning his last three outings and with Kevin Slowey on the mound Sunday, the team feels good about its chances of taking the decisive game from the visiting Atlanta Braves


I

The former Cy Young winner is rounding into form in recent outings. Lee has not lost a start since May 16 and has been stellar in his last three trips to the mound. He

Minnesota has been rock-solid in their new park with a 21-9 start, and starter Francisco Liriano is 2-1 with a 2.25 home ERA. So far teams have struggled in their first game in this new park.
The Braves are also playing for the 9th day in a row plus travel from the long hot game in Arizona on Thursday.

Atlanta throws out Tim Hudson who is 1-11 with a 7.27 ERA in 14 interleague starts since he was traded to Atlanta before the 2005 season. He hasn't won an interleague start on the road since beating Pittsburgh on June 20, 2002.

Meanwhile, Liriano, who has never faced the Braves, is 7-1 with a 2.67 ERA in eight career interleague starts. NL opponents are batting .198 against the left-hander, who has struck out 61 in 54 innings and is back to his old form.


Jason Heyward was in the lineup on Thursday but playing bruised up. Him and Nate McLouth collided in the outfield in Wednesday's game and Nate seems to have taken the worst of it being out of yesterdays game.
Heyward hasn't done much at the plate lately, going 6 for 40 (.150) in his last 10 games. He has no homers and two RBI in that span. Heyward has hit a bit of a rookie wall.

Liriano looks to continue his dominance of the NL as he catches a banged up and road weary Braves team tonight.
Lets bang home the Minnesota Twins on Friday night as our 10* Interleague GAME OF THE YEAR!

Last Friday, Wainwright threw a complete-game two-hitter and beat the Brewers 8-0. Expect a letdown tonight after that nice performance.


St. Louis got hammered on Monday and then lost the pitcher

The Giants will turn to southpaw Jonathan Sanchez and Sanchez has been very effective recently, thanks to some pretty potent run-support in his last few starts. In his last two outings, the Giants have scored a total of 18 runs and not surprisingly they have won both of those games. Sanchez is holding opponents to a stunning .183BA. Splits-wise, he

Jason Heyward is struggling to hit and the team hasnt scored lately and the Braves are without Chipper Jones in their lineup.
Arizona won seven of its last nine home games.
After going 1-5 with a 7.43 ERA through eight starts, Jackson is heating up with a 2-1 with a 2.27 ERA over his last four - lasting at least seven innings in each. I like Arizona at home in a pick'em situation Tuesday night. 5*

5*

Cincinnati (33-24) leads the NL in numerous offensive categories at home, including runs (166), homers (45), batting average (.291) and slugging percentage (.487).

Cincinnati has won seven straight starts by Cueto (5-1, 4.09 ERA), who is 5-0 with a 3.27 ERA in that span. That includes a 2-0 mark with a 1.89 ERA in his last three home starts. The SF Giants have never seen Cueto so the edge goes to the pitcher.

I love that the Reds are hitting the ball and return home where they are a smooth 7-0 the last 7 starts by J. Cueto. Zito has been struggling as of late as he 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in his last 4 ball games and an ERA over 6 against these Reds lifetime. 10* Pitching Mismatch Play

The KC bats were ice cold against the Angels in their series. Look for them to bounce back on Friday night. They are a better team then you think. They have 5 starters batting .285 or better. They aren't a power hitting team but they know how to hit and dont leave runners on base normally.
They be facing Max Scherzer who is coming off a 14K performance on Sunday. Despite that great game his ERA is still over 6.00.

He'll be opposed by Bruce Chen, a veteran left-hander, stepped into the rotation last Sunday to fill in for disabled Gil Meche (shoulder) and pitched well enough to earn an encore start. He has great command and good stuff.
For some reason KC doesn't give run support to Grienke when he pitches and hits very well the following game. Also Detroit is 2-12 following an early day game and they played early on Thursday afternoon and hopefully wore themselves out with 17 hits in that game.
PLAY the KC Royals at home as a 5* selection.

Texas is a very good home team and CJ Wilson owns lefties at the plate. They are batting just .102 against him at home this year.
He is 2-1 with a 3.69 ERA in six starts at the Ballpark in Arlington. He is 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in 13 career relief appearances against the Rays.

Vlad Guerrero is expected to be back in the lineup on Friday night. He was hit in the eye during batting practice on Wednesday.
Guerrero is batting .335 with 12 HRs and 44 RBIs this year and Texas needs his pop back in the lineup.
I like Texas at home in this spot on Friday night as a 5* play.

The Giants entered this week's three-game series with the Rockies on a four-game winning streak in which they had scored 28 runs. However, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jason Hammel have shut them down, as Jimenez beat them 4-0 on Memorial Day and Hammel pitched six-plus innings (allowed one run) last night before four relievers held them scoreless the rest of the way in a 2-1 loss in 11 innings.
Jeff Francis is banged up and doesnt look himself on the mound.
He's 7-5 with a 4.74 ERA vs the Giants in 15 career starts (team is 8-7) but this will be his first appearance vs SF since 2008. The 2010 season has seen Cain again pitch WAY better than his record. He's had just ONE poor start this year, allowing five ERs in 6.2 innings in a May 12th loss to the Padres. However, he followed that game by allowing just two ERs over his next two starts, yet lost both games, 3-1 and 1-0.
The Giants are holding opponents to just 2.86 RPG this season at home and I look for Cain to lead the way and the Giants bats to give him some support as they avoid the sweep and get the win on Wednesday night. 5*

David Price didn't quite have full control of his fastball in his last start, and he wasn't pleased with the outing despite a relatively impressive line of seven innings, four hits and three runs. But the four walks, one hit batter and two home runs stood out to the young left-hander more than anything, and they eventually led to him picking up his second loss of the season. He has pissed and said he'll be on his game tonight in Toronto.



TB goes for their 7th straight series win against Toronto and a win tonight would get that done for them. TB has the speed and the better bats in this matchup.

Price is 3-0 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts against the Blue Jays. Strong 10* play tonight on the TB Rays.

Johan Santana has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball if you take away 2 of his starts this season. He allowed 5 earned runs in 5 innings on April 11th and gave up an incredible 10 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings against Philadelphia on May 2. Take those two away and Santana is 4-0 in 9 other starts with a ERA of 1.29.
In his career versus the Padres, Santana has a very solid ERA of 2.41. The Padres are just 6-4 against the NL East. PLay the METS this evening. 5*

The Giants look to bounce back Tuesday night against a less imposing Colorado starter in Jason Hammel. The Giants (27-23) had totaled 28 runs while winning four straight entering Monday's series opener against Colorado (27-24).

They were limited to four hits by Jimenez, who improved to 10-1 with a 0.78 ERA by pitching a complete game and beating two-time reigning NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum in Colorado's 4-0 victory.

Look for the Giants to hit Hammel after facing the stud Jimenez on Monday night.

Barry Zito's 2.00 career ERA against the Rockies is his best against any opponent, and he has a 1.24 ERA against them in five outings since the start of last year. He beat Colorado for the third straight time - all at home - with eight strong innings in a 5-2 win April 30th.

The Giants hope Pablo Sandoval can stay hot and get some help tonight.
Sandoval went 3 for 4 to improve to 8 for 17 with a home run and five RBIs in the final four games of May. The third baseman hit .191 with no homers in the month's first 23 contests. Look for SF to even up the series with a home win Tuesday night. 5*

The Cincinnati offense is tops in the NL in runs scored and has helped them sore to first place. They have a young ace going in this one in Johnny Cueto, who is 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA. The Cards are coming off a game where every starting player had a hit in the game. I dont see that happening tonight and I like the Reds with the better pitcher on the hill.
His control is outstanding (17 walks in 61 innings) and he's fanned 54. He's beaten the Cards already this season, facing them twice with a 3.27 ERA. Play the Reds on Tuesday night. 5*

The St Louis Cardinals can pull back into a first place tie with the visiting Cincinnati Reds today with a win. And who better to do it than pitcher Jaime Garcia. Garcia has been a pitching machine this season with a 4-2 mark and remarkable 1.14 ERA. Garcia is coming off another fine performance where he allowed no earned runs over six innings to the Padres.
It looks like Albert Puljols is back to his old self as he has nine RBIs in his last four games after a slump that saw him go 11 games without an RBI. He also hit 3 HR's on Sunday.
Take the STL Cardinals here on Monday afternoon. 10*

5*

5*
Aaron Cook is getting rocked almost every start and he

Although Los Angeles is 17-7 in May, it's looking to bounce back after losing two of three at Chicago. Among the major league leaders in runs (232) and batting average (.271), the Dodgers were shut out twice against the Cubs, including 1-0 on Thursday.



Los Angeles' Carlos Monasterios who actually does have good stuff.
(1-0, 1.90) will come out of the bullpen to make his second career start.

The rookie right-hander allowed one run and three hits in four innings of his first start. The Dodgers are 8-2 their last 10 games in Colorado and face a left-handed starter for the 3rd straight night on Friday would should benefit them. Play on the LA DODGERS in a nice underdog role on Friday night. 5*

Mike Pelfrey (6-1, 2.86) goes for the sweep for the Mets in the finale of a three-game series at Citi Field. New York has blanked Philadelphia in the first two games of this series, following up Tuesday

Oakland is batting .198 versus left handed starters.
The A's are now a woeful 5-14 on the road, and I think they're in trouble tonight. Brian Matusz with a 3.10 ERA at home and is a talented young southpaw is off a very bad outing, but I expect him to rebound smartly against an A's lineup that's not real loaded offensively.
On the flip side, Baltimore can bang righties, especially at home, and A's starter Trevor Cahill has struggled in most of his away starts. Look for the O's to win their second straight on Wednesday night. 5*

John Lester looks to win a fifth straight decision and send the Red Sox to their fourth consecutive victory as he faces red-hot Rays righty James Shields at Tropicana Field on Tuesday.

The Red Sox have won six of seven overall as their starting pitching continues to stabilize. Their rotation had a 5.18 ERA after a two-game split at Yankee Stadium last week, but Boston starters have gone 5-1 with a 1.64 ERA in the club's last six games - all against division leader.

The Rays, who are batting .235 against left-handed pitching and really dont have an answer for them. David Ortiz hit a home run for the fifth time in his past nine games last night and starting to come around as he is having a great month of May.
Kevin Youkilis, who is batting .400 (12 for 30) with five home runs and 12 RBI in his past nine games, made it 6-0 with a two-run shot off reliever Lance Cormier in the fourth last night.

Pedroia also had three hits and their bats are hot and pitching is on fire.
Look for Boston to steal another win here, tightening up what is sure to be a very competitive race in the AL East. 10* AL Mismatch of the Month.

Shaun Marcum will try to earn his fourth win in five starts and third in as many outings as he faces the Diamondbacks for the first time in Sunday's finale of a three-game road series. The Arizona players have never seen Marcum and this will benefit the BlueJays.


Until an 11-2 win over Minnesota that same day, Marcum (3-1, 2.61) also hadn't received the benefit of generous run support (3.93 runs per outing) this season. The right-hander has overcome those recent inconsistent efforts from his offense with a 1.54 ERA in his last five outings.

He's allowed one run or fewer in four of those starts, including Tuesday's win against the Twins. He is a workhorse and on top on his game.
The Blue Jays have won four in a row when the right-hander has pitched.

Arizona has never recorded a home sweep in interleague play and I dont see them winning today. Play Toronto as a 5* BEST BET Sunday afternoon.

The Cardinals in their last 14 games are batting .239. The Angels still scored five times yesterday and should put up at least that again today against Kyle Lohse. From 2001 to 2007, Lohse pitched for the Twins and he was complete garbage then and he

Milwaukee finally won a game on Thursday, but this team is not good right now and they're sending out a guy in Dave Bush who's had little success against the Twins. Bush, in fact, hasn't had much success against anyone lately and I expect him to have lots of trouble against the lefty-loaded Minnesota lineup.
The Twins are happy to be back home following a tough road trip, and they usually give Nick Blackburn loads of run support. The Twins are 23-9 at home when Blackburn starts. Minnesota has also been incredibly successful in Interleague play, winning 54 of their 73 vs. the NL. TWINS win at home on Friday night.
10*

Rangers red hot at home winning 10 of their last 11. Cubs are underachieving at 19-23, and have a terrible history of being on the road vs. AL clubs, 11-12. They aren't getting enough hitting and power at the corners, and they don't have enough speed to manufacture runs. Respectable pitcher C. Lewis not going to make it easy for the Cubs tonight. 5*

I am very impressed with the numbers New York starter A.J. Burnett has against Tampa Bay.

His 12 wins against the Rays are his most against any team, while his 2.76 ERA is his lowest against an American League team outside of the one he currently pitches for. In his only start against them this season the right-hander limited the Rays to two runs on six hits in seven innings of a 7-3 Yankees win on April 11.

He

I like KC with Zack Greinke of the Royals tonight with his 2.73 ERA. He has a sizzling 44-10 strikeout to walk ratio and has allowed fewer hits than innings pitched. Kevin Millwood of Baltimore has pitched good but is 0-4 because his teams offense is terrible. We'll take the better overall team and pitcher with the Royals on Tuesday night. 5*

The Cardinals ran into some young hot pitchers on the Reds and had a tough weekend.
Now on Monday they face a team they have owned in St. Louis. STL is a perfect 6-0 the last six times that they hosted them. The Cards starter Lohse is a much better pitcher at home as he's got a respectable 3.60 ERA in those games, averaging greater than six innings per start.
On the other hand, Nats starter Stammen is 0-1 with a terrible 12.20 ERA and 2.614 WHIP in three road starts. He

5*

The Oakland Athletics are having major problems at the plate, and facing Ervin Santana probably won't help them.

Oakland (18-18) has scored a total of two runs in losing three straight after managing four hits Friday in a 4-0 loss as Angels starter Joe Saunders went the distance. The Athletics are 2 for 20 with runners in scoring position during their skid.

It could be difficult to get untracked against Santana (1-3, 4.40 ERA), who has beaten Oakland more than any opponent. Santana is 10-2 with a 1.45 ERA in 15 career starts against the Athletics.

Matsui got back on track last night with a 3-run HR and I expect the Angels to keep on hitting while their bullpen is fresh as Saunders went the distance last night.

Duchscherer will be activated off the disabled list in his first start since he lasted 3 1-3 innings at Toronto on April 29 before leaving with a left hip strain and on a pitch count so dont expect many innings from him.

Manager Mike Scioscia shuffled his lineup Friday, moving Howie Kendrick to the No. 2 spot with Bobby Abreu and Torii Hunter each moving down one slot.

5*

#10 Paddy O'Prado:
Dale Romans' colt ran the race of his life in the Derby and was rewarded with third place money in a photo in the slop. He trained great last weekend and just keeps looking better.
He won't get away at 12/1 in the Preakness, but currently sits around 5/1 odds, but he's an improving colt that figures to be in the mix at the end.

He may have been the best horse in the Derby, but a horrible trip where he swerved in and out several times cost him all chances. He was posting the best workouts of anyone prior to the Kentucky Derby and has Kent Desormeaux aboard, a Triple Crown veteran.
Kent has also made a name for himself at the outset of his career on this same Pimlico course.
I recommend an across the board play(Win-Place-Show) on #10 Paddy O'Prado

Enjoy the race!

Good price here with the Angels as a small home favorite over the A

The Braves look to continue their hot hitting Friday night when they face the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks at Turner Field.

Atlanta has hit .307 with five homers their last 3 games.
The Braves collected 28 hits - half for extra bases - in the final two games.


Atlanta is gaining confidence and could be in for another strong offensive display against the last-place Diamondbacks (14-21), whose 5.72 ERA is only better than Pittsburgh's 5.80. Arizona's bullpen is the worst in baseball with a 7.37 ERA.

Braves first baseman Troy Glaus is on a tear this month, hitting .386 with two homers - and the Braves expect to get Chipper Jones back in the lineup after a sore groin forced him to miss two of four games for some extra punch in their lineup.

Kenshin Kawakami is 0-6 but has pitched very good in his night starts and I like the Atlanta Braves with a solid price on Friday night. 5*

Josh Johnson is the Ace of this Marlins staff and is a very solid pitcher.
Santana has struggled on the road and is 0-1 with an 8.43 ERA in two road starts this year. In his last 2 starts, Santana has allowed 14 earned runs, 18 base runners and 4 home runs in 11.1 innings. He just doesn't have the command he used to throw.

The Marlins are batting .271 at home and averaging over 5 runs at home and Josh Johnson is 7-1 with a 2.69 ERA in 10 lifetime starts against the Mets and I like the Fish at home in this spot tonight. 5*

4*

4*

TB is 13-3 on the road and just got no hit. You best believe they'll bounce back Monday night!
Matt Garza has the type of talent that could earn him a perfect game one day too. The Tampa Bay Rays ace has been very good on the road.


Tampa Bay is batting .189 over its last nine contests and I expect them to get back on track against the slumping Angels.

With Garza (5-1, 2.09 ERA) on the mound, the Rays hope to avoid their third straight loss as they open this three-game series. Garza has earned five wins faster than any pitcher in Rays history.

The right-hander has won each of his three road starts, posting a 1.13 ERA.

Joel Pineiro (2-4, 5.30), set to take the mound for the Angels, hasn't fared too well against the Rays, going 2-4 with a 5.57 ERA in nine starts.

The veteran right-hander surrendered 16 runs over his previous two starts.
Take the TB RAYS on Monday night! 5*

On the hill for the Rockies is young Jhoulys Chacin who made quite a debut this season. Sunday he blanked the Giants for seven innings, allowing one hit while striking out seven and walking three. He dominated the Giants and now he moves down the coast a bit and he

It's tough to trust the erratic Cubs when you see them get swept by the Pirates. Chicago even had an 11-1 loss at Pittsburgh as a favorite! They are also terrible on the road, while the Reds have been decent at home. Cincinnati is showing some spunk, winning 7 of 10 games, winning twice as a dog. Reds righty Aaron Harang struck out six and did not walk any his last start, so that's 2 straight decent starts. Play the Reds. 5*

I like the Yankees bats a lot more than the RedSox. Sabathia also took the loss on opening day against Boston and its a little payback tonight! The Red Sox are 0-5 when Clay Buchholz starts vs a team that has won at least their last three games and The Yankees are 8-0 when CC Sabathia starts as a road favorite after throwing more than 100 pitches. Another trend we have is that Boston is 2-18 as a dog vs a team that has won at least their last two games and it is not the first game of a series. Take the Yankees on Saturday afternoon! 10*

Tampa began a nine-day, nine-game excursion Tuesday to the West Coast where the team has historically been bad.
The Rays hold a 18-34 record against Seattle, L.A. and Oakland since 2006.Seattle will start Cliff Lee the former Cy Young winner dazzled in his first start since coming back from injury, tossing 7.0 shutout innings with eight strikeouts..
Lee is 6-2 in 10 career starts versus Tampa Bay with a 2.32 ERA and I like him Tuesday night on the hill and expect a stronger effort from his defense as they had 4 errors on monday night. 5*

4*

Johan Santana is dealing again for the Mets, opening the season with a 3-1 mark and 2.08 ERA. He

Randy Wolf (2-1, 3.34 ERA) has been everything he's advertised to be in his L2 starts, surrendering 2 runs over his L14 innings. San Diego has been decent against lefties at Petco, but has yet to face them in a day game, where Wolf has posted a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings thus far. Padres are batting .230 on the season against southpaws. Jon Garland is his 1-2 record and 3.71 ERA in day games thus far. Not a huge sample size, but he won't have much room for mistakes against Wolf. What's worse is the Brewers are still killing righties on the road overall (a lot of that comes from their offensive explosions in late April), but still averaging 7.5 runs per game against righties on the road is very very impressive.10* NL GAME OF THE WEEK.

5*

Feldman was the ace of the Rangers' staff last season, but has failed to find that form recently. He is struggling with control and the WhiteSox will take advantage.
Feldman allowed 12 runs (eight earned) in just six innings of the last two outings, both Rangers losses.

Texas is without Ian Kinsler and now without their best player Nelson Cruz who has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. Take the WhiteSox as a nice underdog to win and avoid the sweep! 10*

5*

Atlanta is 8-1 last 9 vs the Mets and 5-1 vs them here in NY.
Jurrjens will try to extend his domination of the Mets in his first start against them this year. He is 6-1 lifetime against them, including 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA in five starts last year.
I'm back the better pitcher and the Braves cruise in this early day game on Saturday afternoon. 10*

4*

Ubaldo Jimenez is coming off his no-hitter in his last start on Saturday and if ever there is a letdown, this is it. I really dont think he can follow up that performance with a solid outing today.
Colorado is just 2-5 in its last seven games and is a game worse than Washington right now yet it is being asked to lay the big price behind Jimenez.

He will be opposed by Livan Hernandez who has gotten off to a solid start as well, tossing quality performances in his first two starts. Lets play the home underdog on Thursday afternoon. 5*

5*

3*

The Nationals are hot with the bats, too bad their pitching has been poor the last few days. Washington tallied a season-high 16 hits on Sunday in a losing effort to the Brewers, 11-7. The Nationals have also scored seven or more runs in four of their last five games. They also gave up 10 runs in the 1st inning on Sunday afternoon.

I expect this contest to possibly come down to the team with the last at bat, and that's Washington. The Rockies relief pitching is hurting with Houston Street out with an injury.
I look for Washington to finally snap their long losing streak here on Monday to the Rockies. Take Washington as a nice home dog.
5*

The starting pitching matchup and price put me on Johan Santana and the Mets.

I rank Santana as the third-best pitcher in the National League behind only Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay. Santana is 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA in three career starts versus St. Louis.

Cardinals rookie Jamie Garcia is opposing Santana. Garcia has promise, but he's done nothing to earn this kind of respect from the oddsmaker.

True the Cardinals are a much better team right now than the Mets offensively. However, Matt Holliday is battling the flu and may not play. Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin also is off a shaky save on Friday night, giving up three hits and two earned runs in one inning.
I'm backing the veteran starting pitcher. 4*

5*

5*

The Dodgers powered their way to a 9-5 series-opening win Monday, but Arizona even the series with a 9-7, 11-inning victory Wednesday. Los Angeles is still 6-2 in its last eight at home, 73-35 in its last 108 as a home chalk and 8-1 in its last 9 Thursday games.

The Dodgers won 11 of the 18 meetings with Arizona last season, and going back to 2008, they are on a 17-8 roll in this rivalry, going 12-4 in the last 16 clashes at Dodger Stadium.

Haren shut down the Padres on opening day, allowing one run on three hits over seven innings of a 6-3 win, but he was battered around by the Pirates on Saturday, giving up six runs (five earned) in 6 2/3 innings of a 6-3 home loss.

Kuroda had a superb outing in Florida on Friday, allowing one unearned run on five hits over eight innings, striking out seven in a 7-3 victory. With the right-hander on the hill, Los Angeles is on surges of 9-4 overall, 4-1 at home, 8-3 as a favorite and 7-1 against teams with a winning record

Kuroda faced the D

Red Sox Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is inconsistent at best and struggles in April. The majority of this Minnesota lineup has hit him well including, both Joe Mauer (5 for 12) and Justin Morneau (6 for 16) have hit him hard in their careers and those two are the primary offensive powers on the Twins.

Fransisco Liriano looked to be back on the right track with a strong spring, as long as he doesn't give up walks.
In his first start this year he only gave up 3 runs in 6 innings. Look for the Twins to hit Wakefield in his first start in this new ballpark. 5*

5*

The Twins can continue their impressive start and improve to 2-0 at Target Field on Wednesday,

Minnesota is starting Kevin Slowey, who won his first start Thursday, allowing a run and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings of a 10-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels.


Slowey (1-0, 1.69) beat Boston 4-2 with six strong innings on May 27. He may face a Red Sox lineup with Jacoby Ellsbury at the top after the outfielder missed Monday's game with bruised ribs. The Twins are playing very good ball right now with their speed and power and Joe Mauer owns RedSox pitching.
PLAY ON THE TWINS as a 10* play!

Texas clobbered righthanded starters in road day action last season, scoring more than 5 rpg, just a season after "plating" almost 6 rpg against righties, overall. Today, they'll take on a righthander that they have basically owned when Fausto Carmona takes the bump.

Carmona has been tagged for a 5.45 ERA in his last seven starts against the Rangers, and the numbers are truly horrible on his home turf.
Over the last three seasons, he's 0-4 in four home starts against Texas, lasting an average of less than four IP per start. Carmona has allowed 15 earned runs and 29 base runners in just 15 2/3 IP, for an 8.60 ERA & 1.85 WHIP.
His command looked pretty bad in his first start this season. Carmona allowed six walks in six innings against the White Sox. He's fortunate that the ChiSox haven't hit this year.

On the flip side Texas Rangers starter Rich Harden owns a 3.00 ERA in his last 58 appearances (55 starts). Harden has been a tremendous "road warrior" for his teams. In fact, he's 12-4 in his last 25 (22 starts) road appearances, sporting a strong, 2.05 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, and .194 BAA. Harden has been at his best early in the season over the last three years and should continue to roll on Monday afternoon. 10* AL GAME OF THE WEEK!

Going to play the hot hand here, as Toronto

I am going against CC Sabathia as he is a notoriously slow starter, and sure enough on Sunday night in Boston he pitched four solid innings then fell apart, eventually yielding five runs in 5 1/3 innings and blowing a 5-1 lead (New York eventually lost 9-7).
The other reason to fade Sabathia is he had a lot of trouble with the Rays last year, with just one quality outing (and one win) in four starts. CC is 0-3 with an ERA over 4 at Tampa.

While New York will hand the ball to the veteran Sabathia today, the Rays will counter with rookie Wade Davis. Davis is a highly-touted right-hander who went 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA in six starts down the stretch last year, including a complete-game shutout. While TB is off to fast start, the yankees bats are quiet including Mark Texerira who is 0-16 to start the season. It looks like the Yankees also miss Johnny Damon and Matsui in their lineup. Lets play the LIVE DOG with TB Saturday afternoon.
5*

The Sox were truly dismal last night scoring 3 runs on just 2 hits, and doing nothing at the plate but take advantage of Fausto's lack of control (6 walks). Their manager ripped them after the game, and I expect a much better effort tonight!

Gavin Floyd is absolutely money at home, pitching for the Sox. I try and find a way to back Floyd every time he's on the mound, because I believe his stuff is that good.

INdians starter Masterson is a guy that I'm not too sold on. He's fantastic against righties, but he hasn't proven that he can get lefties out with any consistency whatsoever. The Sox have guys like Teahen, Pierzynski, Pierre, and Kotsay that all bat on the left side and can really give Masterson issues (both with power and contact). Play the White Sox Thursday night! 5*

5*
I like the southpaw Dallas Braden over Seattle righty Ian Snell.

Bottom line with Snell, I've never been a fan - not in Pittsburgh, where his ERA was less than 4.74 only once in 5+ years there, and not in Seattle, where his ERA was 4.20 in 12 starts last season.

The Athletics' bats came alive when Felix Hernandez left the game last night, so I'm thinking they'll be looking to continue their late surge tonight, by taking advantage of Snell's tendency to lose command of the strike zone and run high in his pitch counts. His frustrations will get the best of him.

On the other hand, Braden is going to be a bright spot for the Athletics, mark my words. He produced a respectable 3.89 ERA in 22 starts before his season came to an end on July 31 because of an injury that left his left foot numb.

He had an impressive spring and doesn't appear to be letting it affect his mound presence.

In his lone career start against the Mariners, Braden is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA.

I'll lay the cheap chalk with Oakland tonight.

5* NY Yankees
I like the Yankees to bounce back tonight. They were pretty much shutout as their only run came on an error and the Yankees batter had 10 strikeouts. AJ Burnett is coming off one of his worst outings in Anaheim as he allowed 4 runs in the 1st inning and this was a first in his career. I really like his chances behind the Yankees lineup against Pedro and his 1st time pitching in this stadium.