Sunday, April 26: The Blue Jays, who are playing well behind strong all-around performances, visit the up and down White Sox. Talk about a starting pitching mismatch. Halladay, who’s 3-1 record is prettier right now than his un-Halladay-esque 3.72 ERA, faces Jose Contreras. If the Sox pitching staff were a centipede, Contreras would be one broken leg holding the whole show back. Man is this guy struggling. The Sox (foolishly) just came out and said they weren’t ready to pull him yet. Use this to your advantage and bet heavily on the Blue Jays. The home team will be a sizable underdog in this one. The MLB Betting lines for the game are: Sox +150, Jays -170. Take the Jays. Even a few hot bats from the South Side boys won’t be able to overcome the pitching mismatch. The Sox will be battling from behind after the second inning. Count on it.
Staying with the AL, and staying with Sunday games, the Yanks visit the Red Sox. Now here’s a matchup of two teams back on the rise, especially the Red Sox, who enjoyed a nice winning streak. The schedule currently lists Pettitte vs. Masterson. Not a whole lot of starting experience to go with on Masterson, but Pettitte is a bright spot for the improving Yankees, with an ERA around 2.5, he’s as sharp as he was 10 years ago. How long he’ll be healthy is anyone’s guess, but right now he’s helping his team win games. Masterson may or may not actually start, we’ll see. Boston has started strong at home, but because of the pitching matchup, the Yankees get the edge on this one. Yankees -130, Red Sox +115. I’d bet the Yankees, I think they’ll win this one by 3 or more runs.
How about an upside-down NL preview? Yeah, who thought the Marlins would be atop the online baseball betting division at any point during the season? To Philly’s credit, they’ve climbed back to second place in the NL East, albeit at 6-6 their hardly striking championship fear into their opponents. The Marlins are slipping a bit from their single-loss perch atop the league, so this makes for an interesting Sunday matchup, especially since it’s Moyer facing Badenhop, both of which have nasty ERA’s over 6. The tipping point could be the hitting, though, with the Phillies averaging an NL fourth-best .278 average compared to the Marlins surprisingly 11th place .258. I can see Philly’s sluggers feasting more than the fish will be. Still, the Marlins are home, winning games, and will be a tight favorite here. Marlins -130, Phillies +110. I’d take the Phillies, though, I think they’ll put up 6 or 7 and keep Badenhop’s ERA in the forbidden zone for at least one more start.
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