There are nine series' going this weekend in the bases that run from Friday through Sunday.
I'll examine all nine of these three game sets in a quick run-down and point out any particular value to consider.
Florida at Philadelphia – Florida is coming off of a rather deflating loss on Wednesday night as they allowed the Mets to tie them up in the bottom of the 9th on a solo homer. Than they lost the game in the bottom of the 12th despite scoring a run in the top of the 12th to take the lead. That is a tough loss to take and, after losing two straight to the Mets, the last place the Marlins needed to visit was Philadelphia. The Phillies are red hot and knocking the cover off of the ball. The Phils have won four straight and averaged 12 runs per game as if they’ve been playing in a Church Softball League! More of the same should be on tap this weekend and we’ll be looking at the Phillies or the Over for potential value spots in this series.
Atlanta at Cincinnati –With a win on Thursday afternoon the Braves are now 4-4 in their last eight games. However, they’ve been very inconsistent as they scored four runs or less in six of those eight games. They’ve also got an overworked bullpen and that’s why they left Tim Hudson in the game way too long on Tuesday night. The Braves are a hard team to trust right now but, the fact is, so are the Reds! Cincinnati had won four of their last five games heading into Thursday’s action. However, after scoring just eight runs over a period of four games, the Reds suddenly exploded for an average of over eight runs in their past four games! We’ll look for some value spots with the Reds in this series. Their offense has come alive.
Houston at Milwaukee – While the Astros have had a great month, the Brewers are a tough team at Miller Park. We really like the Astros lineup much more than that of Milwaukee’s. Houston has scary hitters in the middle of their order and the Brewers offense just is not as potent as it was last season. The Brewers only scored five runs in the three game set they just finished up with the Braves. The Astros should take two of three here.
Washington at Arizona – The Diamondbacks are fading like a cheap shirt that’s run through the wash a couple of times. However, we do not trust the Nationals on the road either. Washington is miserable on the road but the Diamondbacks can’t be trusted right now. Especially at the prices you will be asked to lay with Arizona in this series.
San Diego at San Francisco – Both these teams are known for rather anemic offenses but the Giants are actually showing signs of turning things around. Thanks to guys like Bengie Molina, Aaron Rowand, and Ray Durham, the Giants offense has looked much better of late. Heading into Thursday’s action the Giants had averaged over 6 runs per game in their last 9 games. The Padres have had a couple of “break out” games recently on offense but for the most part they still struggle in most of their games. San Diego has scored 4 runs or less in 42 of their 55 games this season! Yesterday’s 5-2 win was a rare exception and they could definitely struggle in San Francisco where, if the Giants keep hitting like they have been, they’ll dominate this series.
Oakland at Texas – There could be some struggles for Oakland in this series. The Rangers offense is very capable at home and the Athletics offense is still very inconsistent. Texas ranks second only to Boston for team batting average at home while Oakland is ranked second to last in the American League in terms of team slugging percentage on the road. The Rangers bats are likely to lead the way in this one as the A’s just don’t have the “pop” in their lineup to keep up. We’ll be looking at spots for Texas or the Over in this series based on the pitching match-ups.
Cleveland at Kansas City - The Royals losing streak reached disastrous proportions with their loss to the Twins on Wednesday night. The fact is that not many teams are capable of losing a tenth straight game by allowing five runs to score in the top of the 9th after you’ve already got two outs in the inning and just one man on base. Needless to say, the Royals bullpen is in very poor shape right now and the psyche of this team is becoming permanently damaged. So the play here must be the Indians, right? Well, not so fast with that move! Cleveland has lost ten of their last twelve games and they’ve scored three runs or less in seven of those twelve games!
Toronto at Los Angeles Angels – There could be some line value possibilities with Toronto in this series. It’s always tough to fade the Angels at home but they are just 16-12 at Angel Stadium this season. Toronto is a respectable 15-15 on the road and they’ve been particularly hot of late. The Blue Jays are an amazing 8-2 their last 10 road games and they’ve averaged a solid 4.7 runs per game in this stretch. The key for the Jays is their pitching and there may be opportunities to back them for a plus money return in this series. McGowan, Marcum, and Burnett have all been throwing quite well.
Detroit at Seattle - This is an ugly series with the way these two teams are going. Detroit is off of a win on Wednesday but they have struggled badly on the road this season and previously they had lost three straight while scoring a total of just three runs. Seattle finally won a couple of games as they took advantage of home field and a “road adverse” Red Sox team. However, the Mariners are still hard to trust. Even in taking two of three from Boston they only scored a total of eight runs. It’s hard to see a lot of value either way in this particular series because we do respect the Mariners at home but we also respect the Tigers lineup much more than Seattle’s lineup.
