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Friday's Late-Night Action
July 24, 2009
By Brian Edwards
VegasInsider.com
G amblers have three late-night games to wager on Friday night in Major League Baseball. The Angels and Dodgers are the majors’ biggest money makers and both are at home against the Twins and Marlins, respectively. Also, the Mariners will play host to the Indians.
**Twins at Angels**
--Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened Los Angeles (56-38, +1875) as a minus-150 favorite with a total of 8 ½ ‘over’ (minus-120). Gamblers can back the Angels on the run line (minus 1 ½ runs) for a plus-145 return.
--With last night's 6-5 loss to the Angels in the 10th inning, Minnesota (48-48, -356) is now 2 1/2 games back of the AL Central co-leaders, Detroit and Chicago.
--John Lackey (5-4, 4.39 ERA) will take the hill for the Angels in the second round of this four-game set. The eight-year veteran is just 2-3 with a 4.89 ERA in five home starts this season. Lackey is 5-5 with a 3.87 career ERA against the Twins.
--Minnesota slugger Joe Mauer is 7-for-17 (.412) against Lackey. Mauer took a .357 batting average into Thursday’s series opener. He is battling Ichiro Suzuki (.359) for the AL batting crown.
--Francisco Liriano (4-9, 5.33) is 3-4 with a 5.55 ERA in 11 road starts this year. Although his season numbers remain mediocre, bettors should note that the left-hander has been solid in his last seven outings, lowering his ERA by more than one run from 6.60. The Twins are 5-2 in Liriano’s last seven outings.
--The Angels are 19-10 against lefties. They are now 28-18 at home following Thursday’s series-opening victory that was sparked by Howie Kendrick's work at the plate at crunch time.
--Minnesota has struggled on the road with a 20-28 record. The ‘under’ has a 50-41 overall record for the Twins, cashing at an eye-opening 32-13 clip in their road games.
--The Angels have seen the ‘over’ go 52-37 overall, 25-18 in their home outings.
**Marlins at Dodgers**
--This game has pitcher’s duel written all over it with two of the National League’s best young arms set to toe the rubber. In turn, bettors are looking at a low total of either seven shaded to the ‘over’ or 7 ½ shaded to the ‘under.’ Most books have the Dodgers as minus-155 favorites.
--Los Angeles (61-34, +2130) has the best record in baseball and the No. 1 money tally. The Dodgers lead second-place Colorado by nine games in the NL West. They are coming off a three-game home sweep of the Reds, capped by a 6-2 win Wednesday in which Manny Ramirez belted a pinch-hit grand slam.
--Florida (49-47, +300) bounced back from getting swept at home by the Phillies and went to San Diego and won three in a row this week. The Marlins gave up just four runs in the three-game set against the Padres. They are in third place in the NL East, trailing division-leading Philadelphia by six games. They are 3 ½ back in the wild-card race.
--Florida will give the starting nod to its ace Josh Johnson (8-2, 2.74), who has a 4-1 record and 3.62 ERA in nine road starts this year. Johnson is well rested coming into this game after working just two innings in his last start Saturday that was eventually rained out. The right-hander, who is 27-13 with a 3.28 career ERA, is 1-1 with a 7.71 ERA in three lifetime starts against the Dodgers.
--L.A. LHP Clayton Kershaw (8-5, 2.95) has been absolutely untouchable lately, posting a 3-0 record and 0.47 ERA in his last three outings. In his last seven assignments, Kershaw is 5-0 with a 0.63 ERA. The southpaw is 3-2 with a 1.62 ERA in nine home outings this year.
--Kershaw has only faced the Marlins once, working seven strong innings in a win over Florida earlier this year. He allowed just one earned run and fanned nine batters.
--Joe Torre’s team has been outstanding at home with a 33-15 record. Meanwhile, the Fish are a respectable 24-23 on the road.
--The Marlins have thrived against lefties this season with a 21-14 record.
--The ‘under’ has cashed in four straight Florida games and is 26-18 in its road outings this year.
--The ‘over’ is 47-43 overall for the Dodgers, but the ‘under’ is 24-21 in their home games.
**Indians at Mariners**
--LVSC opened Seattle (51-44, +962) as a minus-145 favorite with a total of 8 ½ ‘over’ (minus-120). The Mariners are plus-145 on the run line (risk $100 to win $145).
--Cleveland (38-58, -2374) has the second-worst money total in the majors behind only Washington. Nevertheless, the Indians captured a 5-4 win Thursday afternoon at Toronto, hooking up their backers with a generous plus-155 payout.
--Seattle collected a 2-1 win Thursday at Detroit as a short underdog. Ichiro Suzuki had a pair of hits and scored a run, while Jarrod Washburn worked seven scoreless innings and scattered just two hits en route to his eighth win of the year. David Aardsma picked up his 24th save and lowered his ERA to 1.75 after working a perfect ninth inning.
--Cleveland LHP Aaron Laffey (3-2, 4.27) will get the call in this spot. Laffey is 1-2 with a 5.68 ERA in eight road appearances (three starts) in 2009.
--Ryan Rowland-Smith (0-0, 0.00) made one start this year back on April 10, working 3 1/3 scoreless innings. He was called up from Triple-A Tacoma to make this start. The lefty has a 6-3 record and 3.48 ERA in 74 career appearances (13 starts).
--The Mariners own a 25-18 home record at Safeco Field. Meanwhile, the Indians have limped to an 18-30 road record.
--Seattle owns a 16-12 record versus southpaws, while Cleveland is 10-14 against lefties.
--The ‘over’ is 48-45 overall for the Tribe, 29-17 in their road contests.
--The ‘under’ is a lucrative 58-36 overall for the M’s, 25-17 in their home games.
**B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets**
--Going into Thursday’s card, only six major-league teams were showing a profit for the ‘over’ this season. They were the Angels, Indians, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Brewers and Yankees.
--Pittsburgh will send LHP Zach Duke to the mound at Arizona. The D-backs are horrible against lefties, going 9-17 so far this year.
--The ‘under’ has cashed in eight consecutive Texas games and seven straight Boston games.
--Manny Ramirez is now second in MLB history with 21 grand slams. Lou Gehrig hit 23 homers with the bases loaded.
--I've got three selections in my pick pack for tonight, including this pay-if-it-wins-only selection!
Brian Edwards can be reached at briane@vegasinsider.com.
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