Friday's Primetime Tilts
There are plenty of quality matchups on Friday?s card in baseball for us to take a look at to head into the weekend. Let?s take a look at three division leaders hitting the road against some quality opponents.
Dodgers at Braves ? 7:35 p.m. EDT
The Dodgers have a comfortable lead in the National League West, but they have lost four straight games and five of their last six. Jason Schmidt (1-1, 7.88 ERA) will take to the mound on Friday night for his job most likely. He?s in the final year of his contract and has pitched a total of eight games since coming to Los Angeles in 2007.
Schmidt is coming off of a horrible effort versus Florida on July 26. He allowed four earned runs on five hits in just three innings of work.
Tommy Hanson (5-1, 2.95 ERA) has been the exact opposite of his opposite number. Atlanta?s latest pitching stud has had five quality starts out of the nine he?s made this season. Hanson was a hard luck loser in his latest outing. He gave up two earned runs on nine hits in seven innings of work to lose at Milwaukee 4-0 last Saturday.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened the Braves as $1.55 home favorites (risk $155 to win $100) with a total of nine. Offshore sportsbooks have listed Atlanta as a $1.80 ?chalk? with the same total.
It?s hard to go against the Braves in this spot as they?re 12-4 on Friday this season, while LA is just 8-8. Although the Dodgers are 13-8 against the NL East; Atlanta is 10-11 against the West in 2009.
Angels at Twins ? 8:10 p.m. EDT
Revenge will no doubt be on the minds of the Twins as they start this series on Friday night. Minnesota dropped three of its four games out in Orange County last week. They did salvage the final match of the series, which propelled them to a current four-game winning streak.
Nick Blackburn (8-5, 3.75 ERA) will no doubt be looking for a little retribution for how he pitched last week against the Halos. Blackburn lasted just 3.2 innings last Saturday in Anaheim. In that short period of time, the Angels got six hits and six earned runs en route to a 11-5 victory.
The Twinkies might have a good chance at striking first blood against Ervin Santana (3-6, 7.29 ERA). LA?s starter was tattooed for six earned runs on six hits in 3.2 innings against Minnesota last Sunday. The Twins wound up winning that contest 10-1 to avoid the series sweep.
Most betting shops have posted the Twins as $1.50 home faves with a total of 10 in Game 1 of this weekend battle.
You?re best bet for this tilt is taking the Twins here as the home team has won six of the seven head-to-head meetings this year.
Los Angeles is 9-11 against right-handed pitchers on the road this season. Minnesota, on the other hand, is 12-10 against righties in 2009.
Fridays have been a good day for both clubs this year as the Angels are 9-7, while the Twins are 12-4.
Yankees at White Sox ? 8:10 p.m. EDT
There isn?t a hotter team in baseball the Yankees right now as they?re 11-2 since the All-Star break. They?ve been just as good in covering the run line during this streak with an 8-5 mark.
The Bronx Bombers will send Sergio Mitre (1-0, 5.91 ERA) out to the hill for the second game of this series. The former Marlin has been respectable in his two starts so far, lasting at least five innings, striking out five batters to just one walk. Of course it helps to have an offense behind you that leads the majors with 562 runs scored for the year.
Chicago has been less than perfect since Mark Buehrle pitched his masterpiece, going 1-6 in its last seven games. The White Sox will be sending Clayton Richard (4-3, 4.65 ERA) out to the mound for this game. There is some hope for the Pale Hose here as Richard is the last pitcher for them to win since el perfecto. The lefty actually had two straight outings where he lasted eight innings, giving up one earned run in each start.
LVSC has made the Yankees $1.20 road favorites with the total coming in at 10.
New York has had no problems in targeting left-handed pitching this year, hitting .292 with 44 homers. It shouldn?t come as a surprise that the Yanks are 21-12 for the season against southpaws, 6-4 in road night games versus them.
You?d probably think that the ?over? is the way to go here, but the numbers don?t suggest it. The Yankees have seen the ?under? go 20-15 this season in road games under the lights. Chicago has posted an 18-9 mark for the ?under? in 2009 when playing a home tilt at night
There are plenty of quality matchups on Friday?s card in baseball for us to take a look at to head into the weekend. Let?s take a look at three division leaders hitting the road against some quality opponents.
Dodgers at Braves ? 7:35 p.m. EDT
The Dodgers have a comfortable lead in the National League West, but they have lost four straight games and five of their last six. Jason Schmidt (1-1, 7.88 ERA) will take to the mound on Friday night for his job most likely. He?s in the final year of his contract and has pitched a total of eight games since coming to Los Angeles in 2007.
Schmidt is coming off of a horrible effort versus Florida on July 26. He allowed four earned runs on five hits in just three innings of work.
Tommy Hanson (5-1, 2.95 ERA) has been the exact opposite of his opposite number. Atlanta?s latest pitching stud has had five quality starts out of the nine he?s made this season. Hanson was a hard luck loser in his latest outing. He gave up two earned runs on nine hits in seven innings of work to lose at Milwaukee 4-0 last Saturday.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants opened the Braves as $1.55 home favorites (risk $155 to win $100) with a total of nine. Offshore sportsbooks have listed Atlanta as a $1.80 ?chalk? with the same total.
It?s hard to go against the Braves in this spot as they?re 12-4 on Friday this season, while LA is just 8-8. Although the Dodgers are 13-8 against the NL East; Atlanta is 10-11 against the West in 2009.
Angels at Twins ? 8:10 p.m. EDT
Revenge will no doubt be on the minds of the Twins as they start this series on Friday night. Minnesota dropped three of its four games out in Orange County last week. They did salvage the final match of the series, which propelled them to a current four-game winning streak.
Nick Blackburn (8-5, 3.75 ERA) will no doubt be looking for a little retribution for how he pitched last week against the Halos. Blackburn lasted just 3.2 innings last Saturday in Anaheim. In that short period of time, the Angels got six hits and six earned runs en route to a 11-5 victory.
The Twinkies might have a good chance at striking first blood against Ervin Santana (3-6, 7.29 ERA). LA?s starter was tattooed for six earned runs on six hits in 3.2 innings against Minnesota last Sunday. The Twins wound up winning that contest 10-1 to avoid the series sweep.
Most betting shops have posted the Twins as $1.50 home faves with a total of 10 in Game 1 of this weekend battle.
You?re best bet for this tilt is taking the Twins here as the home team has won six of the seven head-to-head meetings this year.
Los Angeles is 9-11 against right-handed pitchers on the road this season. Minnesota, on the other hand, is 12-10 against righties in 2009.
Fridays have been a good day for both clubs this year as the Angels are 9-7, while the Twins are 12-4.
Yankees at White Sox ? 8:10 p.m. EDT
There isn?t a hotter team in baseball the Yankees right now as they?re 11-2 since the All-Star break. They?ve been just as good in covering the run line during this streak with an 8-5 mark.
The Bronx Bombers will send Sergio Mitre (1-0, 5.91 ERA) out to the hill for the second game of this series. The former Marlin has been respectable in his two starts so far, lasting at least five innings, striking out five batters to just one walk. Of course it helps to have an offense behind you that leads the majors with 562 runs scored for the year.
Chicago has been less than perfect since Mark Buehrle pitched his masterpiece, going 1-6 in its last seven games. The White Sox will be sending Clayton Richard (4-3, 4.65 ERA) out to the mound for this game. There is some hope for the Pale Hose here as Richard is the last pitcher for them to win since el perfecto. The lefty actually had two straight outings where he lasted eight innings, giving up one earned run in each start.
LVSC has made the Yankees $1.20 road favorites with the total coming in at 10.
New York has had no problems in targeting left-handed pitching this year, hitting .292 with 44 homers. It shouldn?t come as a surprise that the Yanks are 21-12 for the season against southpaws, 6-4 in road night games versus them.
You?d probably think that the ?over? is the way to go here, but the numbers don?t suggest it. The Yankees have seen the ?under? go 20-15 this season in road games under the lights. Chicago has posted an 18-9 mark for the ?under? in 2009 when playing a home tilt at night
