White Sox -140 (Buehrle/Baez)
Tigers +125 (Redman/Byrd)
White Sox- Have to go with the streaks here, as Chicago is 4-0 when Buehrle starts this season...7-0 his last seven starts dating back to last year..as he has not allowed more than 2ER's in any of those starts. It is going to take time for Baez to adjust to his role as a starter...so far the results have been mixed. Strong outing to begin the season in Detroit, but his past two starts have seen him have problems...20MOB and 8ER in only 9.1IP. He is averaging close to one walk per inning...poor control and throwing way too many pitches per inning. Sox hammered him last outing for 5ER in 4IP, then again Sox have been killing virtually every pitcher they have seen lately. Lineup is hitting on all cylinders...Lofton rejuvenated, middle of the order with Thomas, Ordonez, Konerko is super right now...team is batting .315 as a whole. Won 10 of 12 and dominated Cleveland in their 3 game series last week. Indians have hit the skids after a strong start...lost 6 straight and lineup is nowhere to be found. Looking at it closely, I think their hot hitting start was more of a fluke, as their lineup has plenty of holes and isn't going to be the same team that has scored tons of runs the past years. If Thome and Burks aren't hitting, these team has problems. Have scored over 3 runs only once in their past 6 games, and were shutdown by Kinney and Lohse in their series at Minnesota..not a good sign.
Tigers- Line probably more of a result of the Tigers poor start etched in most minds, but they have turned things around a bit and are 3-3 their last 6 games. On the other hand, after a 4-4 start, Kansas City is 1-7 their last 8. The past few season KC has been terrible against lefties and that hasn't changed thus far as they are currently batting .172 against them. Detroit's lineup has hit the ball very well of late, scoring at least 4 runs in their last seven games and 7 or more in five of those games. Byrd has looked good early, but he usually has a few good starts only to follow those with a string of clunkers..I think that is the case starting tonight. Redman has been respectable his past two starts after a rough showing versus Cleveland..going 7 innings each start, allowing 4ER in both. I'll take the hot lineup against a team that continues to struggle against lefties, and get a decent price to boot.
Good luck!
Tigers +125 (Redman/Byrd)
White Sox- Have to go with the streaks here, as Chicago is 4-0 when Buehrle starts this season...7-0 his last seven starts dating back to last year..as he has not allowed more than 2ER's in any of those starts. It is going to take time for Baez to adjust to his role as a starter...so far the results have been mixed. Strong outing to begin the season in Detroit, but his past two starts have seen him have problems...20MOB and 8ER in only 9.1IP. He is averaging close to one walk per inning...poor control and throwing way too many pitches per inning. Sox hammered him last outing for 5ER in 4IP, then again Sox have been killing virtually every pitcher they have seen lately. Lineup is hitting on all cylinders...Lofton rejuvenated, middle of the order with Thomas, Ordonez, Konerko is super right now...team is batting .315 as a whole. Won 10 of 12 and dominated Cleveland in their 3 game series last week. Indians have hit the skids after a strong start...lost 6 straight and lineup is nowhere to be found. Looking at it closely, I think their hot hitting start was more of a fluke, as their lineup has plenty of holes and isn't going to be the same team that has scored tons of runs the past years. If Thome and Burks aren't hitting, these team has problems. Have scored over 3 runs only once in their past 6 games, and were shutdown by Kinney and Lohse in their series at Minnesota..not a good sign.
Tigers- Line probably more of a result of the Tigers poor start etched in most minds, but they have turned things around a bit and are 3-3 their last 6 games. On the other hand, after a 4-4 start, Kansas City is 1-7 their last 8. The past few season KC has been terrible against lefties and that hasn't changed thus far as they are currently batting .172 against them. Detroit's lineup has hit the ball very well of late, scoring at least 4 runs in their last seven games and 7 or more in five of those games. Byrd has looked good early, but he usually has a few good starts only to follow those with a string of clunkers..I think that is the case starting tonight. Redman has been respectable his past two starts after a rough showing versus Cleveland..going 7 innings each start, allowing 4ER in both. I'll take the hot lineup against a team that continues to struggle against lefties, and get a decent price to boot.
Good luck!
