monday opening day mlb......

[gman2]

* cincinnati (+182) over chicago
kerry wood is dominant, but he doesnt always know where his ball is going which always makes me leery of backing him. just think the 2/1 chalk is a heavy price for opening day on the road. better pitchers have already gone down as heavy favs (pedro, mussina) away from home.

* houston (-189) over san francisco
ill lay the chalk here though. not sure what oswalts spring numbers were, but what i do know is that he looked awfully damn good last week vs the indians. i think reuters best days are behind him and i think houston gets off to a good start.

* san diego (+103) over los angeles
no earth shattering logic here. just willing to back a much-improved fathers team at even money against a team who (because of their lack of offense) just doesnt run away with games.

 

[gman2]

* cleveland/minnesota under 8.5 (+100)
sabathia has given the twins lots of problems in recent meetings. if the indians had any reliable offense, they could be a live dog this year because their pitching is solid. but that lineup is just so mediocre. it was mediocre BEFORE bradley got shipped to los angeles. its even weaker now. im expecting the indians to be competitive in most every game this year but ill wait a few weeks before i start backing them to win as a dog. i think theyre gonna lose a lot of 4-2 and 5-3 kind of games because they just dont have any pop in the lineup. the only two guys i would fear as an opposing pitcher would be gerut and vizquel, and theyre not exactly sluggers.