Boston at CLELELAND
I see only one way to play this game... and that's UNDER. After yesterday's 2-1 game in which there were 3 HR's to account for all the runs, there are some very strong trends in favor of another low scoring game. COLON is 5-10 O/U at home, NOMO is 6-12 O/U at nite this season, CLE is 2-8 UNDER in last ten, UNDER is 7-3 in COLON's last ten starts, AND, we have an UNDER UMP in RANDAZZO behind the plate. He's 9-15 O/U for the year, and 4-8 when the line is 9 or 9.5. In his last 10 games, this UMP is 8-1-1 to the UNDER. Overall, NOMO's games are 9-16 O/U, and COLON's 10-17, so we have a nice set-up to go UNDER again tonite.
UNDER 9.5
Oakland at BALTIMORE
Again, we have another nice set-up for an UNDER here. ZITO is 10-16 O/U this season, while JOHNSON is 11-14. THE key here is JOHNSON's starts at home have come in UNDER 9 of 12 times. ZITO's last FOUR games have all gone UNDER as he has a miniscule 1.17 ERA over that stretch. JOHNSON is 9-4 at home with a fine 2.38 ERA, so he obviously likes the home cooking. The O's weren't able to hit MULDER two days ago, so I can't see them getting to ZITO either. The O's however are 14-9 in Game 3 after a loss, and did beat ZITO 7-0 back in June, so I can't play the A's. HP UMP B. Welke tends to favor HOME DOGS also as he is 7-2 with teams in that role. His O/U line is 10-14, with an odd 5-2 record when the line is 9. He's 1-1 at 8.5. With his tendency to favor the home squad, HT is 16-5 with him behind the mask, I think it's worth a shot on BOTH BALT and UNDER. I just feel his "home" field advantage will take some steam outta the A's BIG BATS... In two games this year with WELKE HP UMP and JOHNSON pitching, BALT is 2-0, but both games went OVER. In his last 6 Games UMPed, HOME TEAM has won them all, and the UNDER is 4-2, 7-3 in his last 10.
BALT +175
UNDER 8.5