Saturday's parlays

[Terryray]

Under 8 (-125) Detroit Tigers vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Under 7? (-120) Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees
1 unit bet wins 2.30

hit one of my 3 teamers last night..just see this two teamer for the day today...another parlay for tonight (looking at un KC, Pitt, Seattle, Fiers over Greinke...MN big dog?)

Good luck 2 all!! :00hour :toast: <a href="http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php" title="Smiley"><img src="http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-dance016.gif" alt="Smiley" border="0" /></a> :spotting: :clap: :slomo :0074


2014 parlay record: 9-50, +29.34 units.....on various mixed sports....(1 unit bet each parlay)

Posted here was the first winning parlay of the year, and it was my biggest. Not long after that I didn't post for a few months (the unpredictable ends of NBA + NHL seasons, plus start of MLB, is the worst time of year for parlays), then had this small winner (only paid 1.58 as one game ppd and one total pushed) and Sunday, July 6 three-teamer, and July 14 four-teamer, July 25 4-teamer, with a push, that became a 3 teamer...then this 4 teamer July 29th...and 2-3 on bunch of smaller parlays I tried July 30th...a 3 teamer Aug 8th...

 

[Terryray]

with that nice two-teamer winning today, and just one more parlay for tonight -- means today and yesterday are my first two-day winning streak this year betting parlays! But it does help when you do two and three-leg parlays instead of 4+ (as I did most of the year)

Green Bay Packers +2
Pittsburgh Pirates -168
Philadelphia Phillies -172
Los Angeles Angels -193
Seattle Mariners -185
Milwaukee Brewers +124
1 unit bet wins 24.23


Future home of the Nashville Sounds (AAA affiliate of Milwaukee Brewers) - Here's a rendering of what the new $37 million ballpark will look like under the lights...Yes, a guitar-shaped video board....the entire development of the area (shops, parking garage, etc) is about $150 million...

The new ballpark will be near the former site of Nashville's historic Sulphur Dell ballpark. Or "Suffer Hell" as it was know to pitchers.

(incidentally, in a fun reverse - the Milwaukee Admirals have been the top-level minor league affiliate of the NHL Nashville Predators since 1998)

At Nashville AAA (the "Nashville Sounds"), Fiers is 8-5 with a 2.55 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 17 starts. He also struck out 129 while walking just 17 in 102 1/3 innings.

Fiers was 1-4 with a 7.25 ERA in 11 games (three starts) for the Brewers in a nightmarish 2013 that also saw him have to deal with the passing of his mother and then a season-ending broken arm in the minor leagues.

He was a revelation when he got his first shot at the starting rotation in 2012, going 8-6 with a 2.88 ERA over his first 16 starts before fading badly and finishing 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA in 23 overall appearances (22 starts).

"I think Fiers, with the way he?s been throwing in Triple-A this year, we know what he did for us when we first had him up and what kind of starts he got," Roenicke said. "I think we were kind of going into it not sure which way we were going to go, and then needing Marco the other day did make a difference.

"We like what Marco can do starting, and we want to try Fiers and bring him up and see if he can give us the starts he gave us a couple years ago."

Fiers will start opposite former teammate Zack Greinke, who enters at 12-7 with a 2.71 ERA.


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John Sickels:

I have a weakness for right-handed junkball pitchers. They are the underdogs of the baseball world, right-handers who don't burn radar guns.

Lefties who don't throw hard still get some respect, given the premium put on southpaw pitching and the smaller number of athletic left-handed people in the general population. But a right-hander with a mediocre fastball, well, those are a penny a dozen. They don't get drafted directly out of high school very often. Even if they have a good track record of success in college, they seldom get much respect on draft day, most of them being late-round roster-filler picks, if they are lucky enough to get drafted at all.

There's a good reason for that. History shows that most finesse right-handers can't sustain long-term professional success. Even if they thrive at the lower levels, they will usually get exposed in Double-A or Triple-A.

But not always. Sometimes these guys continue to pitch well and force their way into the big leagues. Even if their success is brief and they don't stay in the Show very long, I love it when a guy beats the odds like that. Such occurrences are one of my favorite things about baseball, and to be honest I have more respect for a guy who can succeed throwing 87 MPH than pitchers who just blow guys away at 98.

Accordingly, two of my favorite Triple-A pitchers right now are Mike Fiers of the Milwaukee Brewers and Josh Smith of the Cincinnati Reds.

Mike Fiers: Fiers was drafted in the 22nd round in 2009 from Nova Southeastern University in Florida. He was a sabermetric monster in college, posting a 2.65 ERA with an amazing 145/19 K/BB in 109 innings his senior year (which is why I first noticed him), but he was old even for a senior at age 24.

He destroyed the low minors, kept pitching well in Double-A and Triple-A (1.86 ERA with a 132/36 K/BB in 2011), then spent most of 2012 in the big leagues with a nice run of success (3.74 ERA, 135/36 K/BB in 128 major league innings). He was hurt last year and ineffective, but seems back in good health so far in '14 and is back to making Triple-A hitters look dumb (0.87 ERA with 26/2 K/BB in 21 innings thus far).

Fiers has already proven that he can get major league hitters out when healthy, despite a fastball that tops out at 90 MPH and is usually just 86-89. He's incredibly deceptive with his breaking ball, changeup, and over-the-top delivery. His margin for error is thin and always will be, but he is an admirable exemplar of the craft of pitching.