(Starting Pitchers: J. Marquis vs J. Francis)
Colorado will play today their first home game of the season and so, they will be fired up. We know that the Rockies will struggle this season with their bad pitching, but their offense can be a major force if their main batters remain healthy. In their first series of the season at Milwaukee, Colorado hit better than .300 BA in the three games of the series, something that shows how good their hitting can really be. Fortunately for them, they will face Marquis today. He was horrible at the start of the past season until he joined the Padres in the second half of the season and looked decent. However, we know that pitching home games at San Diego helps any pitcher in improving. However, Marquis is a contact pitcher, who need impeccable command if he wants to be decent on an outing. The problem is that Marquis's command was wild during the Spring Training with a 15/15 K/BB ratio! If we add the fact that he will be pitching at Colorado today against the Rockies's roster who is hitting .303 BA and .961 OPS against him, things will be really tough for him today.
On the other side, Jeff Francis will have an easier task today against the putrid offense of the Padres, who is really missing their power guy Chase Headley. Francis had a good workload during Spring Training with 29.1 innings, where he showed good command with a 15/3 K/BB ratio. Like Marquis, Francis is a contact guy, but Francis has been showing good command during this early season, unlike Marquis. Looking at their spot for today, their huge edge on offense and their edge on the SP for today, I can only expect an easy win for the Rockies today.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 902 Colorado Rockies RL -1 (w/ J. Francis) @ -110 / 1.91 on 5Dimes
MLB - 919 Minnesota Twins @ 920 Baltimore Orioles
(Starting Pitchers: L. Hendriks vs J. Arrieta)
Even though Baltimore had an excellent season last year, not everything went well for them. One of the things that they didn't go well for them last season was Jake Arrieta's season, who struggled. Nevertheless, he also had a bit of bad luck, as he actually improved his K/BB rate to 3.1 in 2012 from 1.6 in 2011, and his 8.6 K/9 is easily the best of his career. I believe Arrieta will have a bounce back season this year, as he looked really good in Spring Training, with a 1.56 ERA and .206 BA against him in 17 innings!
"I'm much more focused and much better prepared this time around," Arrieta said. "Not that I wasn't prepared or (didn't have) focus going into this last season. But I think my preparation and focus is a little bit more fine-tuned. And now I am in this position and am ready to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and keep my job all year. I think that's what everybody wants and what everybody expects from me. That's what I plan to do."
With Arrieta motivated and the whole Orioles also motivated, as this will be their first home game of the season, I expect Baltimore to have a good performance today. The Orioles looked good on offense in the three games they played at Tampa Bay. Note that the Rays have one of the best pitching crews in the MLB and Baltimore's batters not only caused a lot of problems to the Rays's starters, as they also caused a lot of issues on the Rays's excellent bullpen. They will now face Liam Hendriks, who is coming from a forearm injury in Spring Training, something that caused problems on his preparations for the new season. His last start in Spring Training was exactly against Baltimore, who played with their regular lineup. Hendriks played just 2.2 innings and allowed just 4 hits. However, I found this decision of starting Hendriks today quite weird, as Minnesota allowed Baltimore's batters to have access to Hendriks during the preseason and they will now face him again today.
Minnesota is coming from a series win over Detroit, on a bizarre cold weather that froze Detroit's hitters. This won't happen today with Baltimore's offense, who should pound Hendriks today. On the other hand, I expect Arrieta to have a quality outing, therefore I am expecting the Orioles to pick up a comfortable win today.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 920 Baltimore Orioles RL -1 (w/ J. Arrieta) @ -120 / 1.83 on 5Dimes
MLB - 907 Washington Nationals @ 908 Cincinnati Reds
(Starting Pitchers: D. Haren vs H. Bailey)
Dan Haren struggled last season and he didn't look any better during Spring Training. He is a flyball pitcher, so he is definitely in trouble tonight against the Reds. The same doesn't happen with Homer Bailey, a groundball pitcher who showed good command during Spring Training with a 25/5 K/BB ratio. I believe Washington is overrated for tonight due to their 3-0 series against over the punchless Marlins. Therefore, I'm taking Cincinnati tonight.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 908 Cincinnati Reds ML (w/ H. Bailey) @ -124 / 1.81 on 5Dimes
MLB - 911 Arizona Diamondbacks @ 912 Milwaukee Brewers
(Starting Pitchers: W. Miley vs K. Lohse)
Milwaukee is a great hitting team at home, especially against left handed pitchers like Miley. The Dbacks's SP for tonight had a great rookie season last year, but he struggled badly in Spring Training with a 7.43 ERA and a 8/6 K/BB ratio. He will get pounded tonight. On the other hand, Kyle Lohse is an experienced pitcher and who had a 0.77 ERA in two starts last season against Arizona. Therefore, I expect the Brewers to pick up an easy win tonight.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 912 Milwaukee Brewers ML (w/ K. Lohse) @ -131 / 1.76 on 5Dimes
MLB - 921 Boston Red Sox @ 922 Toronto Blue Jays
(Starting Pitchers: F. Doubront vs J. Johnson)
This is a bad spot for Boston tonight, who played in NY last night against the Yankees. Josh Johnson is pitching for Toronto tonight and I truly believe he will have a massive bounce back season this year, especially after an excellent Spring Training, where he had a 23/3 K/BB ratio. Felix Doubront had also nice numbers in the preseason, but he isn't at the same level as Johnson. Even without Bautista, Toronto still has a lot of firepower on their lineup and so, I expect them to pick up a comfortable win tonight.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 922 Toronto Blue Jays ML (w/ J. Johnson) @ -145 / 1.69 on 5Dimes
MLB - 927 Seattle Mariners @ 928 Chicago White Sox
(Starting Pitchers: B. Beavan vs J. Quintana)
This is a poor spot for Seattle after a 4-games series in Oakland. Bruce Beavan is a pitch-to-contact hurler who relies on control, defense and luck. This works on a pitcher-friendly park like Seattle, but that won't work at Chicago tonight. He struggled on Spring Training, with 29 hits allowed in 19 innings. He only got the final spot in the rotation due to Jeremy Bonderman and John Garland struggling even more. On the other hand, Jose Quintana impressed in the preseason with an excellent control: 17/4 K/BB ratio. Due to this clear pitching edge, I expect the White Sox to have an easy win tonight.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 928 Chicago White Sox ML (w/ J. Quintana) @ -143 / 1.70 on Bookmaker
No comments:
Post a Comment