FanNation

Who Would You Take: Contreras or Sabathia?

Yesterday there was a game that caught my eye as one I would like to watch.  I didn't want to watch for any kind of betting purposes, but purely for the match up and personal interest in the teams.  The game was the White Sox/ Indians game being played in Chicago.

 I always check the betting odds on games, and I like to see if I can predict what the odds will be on certain games before I look at them.  Often I am really good at it.  Before this particular game and before I looked at the odds, I felt the White Sox would have to be a slight home underdog, maybe at +110. 

What Is Wrong With Roy Oswalt?

He is 5-7 with a 5.04 ERA, yet when I watched Roy Oswalt pitch his last game against the Yankees, I could see nothing wrong with him at all.  He looked like the same tough-as-nails pitcher that has accumulated a 117-61 career record and a 3.19 career ERA.

Tonight he is an underdog to Matt Garza and the Tampa Bay Rays.  If you looked up "average MLB pitcher" in the dictionary, you might see a picture of Garza.  Only 24-years-old and off to a decent start this season, he has nothing special to throw at opposing teams.  Oswalt is easily the best pitcher in this match up and you can have him for a +130 price.

Can Kuroda Keep It Going?

Hiroki Kuroda is a great underdog bet today at +129.  He is coming off a complete game shutout of the Cubs last Friday night.  The Cubs are one of the hottest teams in baseball and one of the best offensive clubs, yet Kuroda gave up only four hits, walked nobody and struck out 11 batters in that game.

Today, Kuroda will face the Padres, one of the worst offenses I have ever seen.  With the exception of Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez, I think the Padres lineup could hit with blindfolds on and have about the same numbers they do now, not to mention the lack of plate presence.  Not one batter in the Padres lineup is capable of scaring an opposing pitcher.

Felix Hernandez In Unfamiliar Role Tonight

The Boston Red Sox are 24-5 at home, and they just swept Tampa Bay in a three-game series to take over first place in the AL East, and they have former Cy Young award winner Bartolo Colon taking the mound for them tonight.

Tonight they play the Seattle Mariners, a team that has the worst record in baseball, a manager plastered all over television in recent days having a fit worthy of a two-year-old with an interesting vocabulary, and Felix Hernandez taking the mound.

The Odds Makers Were Wrong

Joba didn't fare so well tonight, not even making it out of the third inning.  Meanwhile, Halladay kept cruising right along with his magnificent season, proving all of his statistics to be correct.

This is the kind of game that always fascinates me when it comes to the odds.  Apparently a case of complete over-hype about Joba, this game was so obviously a great match up for Halladay.  The betting public saw that and the money line moved accordingly all day, in Halladay's favor.