MLB
Thursday, July 29
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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets
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Seattle Mariners at Chicago White Sox (-165, 8.5)
The Mariners must leave their bats back in Seattle whenever they got on the road. The M's have scored just 14 runs in their six away games since the All-Star break.
They've been particularly poor at the plate when facing righthanders, batting just .193 over their last 10. That plays right into the right hand of White Sox's starter Freddy Garcia, who has just one win over his last five starts but has pitched well in all except his last.
"There's nothing you can do," the 11-year veteran said following his last outing. "Continue to do your thing, the little things, make the pitches when you need them and go from there."
The M's, who are 1-7 in their last eight stops in Chicago, counter with the inexperience of spot starter David Pauley, who is 0-5 in his brief career.
The righthander is 0-2 this season and has yet to go deeper than six innings - bad news for a struggling bullpen.
Pick: White Sox
Florida Marlins at San Francisco Giants (-150, 8)
It's been one month since Madison Bumgarner made his season debut and he has already developed into a quality starter in that short period of time.
Bumgarner's last five starts have all come on the road and he is 4-1 with a 1.87 ERA over that span. He allowed just five hits and two runs over seven innings in his last outing against the Diamondbacks.
"I just try to relax, and when stuff starts to happen, I just slow it down a little bit," the rookie lefthander said. "I feel like I've done a pretty good job of that."
Conversely, the Marlins are 1-4 in Anibel Sanchez's 1-4 last five starts and he hasn't earned a win since June 22. The righthander has allowed 12 runs over his last 16 innings of work.
The Marlins are batting just .226 against lefties in their last 10 while the Giants are pounding righties to the tune of .279 over that span. The Giants are 4-1 against the Marlins this season.
Pick: Giants
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Streaking and Slumping Pitchers
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Streaking
Mat Latos, San Diego Padres (11-4, 2.48 ERA)
A huge part of the Padres’ surprise success in 2010 has been the impressive play of Latos. The right hander has pitched his way into Cy Young talks, especially his recent performances. Latos is 6-0 in his last seven starts, including winning three straight heading into Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He returned from 16 days on the DL in his last trip to the bump, giving up two runs on seven hits in six innings of work for a 9-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
Vin Mazzaro, Oakland Athletics (6-2, 3.45 ERA)
The A’s young righty hasn’t tasted defeat in five games, going 4-0 with a slim 2.12 ERA in that span. He has allowed more than three earned runs in just two of his 10 starts this season and is coming off a solid appearance against the Chicago White Sox last weekend. He went six innings, giving up only two runs on three hits for a 10-2 win Saturday.
Slumping
Rick Porcello, Detroit Tigers (4-8, 5.55 ERA)
The Tigers righty didn’t pitch terrible in his last trip to the mound, putting in a quality start against the Toronto Blue Jays. But, Porcello did walk four batters and missed out on getting his first MLB win since May 23. He was called up from the minors to pitch in a doubleheader versus the Cleveland Indians two weeks ago, giving up only one run on six hits in eight innings of work. However, he was dealt another no-decision in a 2-1 loss. His control has been off and on since returning to the bigs.
Ubaldo Jimenez (15-2, 2.75 ERA)
Jimenez was once a shoe-in to win the NL Cy Young. But after his last four starts, the Rockies righthander has fallen off his record pace. Jimenez is just 1-1 in that span after allowing 18 total runs. In his last appearance, he was knocked around for six runs on only three hits while walking six batters in just two innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Debuting
Dustin Moseley, New York Yankees (0-0, 4.22 ERA)
The injury to Andy Pettitte has forced the Yankees to hand the ball to 28-year-old Moseley for Thursday’s game against the Cleveland Indians. Moseley has worked exclusively out of the bullpen since joining the big-league club in early July. He got in just under five innings of work against the Kansas City Royals this weekend, giving up only one hit while striking out and walking one batter. He is 8-7 with a 5.41 ERA during his MLB career, the past four years spent with the Los Angeles Angels.
Joe Saunders, Arizona Diamondbacks (6-10, 4.62 ERA)
Saunders gets thrown to the wolves in his first start for the D-backs. The lefthander was dealt from Los Angeles earlier this week and will now face one of the toughest lineups in baseball. Saunders did leave L.A. on a high note, going seven innings and allowing only one run on seven hits in a 1-0 loss to the Texas Rangers. He’s faced the Phillies only once before, allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings during interleague action while with the Angels back in June 2008.
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This Day in Baseball
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On July 29 in Baseball History...
1900 - With all the National League teams in the east, and no Sunday games allowed, one-hundred players gather in New York. Their demands are: release of players who are not going to be used rather than farming them out, and players to share in the purchase price when they are sold.
1908 - Rube Waddell struck out sixteen as the St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia A's 5-4.
1909 - National League president Harry Pulliam, despondent over his inability to handle the problems and controversies of the league, dies of a self-inflicted pistol wound.
1911 - Joe Wood of the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns with a 5-0 no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader. Wood fanned twelve and allowed three baserunners.
1915 - At 41, Honus Wagner becomes the oldest player in this century to hit a grand slam. It is inside the park against Jeff Pfeffer of Brooklyn in an 8-2 win. The record will stand until Tony Perez hits a grand slam on May 13, 1985, one day short of his 43rd birthday.
1921 - As part of Cleveland's 125th anniversary celebration, Cy Young, 54, makes a two-inning appearance on the mound at Old-Timers' Day. Chief Zimmer, 60, is his catcher.
1928 - The Cleveland Indians scored eight runs in the first inning and nine more in the second and went on to beat the New York Yankees 24-6 at Dunn Field.
1955 - Smoky Burgess of the Cincinnati Reds hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in a 16-5 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field.
1978 - A surprise announcement at Old-Timers Day in Yankee Stadium: Billy Martin will return to manage the Yanks in 1980. The fans go wild with joy.
1983 - Steve Garvey's consecutive-game streak ends at 1,207 when he dislocates his left thumb in a home-plate collision with Braves pitcher Pascual Perez. The injury keeps him from playing the second game of the doubleheader.
1996 - Tom Lasorda calls it quits after twenty seasons as manager of the Dodgers following a heart attack and an angioplasty procedure in June. Bill Russell takes over for the man who won two World Series, four National League pennants and seven division titles.
2000 - Eddie Taubensee hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth and homered again in the eleventh to lead Cincinnati to a 4-3 win over Montreal.