MLB
Saturday, August 14
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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets
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San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants (-105, 7)
The term "win-win situation" is overused in baseball trades. It should be saved for times like the Giants' deal for Jose Guillen on Friday.
The Giants have been lacking some power in their pursuit of the Padres in the division race while Guillen has been wasting away in Kansas City.
His number and passion have waned with the Royals, largely because he is a fierce competitor. He has not adjusted to settling for mediocrity.
"I know it got a little rough at times," Guillen told the Kansas City Star. "My passion is I want to win, and sometimes that gets misunderstood by people."
Guillen, a career .270 hitter with at least 20 home runs in five of his past seven seasons, finds a perfect place in the Giants' lineup.
Guillen can play right field and allow the Giants to move Aubrey Huff back to first base, or provide some situational hitting off the bench.
His arrival comes at the right time for this weekend's key series against the Padres. San Diego's Mat Latos took 1-0 wins from the Giants in their first two meetings.
However, the Giants adjusted and got their first win of the season over the Pads the last time they met. The Giants are batting .283 against righties in their last 10.
The Padres are hitting just .223 against leftties during that same span and haven't faced Madison Bumgarner all season. He was 1-0 against them last year.
Pick: Giants
Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox (-160, 9.5)
Little motivates a major-league player more than going up against his former team. Something about familiarity with an organization breeds contempt, especially if it's one that gave up on the player.
Such is the case for White Sox acquiree Edwin Jackson, who made his debut with the Chicago Northsiders last week by beating his 2009 squad, the Detroit Tigers.
Jackson downplayed the added motivation, but his new and former teammates noticed the extra zip on his pitches in the 4-1 win, in which he struck out six in seven innings of work.
"His fastball had that extra life on it," Detroit's Johnny Damon said of Jackson. "It reads 97 (mph). ... He started painting both sides of the plate. I put that right up there with the best performances against us this year. It's a great pickup for them. Pitching is what wins you ballgames, and he was pretty dominating."
Jackson has plenty of offensive support behind him now with the White Sox and seems to be more confident - something counterpart Rick Porcello has been lacking lately. He is 1-2 with a 6.62 ERA in his last three starts.
The Tigers have lost 22 of their last 29 games while the White Sox have won 22 of their last 27. The trend continues today.
Pick: White Sox
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Streaking and Slumping Pitchers
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Streaking
Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals (13-3, 2.89 ERA)
Just like the Incredible Hulk, you won’t like Chris Carpenter when he’s angry, especially if you’re an opposing batter. The Cardinals ace has bolstered his case for the National League Cy Young in recent starts, leaving a path of destruction along the way.
First, he blasts his shortstop for picking up the wrong glove during his last start. Then, he trades verbal barbs with Reds manager Dusty Baker during the teams’ melee this Tuesday. In the middle of all this drama, Carpenter is 4-0 in his last six starts with a 1.79 ERA. He’s posted quality starts in all six of those outings.
Trevor Cahill, Oakland Athletics (12-4, 2.56 ERA)
The A’s righty has been invisible to batters in his last three starts. Cahill hasn’t allowed an earned run in 25 innings and is coming off an eight-inning effort in which he gave up two unearned runs on six hits for his third straight win. He’s pitched into at least the eighth inning in all three of those starts.
Slumping
Sean Sullivan, Kansas City Royals (1-3, 5.05 ERA)
No one would be thrilled to leave an AL contender for one of its basement teams, including Sullivan. The right hander has flopped since coming to Kansas City by way of the Los Angeles Angels, going 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in his first four starts for the Royals. Sullivan was beat up for six runs on 10 hits in his last trip to the bump, falling 6-4 to his former club Monday.
Returning
Mitch Talbot, Cleveland Indians (8-9, 4.09 ERA)
The Tribe’s rookie right hander comes off the 15-day disabled list after nursing a back injury. Talbot hasn’t won since late June and is just 0-1 with an ERA just south of 5.00 in his last three outings. In his most recent start, against the New York Yankees on July 29, Talbot gave up one earned run on one hit with four walks before being yanked in the second inning with a back strain.
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This Day in Baseball
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On August 14 in Baseball History...
1888 - Tim Keefe winning streak is stopped at nineteen games when Gus Krock and the Chicago White Stockings beat the Giants before a crowd of 10,240 in New York.
1932 - John Quinn, at 49, becomes the oldest pitcher to win a major league game. Quinn earns the decision for Brooklyn in relief against the Giants.
1933 - Jimmie Foxx hits for the cycle and drives in nine runs to break the American League record, as the A's beat the Indians 11-5. A record eight players will hit for the cycle in 1933.
1937 - The Detroit Tigers scored 36 runs against the St. Louis Browns in a doubleheader to set a major league record. Pete Foxof the Tigers scored eight of the runs.
1958 - Vic Power of the Cleveland Indians stole home twice in the same game. He had only three steals all year.
1961 - The Philadelphia Phillies dropped their 17th straight game, a 9-2 loss to Dick Ellsworth and the Chicago Cubs. It was also the 11th consecutive complete game pitched against the Phillies.
1969 - On an off-day after a three-game sweep by the Astros in Houston, the New York Mets fell to third place, 9 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs.
1971 - Before 30,678 Pittsburgh fans, Cardinals ace Bob Gibson, 35, hurls the first no-hitter of his career, an 11-0 shellacking of the Pirates. Gibson walks three and strikes out 10, and paces the offense with three RBI.
1981 - Jeff Burroughs of the Seattle Mariners hit three home runs in a 13-3 rout of the Minnesota Twins.
1982 - Pete Rose of the Philadelphia Phillies, in his first at-bat of a 15-11 victory over the Montreal Expos, passed Hank Aaron and moved into first place on the all-time at-bat list with 12,365.
1987 - Oakland's Mark McGwire slugs his 39th home run of the season in a 12-inning 7-6 win over California, breaking the major league record for rookies shared by Wally Berger and Frank Robinson. McGwire will finish the season with 49 homers, most in the American League.
1988 - Detroit pounds the Red Sox 18-6 at Fenway Park to end Boston's American League record home winning streak at 24 games. Boston was just two wins shy of the major league record held by the 1916 Giants.
1997 - Lights out! The Orioles and Mariners wait out a power outage of nearly two-and-a-half hours in varying degrees of light and darkness before the game is finally postponed. It results in the Mariners having to play back-to-back doubleheaders in different cities.