Michael Cannon Money Train
Sunday Picks:
15 Dime –
GIANTS (With Zito and Chico as listed pitchers)
Take the Giants as the small road chalk for the win over the Nationals.
Barry Zito will get the start for San Francisco and he has settled down over the last month. The left-hander went 2-1 with a 2.56 ERA in six starts in August.
The Giants as a team have played fairly decent over that stretch and I love their chances at this price today over the Nats.
Washington will start Matt Chico, who is making his first start since being demoted to Triple-A two weeks ago. The left-hander is 1-2 with a 6.50 ERA in his last seven big league starts.
San Fran has the greater edge in the pitching matchup and shouldn’t have any problems getting the win.
Take the Giants as the road chalk for the win.
5 Dime –
RED SOX -1 ½ RUN LINE (With Cabrera and Lester as listed pitchers)
Take the Red Sox on the run line over the Orioles this afternoon.
Boston shouldn’t have any problems putting the O’s down today. Baltimore has lost 10 of its last 11 games, posting a 9.71 ERA and a .253 team batting average during that span.
It’s going to be tough to improve on those numbers with Daniel Cabrera getting the nod today. The right-hander is on a personal five-game losing streak against the Red Sox. He’s 1-7 with an 8.39 ERA in nine career starts against Boston, including 0-2 with a 10.05 ERA in three outings at Fenway. In his last five starts against the Red Sox, Cabrera has allowed 24 runs and 27 hits in 23 innings while walking 23 batters.
To say Boston is going to score some runs today is stating the obvious.
Jon Lester will start for Boston and all he has to do is manage the game and throw strikes and he’ll walk away with the win.
Take Boston on the run line as they score another big win over the Orioles.
TIGERS (With Robertson and Braden as listed pitchers)
Take Detroit for the road win over Oakland today.
The Tigers are desperately trying to stay in the playoff race, and they are going to have to start winning some series away from home in order to do so.
They are going to get it today.
Coming off a win behind Justin Verlander yesterday, I like Detroit to keep that momentum going today against a pitcher who really shouldn’t even be in the big leagues right now.
Dallas Braden will get the start after Esteban Loaiza was picked up by the LA Dodgers. Braden was 0-7 with a 7.17 ERA in his last nine starts before he was optioned to the minors.
It doesn’t take a genius to see he’s not quite ready for the bigs yet.
Nate Robertson will start for the Tigers and he’s 3-3 with a 5.45 ERA in six career starts against the A’s.
It’s not that Robertson is that great of a pitcher, but he doesn’t have to be anything other than ordinary today and Detroit will get the win.
Take the Tigers as they grab the road win.