Sport: MLBPick Selection: Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals
This game report includes a play on the following three teams: Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals
I'm playing on CLEVELAND. The Indians have been terrific in their afternoon games, going 13-4. Despite yesterday's loss, they're still also an excellent 15-5 in their divisional games and an even better 19-5 at home. The Tigers, on the other hand, are a very mediocre 13-12 in their divisional games and a poor 11-14 (-3.9) against teams with a winning record. The Tigers have hit well vs. left-handed starters but the Indians have been even better vs. right-handed starters. Bonderman has the better numbers so far this season but he's struggled against the Indians while Sowers had success in his lone start vs. the Tigers. In fact, that start came against Bonderman here last August and Sowers allowed just two hits through six complete innings of a 4-2 victory. Including that loss, Bonderman is just 6-9 with an ugly 6.29 ERA vs. Cleveland. Despite yesterday's victory, the Tigers are still just 2-7 their last nine games. Look for their struggles to continue this afternoon as the Indians bounce back from yesterday's loss and improve to 7-1 on Sundays.
I'm laying the price with PHILADELPHIA. Garcia started off slowly for the Phillies but he's been steadily lowering his ERA his last five starts. In fact, he's allowed three earned runs or less in each of those five starts, averaging better than six innings, including an eight inning effort last time out. For the season, the two-time All-Star is 0-3 with a 4.98 ERA underneath the lights but 1-0 with a respectable 3.78 ERA in three afternoon starts. Lincecum has pitched very well for the Giants so far this season. However, he'll be facing a Phillies' team which averages a whopping 5.6 runs per game vs. right-handed starters, hitting .277 with a healthy .351 on-base-percentage. Lincecum's only bad start of the year came vs. the Phillies when he lasted just 4 1/3 innings and gave up five hits (2 HRs), five walks and five runs (4 earned) en route to an 8-5 loss. Garcia has only faced the Giants once this millennium but dominated them in that meeting, allowing just three hits and two runs through seven complete innings, earning a 3-2 victory over Estes. Over the past three seasons, the Giants are a money-burning 57-66 (-12.8) during the afternoon. During the same stretch, the Phillies were a profitable 73-51 (+15.7) when playing during the afternoon. Look for more of the same this afternoon as the Phillies improve to 8-1 the last nine times they were a host in this series.
I'm playing on WASHINGTON. The Nationals faced a pair of tough right-handed starters (Peavy and Germano) in the first two games of this series and managed a split. They've hit better against left-handers though and are a profitable 8-8 (+4.8) against southpaws for the season. That includes a 3-0 mark their last three games against left-handers (they were underdogs for each game) in which they outscored their opponents by a 21-7 margin. Note that Washington is hitting .267 vs. left-handers while San Diego is hitting just .239 vs. right-handers. Simontacci comes off a rough outing (6 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings) which saw his ERA take a hit. However, he actually wasn't pitching as badly as the stats indicate as he had only allowed two runs through five innings and three runs through six. Its also worth noting that he hadn't allowed more than four runs in any of his previous four starts, that he's fared well in two career starts vs. San Diego, going 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA and 1.077 WHIP, while averaging greater than six complete innings, AND that his team is still 9-5 in his L14 starts, 5-2 his L7 at home. Conversely, after Tuesday's 4-1 loss at Pittsburgh, Wells has now seen his team go 6-14 his L20 road starts. For the season, he has an awful 7.71 ERA and 2.100 ERA in five road starts, averaging less than five innings each time out and allowing opposing hitters a whopping<
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