Sport: MLBPick Selection: TB vs nyy, LAA @ det, CIN vs pit
RAYS ? The Yankees are at .500 on the road this season. The Rays are a fantastic 52-19 at home this season and they come into this game riding a solid five-game winning streak! Even though Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford are on the disabled list, they got back Carlos Pena and Rocco Baldelli and the amazing season continues for Tampa Bay. The Rays are coming off of a three game sweep of Baltimore over the weekend and they scored 34 runs in the process. Tampa Bay went 21-7 in the month of August and their 3.70 ERA on the season ranks them second in the majors! The Yankees finally got a win Monday but they allowed 9 runs in that victory at Detroit. New York has now allowed 22 runs in their last three games and their pitching staff will certainly be tested by the red hot Rays sticks in this series. Although Mike Mussina of the Yankees has enjoyed success against the Rays this season, and in his career, the right-hander has allowed 25 hits in his last 20 innings on the road. In his last two starts away from home Mussina has allowed 7 earned runs in 13 innings and his 6-1 record on the road this season is somewhat deceiving in that he has been hit at a .295 clip away from Yankee Stadium this year. Note that Mussina?s counterpart tonight is Tampa Bay?s Matt Garza and he?s thrown four, long scoreless outings in his last eight starts! Overall, his numbers at Tropicana Field this season have been phenomenal has he?s 7-2 with a 2.47 ERA in Tampa Bay this season. The Rays have won nine straight series at Tropicana Field and Garza dominated the Yankees the last time he faced them at home! The Rays right-hander has allowed just 15 hits in his last 23.3 innings and he comes up strong once again as Tampa Bay continues to assert themselves as the new leader of the AL East. It?s out with the old and in with the new as the Rays take care of the Yankees in Tuesday?s series opener. ANGELS ? Concerns are being voiced about Angels southpaw Joe Saunders as Los Angeles continues to try to ?gear up? for the postseason. However, the feeling here is that the southpaw hasn?t pitched nearly as badly as many think. While it?s true that he did not win a game in August, note that his first three starts of the month saw him allowed just 7 earned runs on 20 hits in 18 innings. Those numbers really aren?t bad at all and the Angels did win two of those three outings. Now, just because he?s been hammered in his last two starts some are saying that he?s ?lost it?. We disagree totally and we see a guy who is 8-3 on the road this season with a 2.64 ERA and a .228 BAA ready to dominate at Comerica Park tonight. Saunders did struggle against Detroit the last time he faced them. However, prior to that outing, he had held the Tigers to four earned runs in 12.2 innings in his first two career starts against them. Detroit?s bats had been slumping too, prior to yesterday?s nine run explosion against the Yankees. Note that the Tigers had scored only 3.9 runs per game in their last ten games to wrap up August. Detroit has also had plenty of pitching problems recently! The Tigers pitching staff has allowed an average of 7 runs per game in their last 16 games! Sending Chris Lambert to the mound is unlikely to help matters for the Tigers pitching situation! Lambert was the victim of some poor defense but there was still not much to like about his major league debut as he allowed six runs (two earned) on five hits (including two homers) in less than three innings on the mound. The young right-hander faced a hot Indians lineup in that game but it won?t get any easier today. Even though the Angels haven?t been scoring a lot of runs, they still have one of the most potent lineups in the league and they come into Detroit confident. The Angels magic number for the postseason is already down into single digits and they?re already 4-2 against the Tigers this season and are looking to win the season series against Detroit for an 8th straight time! Note that, even though this series is in Detroit, the Tigers are just 35-33 at home while the Angels are an amazing 40-25 on the road this season. The Tigers pitching staff has allowed at least nine runs in four of their last six games and another ugly loss appears to be on tap for Tuesday! Angels should roll on the road as Saunders answers the doubters! REDS ? The Pirates have lost ten straight games and no team in the National League scored less runs than the Pirates did in August. Pittsburgh went just 7-21 in August and the trades of outfielders Xavier Nady and Jason Bay seemed to totally disrupt a Pirates offense that had been one of the National League?s top run producers entering August. The Reds certainly didn?t have any problems at the plate in their weekend sweep of San Francisco. After a tough 3-6 road trip where they averaged a little less than three runs per game, the Reds offense, as it often does, bounced back at home. Great American Ballpark is a hitters? park and Cincinnati took advantage of that in sweeping the Giants and averaging nine runs per game in the series! The Reds bats should stay hot against Ian Snell of the Pirates. The Pittsburgh right-hander is just 1-2 with a 6.23 ERA in his three starts against Cincinnati this season. Snell also is struggling coming into this start as he allowed five earned runs in four innings versus the Cubs on Tuesday. Snell has had issues with his command this season. Last year, he walked just 68 in 208 innings. This season, Snell has already walked 78 and he?s thrown just 137 innings. He?s just 1-3 with a 5.70 ERA in his career starts at Great American Ballpark and he is likely to be outdueled by Aaron Harang here. The Reds right-hander has struggled against the Pirates this season but he faced them when they had Nady and Bay in the lineup. Also Harang has turned things around with allowing just three earned runs on 13 hits in his last 13 innings spanning two starts. He struck out 9 batters at Houston on Thursday and he should be able to handle a struggling and frustrated Pirates lineup. With the Reds lineup hotter (and facing a pitcher whom they?ve had success against) this one should be all Cincinnati!
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