A Bleak Look At Cash

This Is Just A Test Run

2011-02-10T16:44:00.005-07:00

This is the cover art associated with Monday Jazz Mix #58. You can listen to it for free right here:

Or you can visit Monday Jazz and download any of the mixes that have been released over the past few years. These are some great eclectic mixes and the perfect dose of new for the start of another week.

Egyptian Snake Eyes

2011-02-09T21:39:00.005-07:00

Thanks to the crew over at Daily Diggers for the heads up on this being the 20^th anniversary of this amazing Main Source album. For those who weren’t around 20 years ago, or don’t care, or forgot, Main Source is Sir Scratch, Large Professor, and K-Cut. These are some funky old school beats, and the MCs will remind you of the days of a young Will Smith.

This next bit is exclusively for those who have bought this album previously. If you’ve lost it, had it stolen, scratched, melted, whatever, you can go ahead and pick it up right here. Otherwise, sod off.

* * *

I’d like to switch gears now that the goods have been dropped and focus a bit of attention on the situation in Egypt. If you give half a shit about the state of the world, you know what’s going on in Egypt. One of the lessons I’ve taken away from this, and have had impressed upon me more and more often as time has gone on, is that our stereotypes about other nations are generally misguided. Egypt has a reputation as a state we must appease or else they will invade Israel and turn it in to an Islamist state. But we see right there on the streets that the people of Egypt desire a democracy. It seems to be a fairly modern country with well-educated citizens who are more like Americans than like Martians. We’ve got a perfect example below, from the good folks at RabbleTV via Prism Magazine:

I really enjoy hearing this woman speak and sincerely hope they are successful in their attempts in taking control of their government and being represented by that government, rather than simply working for the government. (Yes, I stole that last bit from the video).

Oy! What’s All This Then?

2011-02-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Australian Commonwealth’s news services are reporting on a new discovery of ancient astronomy/time-keeping. The article is… unedited? They write the location of the stones is a closely guarded secret, but then up under the picture, in the caption, it says the site is known as the Mount Rothwell site. Well, OK then, let’s find it! I have yet to actually find the site, but it's around this area; you can read all about it right here.

If you look around you might find this newfangled ancient stonehenge. You Yangs East Entrance

Interestingly, the article references scientists from the CSIRO, which is the Australian Commonwealth Scientific Research Organization. Now I’m not sure where the line is drawn between watching shadows grow long and conducting astrophysical research, but if someone could give some insights into the advanced function of this arrangement, that would be awesome!

DJ Nu-Mark Flipping Toys For The Kids

2011-02-06T11:56:00.005-07:00

This is pretty hilarious and awesome all at once. Check out how he gets this guy to wire up a little “Baby’s First Auto” toy to get some decent and fun samples out.

You can listen to the 20 minute mini-mix that’s been given out right here:

Morlochs Discovered Living Underneath Astoria, IL

2011-02-05T18:48:00.004-07:00

You know, I really have no idea what is going on with the Molemen at the moment. Their website, molemen.com, is looking nice, but it’s been undergoing an upgrade for a damn long time now.

Either way, these are some dope producers and MC’s out of Chicago. “From Now Until Forever” is Astonish’s first album out overall and first with the Molemen crew. This is some dreamy smooth hiphop, where the melodic hooks play off a solid, if plain, drum line base. You’ll hear plenty of pianos, wistful guitar riffs, and some vocal post-production to give it that polished feel. Hard to believe this is just bubbling up.

Here we’ve got a couple of tracks to preview this album. I would recommend picking this one up. It’s got a nice sound, something to really grab your attention and transport you away.

Broken Dreams – This is a poignant tale told of one of many young black men who found themselves making ridiculous stacks in the drug game, end up with a family, and finish with time in jail, losing it all. You see, life is long, you fail to check your head for a second and that could be it, especially if you’re up to something stupid.

Life Ain’t Sweet (ft. Termanology) – A pretty simple beat that just seems to grin at you and hint at a sound that could take over the entire track with a tweak here or there. Termanology spits some pretty basic rhymes, but it’s really Astonish’s cool drawl that takes this track. Check it below.

And to finish off, we have a little bit of comedy via Day By Day Entertainment. It’s the Roadie Road Show, it’s pretty bizarre and damn funny:

“My man Julian, who did a stint rapping in DIRTY RATS as Cali Fats, is one funny ass dude… check out this clip of some roadie cooking advice…” --Percy Carey

Back A Minute

2011-02-04T06:15:00.003-07:00

Once long ago I got ahold of this CD called “Rave Til’ Dawn”. This was something we could listen to over and over and over again. I mean, there was nothing else like it at the time. The synth’d out sounds, driving bass kick, and random-ass samples were nothing if not fascinating. Here’s the album I’m talking about, along with the tracklisting.

Tracklisting

1. Fuck You [Singalongmotherfucker Mix]

2. Jump! [Mutha Mix] - The Movement

3. Get Ready for This [Orchestral Mix] - 2 Unlimited

4. Can You Feel the Passion [Palladium Mix] - Blue Pearl

5. Dreamer, Dream - Code Red

6. Stylophonia - Two Little Boys

7. Injected With a Poison - Jade 4 U

8. Green Man [Rum & Black Mix] - Shut Up & Dance

9. Take Control - Lords of Acid

10. Million Colours - Channel X

You can listen to The Movement’s “Jump! [Mutha Mix]” right up there. Also, you might notice 2Unlimited there at track 3. What’s that? Yes. Yes, it is the sports arena anthem of America. This is some killer music and has some killer loops, samples, and themes to draw from. Enjoy!

Creatin’ A Trend

2011-02-03T19:51:00.004-07:00

Crown Royale are Buff1 and DJ Rhettmatic, which is a killer tandem. DJ Rhettmatic from the Beat Junkies, no shit. You’ll want to make sure to check out “We Gotcha”. The galactic beats intro is a terrific hook and Buff’s giving lyrical lessons in largeness. If you enjoy turntables and MCs, this is pure gold. (Ya listenin’, Sureshot?)	You thought we was done, but we got more. Yes, the world is getting smaller, Buff. Here we have the 2Dope EP dropped along with the album. The highlight has to be, quite easily, 14KT’s remix of “After All” from the EP. Choral notes under the beat give it an epic feel, really providing the gravity Buff’s lyrics demand on this track. Check it. #99.9

Might As Well

2011-02-01T05:29:00.007-07:00

It’s 5am and as I get ready to go in to the lab I’m listening to this mix by DJ Mensa. Now, while posting this I considered uploading the mix to my own favorite choice for sharing media. This, however, is the same download link I used to get some.

Or you can listen right here:

And in case you’re too lazy to peep on over to Mensa’s site, here’s a tracklist of what you would be listening to if you downloaded this mix. The people who are too lazy to peep the tracklist will just have to assume the music is from the aether, or something.

Tracklisting

Kanye West ft. Mos Def & Swizz Beatz – Lord Lord Lord

Pete Rock – A Word of Two

Choclair – Just A Second (DJ Mensa Remix)

High Def – Gone

Joell Ortiz – Sing Like Bilal

Adam Bomb – Wouldn’t Understand

1982 ft. Bun B – You Should Go Home

Assorted Flavors – Make Up Your Mind (DJ Mensa Remix)

Freddie Joachim – What Comes of Dreams

Red Cafe ft. Talib Kweli – I Luv

Trackademicks ft. Phonte – Fool On A Hill

Al B. Sure – Nite & Day (Onra Edit)

MF Doom – daBoom (BasicBlink Remix)

N*E*R*D – Inside of Clouds

Lauryn Hill – Repercussions

Adriana Evans – Waiting

D’Angelo – Left & Right (Sam Champ Remix)

Tamia – Imagination (DJ Mensa Remix)

Cheri Dennis – Over

Little Brother – Before The Night Is Over

Jim Jones – Blow Your Smoke

Snoop Dogg ft. The Dream – Luv Drunk

Consequence – Got Me Trippin’ (The Amerie Joint)

Ne-Yo – One In The Million

DJ Center ft. Middle Child – In A Song

Aloe Blacc – You Make Me Smile

Bishop Lamont – Friends

Kanye West, Jay-Z, Pete Rock – The Joy

Tyga ft. Pharrell – First Time

Marsha Ambrosius – I Hope She Cheats On You

Jessica Kaya ft. Rich Kidd – Heavy

The Foreign Exchange – Maybe She’ll Dream of Me

Quadron – Baby Be Mine

Insightful

2011-01-30T08:11:00.002-07:00

What we have here is an album of psychedelic hip-hop beats straight out of San Diego (yes, accesshiphop, you are being seen).

Take a listen to one of the tracks:

You can get all 28 tracks right HERE...

The Scale Of The Universe

2011-01-29T21:51:00.006-07:00

This is a fairly interesting website that allows you to scroll up and down magnitudes of scale, from quantum foam to the largest galaxies. That ethereal music mysteriously emanating from your computer is coming from this page.

50 Ways To Drop It

2011-01-29T06:24:00.003-07:00

So I finished tidying up some verse I had written a few years ago to a beat I can't remember at the moment (since I'm listening to something else at the same time). Anyways, here it is:
And if thought experiments were athletic skills I'd have schooled Big Blues unreal Grant Hill.
Murder innocents, murderous intents, fatal events, n' homicidal mindsets!
Walla Walla is an Elmer Fudd joke, filled with 7th day shit-heads who deserve to get choked!
Got to reap sown wheat, n store heaps to tryst through the mist, before I pick up my feet, n' rest my head while I weep.
Hey Death Row! Ya still live? Large much?? Creep all ya’ want, I never sleep. Chutch.
Demon motherfuckers make it real in this inethical [sic(sick)] world! Bitch.
Let the deej run this, ‘afore I murder the emcee with my BEEP BOOP fists. Robotix.
Did you even play a game at Ruckers, Park? Doubt ya met the King, or the Duck. Fuck. Shucks.
Salt Lake Shitty is the city where we outnumber “No on 1” flitty know-not bitches fifty to fucking one.
Now soar underneath the sun! Jun can hook ya engine metal sintered new material, son.
Now, don’t worry ‘bout my end of the run. Wesley Bum-kiss. Unsic. Hope he gets a damn tick.
Doubt me, n' you’re already licked. Lesson learned too late, too slow, diffusion of the Fick.
Communication is so inefficient.
I smoothed it out while listening to 'Blessings' from You Only Live Twice. I also had it working well with track#12 of the medicine show 11. This was written a couple months after Utah had voted to disallow gay marriage. I also decided to just attack attack attack, because well, who the f_sck really cares anyways, aye?

2011-01-29T06:15:00.002-07:00

This is a pretty sick remix of Copywrite's Crooked Cop ft. Crooked I. Production handled by Surock. The original album is pretty damn sick too.

Also finally popped in MF Grimm - You Only Live Twice. Hot damn, Twiz The Beat Pro really goes off to give Grimm the perfect melodies, beats, and sonic fills for his rhymes. You can peep Twiz's work with Evidence below. I recommend getting the CD for You Only Live Twice. Why? I like comics too.

Silencing (A Visual Effect)

2011-01-28T04:41:00.005-07:00

A couple of guys up at Harvard (same guys that made the demo vids) published a paper in Current Biology about this optical illusion they call 'silencing'.

Contrast.

These demos were created by Jordan Suchow (suchow@fas.harvard.edu) and George Alvarez (http://visionlab.harvard.edu/Members/George/Welcome.html)

Well, with some creative searching it's been found and sanitized. Robots can't look for everything yet. Get it here.

Evidence With The Beatles (2010)

2011-01-24T05:13:00.005-07:00

Time to head to the lab. I really don't have time to post up anything at the moment, so for now I'll just recommend you look for Evidence With The Beatles, featuring production from Twiz The Beat Pro. Check back later for the link.

And here it is: DOWNLOAD

The Written Word

2011-01-23T19:16:00.004-07:00

A picture is worth 1,000 words. If I write 1,000 words it's all art, but it's OK if you call only part of it art and compartmentalize it from other kinds of art.

So, for any of you still here, let's get ready to rumble.

Us white people are fucking crazy. Seriously, check this out:

I'm also still on Mighty High Coup - To The Moon. Once again, I recommend purchasing it here at amazon. Track 7, Hoody N' Tims, is one I hadn't listened to much initially, but it turns out to be a chill little track. Anyways, I wrote the following at various points in the day:
Chattin' to the Laureates in the corner,
Noble stories at the edge of the border
of the era, new technology is in my mind
all the time, it's fly, when I see the atoms
connectin' to form the hive, also the skies,
'N we try, to ascend this, funny, just pretend this
vibrations got large after Einstein and Bohrs
Duality, particle and wave, now go and get yours
Increase your energy, get down, BASS takes it
Without grumble stumblin' south Sudan animate
primal psyche psycho Islam Khartoum control gate
Hold up... the fuck?
Bluck bluck, with a smile, coz I ain't never held a gun
Yeah, yeah, y'all ain't stunned, grunt
while I behave in a way that blunts the choices
you will make, Bun. Careful, son,
this mind control business can tear 'em asund.
"sample: For every action there is a reaction"
Recast in Iran contra, indicate, fate
is just a state of mind, you'll find
Stick and move, is just act first, react never.
So blast first, jackasses think they clever,
Ideals from Plato are mere sticks that I move
Your reality is my magic trick. Yeah? Smooth.
I just want another dirty rats needle groove.
Clone myself, outre spangled banner strangle
*rrrr*, *haha*, *-ooovve* *lala*
So while I was writing this I would be listening to A-Bomb and Ricky Raw and Cashmere The Professional, so it might seem a little incompatible, but hey it can be spit 50 different ways, I just need one.

Saturday Night Droppers

2011-01-08T05:40:00.011-07:00

Welcome back, I've taken a few days off being as I've been ill lately, trying to avoid paralysis. Below we have a remix for Wiz Khalifa's "Black & Yellow", which

I snabbed this from 2DopeBoyz, and wouldn't you know it, they were nice enough to provide a download for the song (good luck finding it on their site). Go here for the mp3.

MF GrimmThe Hunt For The Gingerbread Man -

Hit "play" here for a couple MF Grimm tracks you might wish you had from "The Hunt For The Gingerbread Man"

We've also got a couple reminders for all those at home here in the valley.


Tonight, at the Woodshed, we have Dave & The Death Machine, featuring Whitney Blayne.	In The Venue, $5 presale, $10 door; This is the CD release party for Mixmaster Dapper whose "While You Were DJing" drops next Tuesday. Oh yes, get ready for the never to be released mix.

●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●

If you can believe it.

Serum - New Music - More Music Videos

And, oh, I'm being told I need to stop now. Peace.

Baby Bull

2011-01-05T15:40:00.010-07:00

Aye, aye, Cap'n Gloval!

Sorry to knock Self-Scientific down a spot, but I just heard this new producer, Baby Bull. Not every track on here is perfect, but some of these belie a real love of production. You'll hear Detroit house & soul over broken beats, some boom bap sound mixed with spooky low-end electronica, and more. Damn, I wish I had this sound, haha.

Pokemon Hot Damn by BabyBull
Fishy Seals by BabyBull
Thriller (Baby Bull Rmx)

Today Only

2011-01-05T08:31:00.009-07:00

These guys are going to be killing the MPC even harder one day.

No time today, like the White Rabbit, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. Click through the image to get an untracked version of Self-Scientific's Changes.

If you haven't heard Chace Infinite and DJ Khalil team up before, this album will get you noddin' along before they bust out the best for last. Apologies for encoding errors if you hear them. Pants.

Sports Betting Stats, Mighty High Coup, Self-Scientific, Burnell Washburn

2011-01-03T22:03:00.039-07:00

(skip nerd shit)

Skellam P.D.F. for West Bromwich Albion & Fulham F.C.

All data from WorldFootball.net

Alright, so above is a Skellam distribution. It's like a Gaussian distribution, except instead of being the probability for a single random variable X, it's the probability of the difference of two Poisson variables, X-Y.

Poisson variables are ones that occur at random intervals, but with an overall time average, like nuclear radiation. This average is the mean of the distribution and completely determines the probability distribution.

So say you had some radioactive materials, and they're hooked up to a balance such that if the second material becomes 5 grams lighter than the first material a button will be pressed that ignites a nuclear bomb fueled by both materials. Damn. Stakes are high. Do you have anything to worry about?

Skellam distribution.

Put in the half-lives (means) for the materials and check out the probability for A-B > 5. If I had more time and skill I'd put a widget up here specifically so you could check these kinds of every day things. As it stands, we'll just use this for sports betting and odds-making.

In this case the random event is a point being scored. The 'materials' are the opposing teams, the 'half-lives' are the average goals per unit each team scores, and the 'nuclear explosion' is your bank account blowing up.
(Well, not really, since the bookmakers use this method and extensions of it, and then go ahead and artificially set the odds so they add up to over 100% chance for either team winning, and arbitrage the situation to ensure they profit no matter the outcome, much like a hedge fund but arbitrage-ier.)

Hit me up if you're in school now and can get *this* article. I don't want to have to park at or bus to the University.
**********************************************************************

Now that there above tired me the fuck out. So I'll just leave you with another soulful funk mix, this time by the great Mogpaws over at Invisible Friends. Hit play below, or go directly to their site.

Medium Beneath Media. Bang Around.

Mogpaws

Face The MusicHa Ha. Thanks. - Bullett EP

Fade Away.

Burnell Washburn

Face The MusicHa Ha. Thanks. - Bullett EP

This is the first three songs from The White Dove EP (2010). You can find it in Utah, or hit up Burnell at his |___|Space.

Chace Infinite, DJ Khalil, egawd.

Mighty High Coup

Face The MusicHa Ha. Thanks. - Bullett EP

Face The Music (Haha!) From "To The Moon", which you can pre-order at their site. Ricky Raw, A-Bomb, Mr. SOS

_{P.S. Hit me up if you would appreciate having the new Stones Throw cast w/o iTunes. We can discuss how nice it would be to have.}

Hieroglyphics

2011-01-03T06:45:00.005-07:00

Alright, quick update, the world needs me out there. Click on through the link for a Hieroglyphics mix by digumsmack. Stream or download. Mmmm. Dig?

Art used w/o permission from Being Lady Lucy.

And something new to wrap things up. This is a sneak peak of one of our own here in the valley. Phil Maggio dropping a couple dimes from his new EP, due out in March, produced by Grounded1 of n1nthCloud.

Or just drop through the link back and say hi to Drasar Monumental.

Mighty Mystic on d'Riddim Lab

2011-01-02T14:23:00.045-07:00

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Tune in tonight at 8pm in LA, 11pm in NYC, 2am in Rio, 4am in London, and 7am in St. Petersburg. Mighty Mystic will be stopping by to lay down some new sound for all the world's ears.

Tune in to the Riddim Lab each Sunday, 9pm MST

Destroy. Rebuild.

2011-01-01T10:29:00.026-07:00

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Description
From SLC to ATL. ; Thanks to the artists, you'll hear (in no particular order) Copywrite, Crown Royale, Guts, K-Murdock & Mega Ran, Ink, Planet Asia, Dead Prez, GMG,

etFucke upsj neuidy8dshuih.

Opponent	ND 3PM
Cal	1
Wisconsin	4
Kentucky	6
Gonzaga	11
Georgetown	7

#15 Notre Dame @ #5 Syracuse - Notre Dame 3PM
Notre Dame like to jack up threes. They've got 5 players averaging between 0.75 and 2.25 threes made per game. Syracuse just got done beating Providence by 7 points and Providence made 8 threes. Check out Notre Dame's threes made against Division I competition.

Quick & Dirty Update

2010-12-30T06:25:00.006-07:00

Click the player up top to listen in on Ink the Ill Scene Illustrator and GMG and the rest of the Dirty Rats crew. Click the link back or check it out at Day By Day Ent.

DJ Jun - Brazilian Funk & Samba Soul

2010-12-29T20:58:00.004-07:00

This is a little gem from last year that Drasar Monumental dropped yesterday. The site is invisible-friends.com and the streams there are pretty nice. Click here.

Or you can just click on through the link back.

A Snapshot Of My Day

2010-11-16T10:45:00.008-07:00

Selected random lyrics I've written:

To form a chronology of Grande E, you must traverse the breeze, start in the Sin City;
Las Vegas gave birth to me, but the Mormon mecca took the role of raising me, SLC!
Sugarhood be the last remaining levy versus developments, the change is heavy.
Spent some time around, Ft. Collins, start the bud, had the Cough, I found;
Met some colored contacts, spent some time in Cincy, hooked me up, thought it looked kinda chintzy;
That's OK, ended up delayed in faux Jewel, Joya, jolly neighbor air destroyer;
Coronado, low hum constant, interfere with, environs were heaven sent.

I heard you had beef with your external disguise, with these guys on all sides, unzippin' they flies;
tried to take care of it with yay-yea, you only made yourself sick, life felt like shit, yea.
You've got to believe that desire and relief are just chains on you and me, please don't bleed,
satisfyin' serotonin needs. Lettin' lifes abstract greeds get underneath your sheets.
Compassion is the fashion, send a polyphonic lashin', that gold shimmers n' fades, bling disappeared in the shade.
Aqua regia took it completely away.
Gotta open up your third eyes, believe, get high, get by, pay attention, got mine. Gonna get yours? For you kid, I'll teach a course.

Morality Play At The Delta Center

2010-11-16T06:31:00.001-07:00

At the Jazz game last night they had a little 'contest' during one of the breaks. Three guys had a chance to win a basketball, they just had to make a slam dunk off the trampoline like they do during the halftime show.

The MC asks the first guy why he entered the contest: "Because it looks easy!" so the guy jumps on the trampoline and falls woefully short of the basket. The second guy's answer is: "So I can sell the ball on eBay and make some money!", prompting the crowd to boo. He goes up in the air and at the last moment loses his grip on the ball, causing him to miss his dunk too.

Finally, the MC asks the third man why he's entered the contest: "So that I can win that basketball for the biggest Jazz fan in the world, my DAUGHTER!". The crowd cheers and the man runs up to the trampoline, his two year old daughters' hopes and dreams resting on his shoulders. He jumps off the trampoline and delivers a ferocious two-handed jam.

No. Seriously. That is exactly how it went down in real life. This is not a parable or a fable, this was the real, off-action, entertainment at the game.

Increasing 'N' For Improved CRQL Recovery

2010-11-13T15:03:00.010-07:00

To start off, there is a great book on error analysis called "An Introduction To Error Analysis" by John R. Taylor. This book has very succinct and easy to use explanations of least squares analysis, linear regression, and propagation of errors.

On the back cover are the expressions we will need to examine how the choice of 'N' in constructing a calibration curve will effect the slope and intercept of a linear regression line.

If (x₁,y₁),...,(x_N,y_N) are data points then the best fit straight line A=mc+b is given by:
m = [(sum(x²)*(sum(y)) - (sum(x)*sum(x*y))]/D
b = [(sum(x*y) - (sum(x)*sum(y))]/D
D = N*(sum(x²) - (sum(x))²)

We can see that N appears in the expression for both m and b in the denominator. Since sum(x²) >= (sum(x))² for any x we can see that increasing N will increase the value of D.

Examining the expressions for 'm' and 'b' we see that the concentration of the calibration standard added will have some effect on whether m or b are increasing or decreasing.

For now, let us focus on a calibration standard with a concentration of less than 1.0 in whatever units you are working in. Now, x² will be less than x. The value of y will depend on the choice for the value of x. For the CETAC M-7500, out of the box, the absorbance in µAbs units is approximately 10,000 times the concentration in ppb or µg/L. This means that in this specific case the values of 'y' will be very large.

The overall effect, when the additional calibration standards have a concentration of 0.5 or less, is to increase the slope as well as decrease the intercept.

Practically, this means that if your CRQL is coming in too low you may be able to make additional calibration standards at concentrations near the CRQL. Their inclusion should increase your overall recovery for low standards while not affecting the recovery very much for your high standards.

Below is an example demonstrating how adding low standards increases the slope gradually while decreasing the intercept more rapidly.

Click image for larger version. Data and graphs showing the effect of increasing N.

In this example computing percent recoveries reveals that including two standards near 0.5x the CRQL increases the percent recovery of the CRQL itself by around 2.5%.

Lakersbrethren.net

2010-10-02T17:07:00.007-06:00

2010-01-26T22:41:00.013-07:00

October 28th 2009 Picks

2009-10-28T01:11:00.003-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, if you followed my picks at the start of October you noticed quite a few losers, and I started my campaign for the monthly on a bitter and sour note (something like 6W-18L-1P). The past couple of weeks have been a bit kinder and I made a brief run up the monthly leaderboard but the last two days have been killers. Japan let me down against Switzerland, giving up 4 unanswered goals after being up 2-0 and eventually falling 4-3. Then VfB Stuttgart continued their stunning run of futility with a 1-0 loss to SpVgg Greuther Fürth (a fucking 2.Bundesliga team). I was originally going to pick against Stuttgart because the DFB Pokal takes a back-seat to Bundesliga and Champions League matches. I then read an article on vfb.de where their coach stated a focus on winning the match today, not that it did them much good. Apparently they had plenty of shots on goal but could not finish on a single one. Later the Cavs disappointed, and from what I saw (the 2^nd quarter) they just did not look good offensively, aside from LeBron. The day wrapped up with a win, 105 points or more. It only took a barrage of free throws and made baskets in the final minute of the half to do it. So, it's on to another day of picks, and a furious attempt to at least hit 70 wins for the month (10 to go). Good luck everybody!

Picks
1) Gambia vs. Netherlands - Netherlands win
2) Costa Rica vs. Turkey - Turkey win
3) Iran vs. Colombia - 0 or 1 goals scored in the 1^st half
4) AC Milan @ Napoli - 2 goals or fewer
5) Liverpool @ Arsenal - Arsenal win
6) Buffalo Sabres @ New Jersey Devils - New Jersey
7) Ottawa Senators @ Florida Panthers - Florida
8) Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Yankees - Philadelphia
9) Which Starting Pitcher Will Allow Fewer Hits: Cliff Lee or Tie vs. C.C. Sabathia - Lee or tie
10) David West vs. Richard Jefferson - West points
11) Detroit Pistons @ Memphis Grizzlies - Memphis
12) Carmelo Anthony's 1^st Half Points: 14 Or Fewer vs. 15 Or More - 14 or fewer
13) L.A. Kings vs. San Jose Sharks - 2^nd Period has more goals

October 4th, 2009 Picks

2009-10-04T08:40:00.006-06:00

(toggle)

(skip to picks)It was just another day where college football kicked my ass. Started out the day with Tottenham Hotspur only managing a draw against Bolton for the loss, but at least it was an entertaining match. Then picked up a win with the Chicago Blackhawks taking revenge on Florida, 4-0. My third pick was another loss with Vancouver failing to beat the Avalanche at home. Colorado is off to a good start this season with two home victories over playoff teams from last season. I finished the day with a win as the Tampa Bay Rays outlasted the Yankees 5-3. Plenty of NFL action today so good luck and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Liverpool @ Chelsea - Liverpool win or draw
2) Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots - New England
3) Chicago Bears (v. Lions) vs. Indianapolis Colts (v. Seahawks) - Indianapolis larger winning margin
4) Washington Redskins (v. Buccaneers) vs. Houston Texans (v. Raiders) - Washington larger winning margin
5) New York Giants Winning Margin vs. Kansas City Chiefs 2^nd Half Points - Giants winning margin
6) Cincinnati Bengals Winning Margin vs. Cleveland Browns TDs and FGs - Cincinnati winning margin
7) Tennessee Titans @ Jacksonville Jaguars - Jacksonville
8) Scott Piercy or Matt Kuchar vs. Rest Of Field - Rest of field
9) New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
10) Tony Stewart vs. Jeff Gordon - Stewart has a better final position
11) Phoenix Mercury @ Indiana Fever - Phoenix
12) Buffalo Bills @ Miami Dolphins - Buffalo
13) New York Jets TDs and FGs vs. New Orleans Saints Winning Margin - Jets TDs and FGs
14) Colorado Rockies @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
15) Dallas Cowboys @ Denver Broncos - Dallas
16) St. Louis Rams 2^nd Half Points vs. San Francisco 49ers Winning Margin - Rams 2^nd half points
17) San Diego Chargers @ Pittsburgh Steelers - San Diego

October 3rd, 2009 Picks

2009-10-03T06:10:00.005-06:00

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(skip to picks)Yesterday was much better on the picks front. I started out with a win when Steve Flesch turned his game around and went -3 on the front nine. Picked up my lone loss of the day when Cristobal Huet gave up two goals on seven shots to the Panthers in the third period, including the tying goal with under three minutes left. Of course he was not up to the task in the shootout and Vokoun led Florida to victory. I then got lucky with St. Louis scoring three unanswered goals against Detroit to take the victory. Finished up the night with BYU doubling up Utah State plus one with the final score of 35-17. We've got a smorgasbord of picks on the menu today so good luck and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Tottenham Hotspru @ Bolton Wanderers - Tottenham Hotspur win
2) Wisconsin Badgers @ Minnesota Golden Gophers - Wisconsin
3) Chicago Blackhawks vs. Florida Panthers - Chicago
4) Michigan Wolverines @ Michigan State Spartans - Michigan State
5) Vancouver Canucks @ Colorado Avalanche - Vancouver
6) Kansas State Wildcats @ Iowa Sate Cyclones - Iowa State
7) Kyle Busch vs. Carl Edwards - Busch has a better final position
8) Air Force Falcons @ Navy Midshipmen - Air Force
9) North Carolina State Wolfpack @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons - Wake Forest
10) Florida State Seminoles @ Boston College Eagles - Florida State
11) Washington Huskies 2^nd Half Points @ Notre Dame Fighting Irish Winning Margin - Notre Dame Winning Margin
12) LSU Tigers @ Georgia Bulldogs - LSU
13) Kansas City Royals @ Minnesota Twins - Kansas City
14) Philadelphia Flyers @ New Jersey Devils - New Jersey
15) Chicago White Sox @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
16) New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
17) Texas A&M Aggies @ Arkansas Razorbacks - Texas A&M
18) Auburn Tigers @ Tennessee Volunteers - Auburn
19) USC Trojans @ California Golden Bears - USC
20) Oklahoma Sooners Winning Margin @ Miami(FL) Hurricanes TDs and FGs - Miami(FL) TDs and FGs
21) San Jose Sharks @ Anaheim Ducks - Anaheim
22) Colorado State Rams @ Idaho Vandals - Colorado State

October 2nd Picks, 2009

2009-10-02T06:08:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)Think of Oingo Boingo's "Just Another Day" but insert poor, atrocious, or shitty between 'Another' and 'Day'. That was how I picked yesterday. The worst of it came in the evening where I got the Flames and Habs NHL picks correct but blew it with the Bruins and Sharks. Of course I picked the Bruins and Sharks for my streak. So from here I feel I can only go up and so here we go and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Woody Austin vs. Steve Flesch - Flesch cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Florida Panthers vs. Chicago Blackhawks - Chicago
3) Bo Van Pelt vs. Rory Sabbatini - Van Pelt cards a lower or equal front 9 score
4) Sparta Rotterdam @ Vitesse Arnhem - Vitesse Arnhem win
5) Detroit Red Wings vs. St. Louis Blues - St. Louis
6) Philadelphia Flyers @ Carolina Hurricanes - Carolina
7) Chicago White Sox @ Detroit Tigers - Chicago
8) New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays - New York
9) Pittsburgh Panthers Winnings Margin @ Louisville Cardinals TDs and FGs - Pittsburgh winning margin
10) Utah State Aggies points scored @ BYU Cougars winning margin - BYU winning margin
11) Texas Rangers @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle
12) Saskatchewan Roughriders @ BC Lions - BC

October 1st Picks, 2009

2009-10-01T05:57:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)Again the soccer picks killed me. Took Australia to score first even though I knew Oceanic teams typically are weak, then hit the fail button again when I banked on Brazil's U-20 team to score early and often. They did not score at all. After that I took Manchester United at home, but they and Chelsea each won by one goal. Finally picked up a win when I switched my pick to Toronto with Boston resting nearly their entire starting lineup. Well, it's a new day of picks and a new chance to go for the monthly if that's how you want to swing it, so good luck and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Steve Elkington vs. Joe Durant - Elkington cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Aaron Baddeley vs. Dustin Johnson - Johnson cards a lower front 9 score
3) Spain vs. Venezuela - Venezuela wins, draws, or loses by 1 goal
4) Minnesota Twins @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
5) Egypt vs. Italy - 2 goals or fewer
6) Dan Haren vs. Tim Lincecum - Haren pitches more innings
7) Washington Capitals @ Boston Bruins - Boston
8) Montreal Canadiens @ Toronto Maple Leafs - Montreal
9) Colorado Buffaloes Total Points @ West Virginia Mountaineers Winning Margin - Colorado total points
10) Pittsburgh Pirates @ Chicago Cubs - Chicago
11) Southern Miss Golden Eagles @ UAB Blazers - 61 points or more
12) Indiana Fever @ Phoenix Mercury - Phoenix
13) Vancouver Canucks @ Calgary Flames - Calgary
14) San Jose Sharks @ Colorado Avalanche - San Jose
15) Oakland Athletics @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle
16) Home Runs Hit In Innings 4 Through 6 (Athletics @ Mariners): Zero vs. 1 Or More - Zero

September 30th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-30T05:12:00.005-06:00

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(skip to picks)Wow, pretty awful day for my picks mostly thanks to the soccer matches. Liverpool got handled by Fiorentina and I lost my W6, then Verlander went 129 pitches strong. He had 8 strikeouts and 5 hits after 7 innings and 110 pitches but Tim Leyland determined he needed to go one more inning in which he gave up 3 hits and got zero strikeouts so I lost that pick. Then I picked up another win with Chad Billingsley one-hitting the woeful Padres through 5 innings. Well, hopefully soccer can put me out on a better foot today and so on to the picks!

Picks
1) Australia vs. Costa Rica - Australia scores first
2) Beşiktaş @ CSKA Moscow - 2 goals or fewer
3) Czech Republic vs. Brazil - Goal scored in the 29^th minute or earlier
4) Manchester United (v. VfL Wolfsburg) vs. Chelsea (@ APOEL Nicosia) - Manchester United have a larger margin of victory
5) Honduras vs. United Arab Emirates - United Arab Emirates win or draw
6) Minnesota Twins @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
7) Will Joba Chamberlain Get The Win (Royals @ Yankees): Yes vs. No - Yes
8) Toronto Blue Jays @ Boston Red Sox - Toronto
9) Hawaii Warriors @ Louisiana Tech Bulldogs - Louisiana Tech
10) Los Angeles Dodgers (@ Padres) vs. San Francisco Giants (@ Diamondbacks) - Dodgers have a larger margin of victory
11) Oakland @ Seattle vs. Texas @ Los Angeles - Texas @ Los Angeles have more runs scored in innings 4-6

September 29th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-29T02:24:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well damn, that Pirates/Dodgers game sure did not go as expected. I mean, it's tough to get four straight wins, but Kuroda never even had a chance. I'm just glad this once I didn't get screwed by the pitcher who's throwing batting practice. After that I ended up taking the Witten/Smith prop and was just happy to walk away with the push at the end. Even though Witten caught all 9 passes thrown to him you can't fault the Cowboys for targeting him just once in the second half. I mean, the offense they were running was definitely working. Still, just one more pass to the guy would ya? UEFA Champions League is back in action tomorrow and there are a couple of baseball props up on the board which are always fun. I took Billingsley because the Padres are batting .220 at home this season while the Athletics are hitting .268 on the road. And so on to the picks!

Picks
1) Germany vs. Korea - 2 goals or more scored in the 1^st half
2) Minnesota Twins @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
3) Inter Milan @ FK Rubin Kazan - 2 goals or fewer
4) Cameroon vs. United States - Cameroon win
5) Liverpool @ Fiorentina - Liverpool win
6) Minnesota Twins Hits Off Verlander Or Tie vs. Justin Verlander Strikeouts - Verlander strikeouts
7) St. Louis Cardinals @ Cincinnati Reds - St. Louis
8) Indiana Fever @ Phoenix Mercury - Phoenix
9) Felix Hernandez (v. Oakland) vs. Chad Billingsley (@ San Diego) - Billingsley allows fewer hits after 5 innings
10) Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Francisco Giants - Arizona
11) Total Runs Scored In Innings 4 Through 6: 2 Runs Or Fewer vs. 3 Runs Or More - 3 or more

September 28th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-28T01:34:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)I had a helluva Saturday night up on the mountains, hence the lack of picks for Sunday. I figured picks are pretty useless after the fact so fugeddaboutit, yea? Picked up a win with Sunderland this morning and went on to win with Mark Sanchez and the Jets at home to bring my streak to 5. So far there are only six picks on the board for tomorrow but I figure they'll throw up a couple more props before the end of the day. Probably. So on to the picks!

Picks
1) Will Hiroki Kuroda Get The Win (Dodgers @ Pirates): Yes vs. No - No
2) IF Elfsborg @ Halmstads BK - Halmstads BK win or draw
3) West Ham United @ Manchester City - Manchester City win by 2 or more goals
4) União Leiria @ Vitória Guimarães - Vitória Guimarães win
5) Minnesota Twins @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
6) Carolina Panthers 2^nd Half Points vs. Dallas Cowboys Winning Margin - Panthers 2^nd half points
7) DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart vs. Felix Jones and Tashard Choice - Jones/Choice score a TD first
8) Steve Smith vs. Jason Witten - Witten records more 2^nd half receptions
9) Texas Rangers @ Los Angeles Angels - Los Angeles

September 26th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-26T05:31:00.006-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-1-0 as Paraguay's teens (under-20's) held Italy to a scoreless draw in Egypt at the U-20 World Cup. I picked up my win two with the over under prop featuring Spain playing Tahiti. Oceania is traditionally the weakest soccer zone and Tahiti was no exception. Spain opened up the scoring with a goal in the 11^th minute and was up 4-0 before the first half was over. By the end Spain had three players with a brace and two others on the score sheet to win 8-0. Of course I got greedy, but not greedy enough as I let the Yankees and Rangers slide past me to settle on the Phoenix Mercury. Call me paranoid, but I just know Phoenix were paid off to throw that game, I just know it! Plenty of college football to keep you happy until the pros start up tomorrow so enjoy and on with the picks!

Picks
1) Bolton Wanderers @ Birmingham - Bolton Wanderers win or draw
2) #22 North Carolina Tar Heels @ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets - North Carolina
3) Michigan State Spartans @ Wisconsin Badgers - Wisconsin
4) #9 Miami(FL) Hurricanes @ #11 Virginia Tech Hokies - Miami(FL)
5) #6 California Golden Bears @ Oregon Ducks - California
6) #14 TCU Horned Frogs @ Clemson Tigers - Clemson
7) Pittsburgh Panthers @ North Carolina State Wolfpack - Pittsburgh
8) Carl Edwards vs. Denny Hamlin - Edwards has a better final position
9) Chicago Cubs @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco
10) Troy Trojans @ Arkansas State Red Wolves - Arkansas State
11) Detroit Shock @ Indiana Fever - Detroit
12) Detroit Tigers @ Chicago White Sox - Chicago
13) Notre Dame (@ Purdue) vs. Penn State (v. Iowa) - Notre Dame has a larger winning margin
14) Tampa Bay Rays @ Texas Rangers - Texas
15) #24 Washington Huskies @ Stanford Cardinal - Stanford
16) Texas Tech Red Raiders @ #17 Houston Cougars - Houston

September 25th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-25T04:29:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-4-0 yesterday, started the day with a Mike Weir loss followed by Egypt and Trini scoring in the 30^th minute. What gets me is they scored 3 times in the next 27 minute period. I got off the losing way with Genoa getting the draw against Juventus then Tiger carding par on the 18^th. After that I made a stupid mistake in going with Verlander's hits though it turned out to be a decent selection. Toronto was just swinging and missing all night, a team in the top 5 in strikeouts delivered Hernandez his season high in the stat. Then I fell asleep to van Damme in "Double Impact" while Brian Wilson blew a save to give me another loss. Really glad I wasn't watching that game. According to the recap the Giants are now 73-2 when leading after 8 innings *scoff*. Well, I feel a return to over .500 coming so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Italy U20 vs. Paraguay U20 - Paraguay win or draw
2) Heath Slocum vs. Phil Mickelson - Slocum cards a lower or equal front 9 score
3) Sporting Braga vs. Olhanense - Olhanense win or draw
4) Spain vs. Tahiti - 4 goals or more
5) Tiger Woods' Back 9 Score: 33 Or Lower vs. 34 Or Higher - 34 or higher
6) Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees - New York
7) Tampa Bay Rays @ Texas Rangers - Texas
8) Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City Royals - Kansas City
9) Missouri Tiger's Winning Margin vs. Nevada Wolfpack's TDs and FGs - Missouri winning margin
10) Blaine Gabbert's Passing Yards: 265 Or Fewer vs. 266 Or More - 265 or fewer
11) BC Lions @ Calgary Stampeders - 55 points or more
12) Los Angeles Sparks @ Phoenix Mercury - Phoenix
13) Will Tim Lincecum Be The Winning Pitcher (Cubs @ Giants): Yes vs. No - Yes

September 24th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-24T05:18:00.009-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, I bust out the previews and end up with my worst day in two weeks. Fortunately the Detroit Shock kept my streak alive after the Angels extended the losing to two games thanks to some lousing hitting with RISP. Golden Arrows did nothing to change it. I'll probably preview a few today including the Verlander prop but mostly they'll just be quickies. So on to the picks!

Picks
1) Luke Donald vs. Mike Weir - Weir cards a lower front 9 score
2) Cincinnati Reds @ Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh
3) First Goal Scored (Trinidad & Tobago @ Egypt): 27^th Minute Or Earlier vs. 28^th Minute Or Later - 27^th or earlier
4) Tiger Woods' Front 9 score: 33 Or Lower vs. 34 Or Higher - 33 or lower
5) Juventus @ Genoa - Genoa win or draw
6) Texas Rangers @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
7) Tiger Woods' Par-3 18^th Score: Par (3) vs. Any Other Score - Par (3)
8) Felix Hernandez Strikeouts (@Blue Jays) vs. Justin Verlander Hits Allowed (@Indians) - Verlander hits allowed
9) #4 Mississippi Rebels @ South Carolina Gamecocks - Mississippi
10) Will J.A. Happ Be The Winning Pitcher (Phillies @ Brewers): Yes vs. No - Yes
11) Chicago Cubs @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco
12) How Many Runs Scored In Innings 5 Through 9 (Cubs @ Giants): 3 Or Fewer vs. 4 Or More - 3 or fewer

Previews

Dempster has a 3.12 ERA in the 5^th and 6^th innings while Penny's is 3.16 there.

12) I'll try and post some numbers on Ryan Dempster's and Brad Penny's ERA in innings 5 and 6 this season and some bullpen numbers, for now I just don't trust the bullpens to keep this low.

Well, Dempster has a 3.12 ERA in innings 5 and 6 and has pitched them as shutout innings in 17 of 25 starts this season. The Cubs bullpen has a 4.14 ERA which comes out to about 1.4 runs allowed in innings 7 through 9. Brad Penny has an ERA of 3.16 in innings 5 and 6 and pitched them as shutout innings in 13 of 24 starts. The Giants bullpen has a stellar 3.51 ERA so overall 2 or 3 runs scored would be most likely, statistically (yeah, I hate that disclaimer too).

September 23rd, 2009 Picks

2009-09-23T01:37:00.012-06:00

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(skip to picks)1-1-0 on the day, picked up a win with Joe Blanton going 2 full innings further than Josh Johnson. After that got screwed by the Phillies who managed a full two hits against Anibal Sanchez as they wasted a quality start by Jamie Moyer and fell 3-0 to the Marlins. Of course the Phillies are going to put forth their worst effort on the season when they're up on SFTC with 92% of the people picking them, right? So another day and another round of picks!

Picks
1) Santos @ Golden Arrows - Golden Arrows
2) Napoli @ Inter Milan - Napoli win, draw, or lose by 1 goal
3) AC Milan @ Udinese - Udinese win or draw
4) New York Yankees @ Los Angeles Angels - Los Angeles
5) Seattle Mariners @ Tampa Bay Rays - Rays lead after 4¹/₂ innings
6) Cole Hamels Strikeouts Or Tie vs. Florida Marlins Hits Off Hamels - Hamels strikeouts or tie
7) Indiana Fever @ Detroit Shock - Detroit
8) Minnesota Twins @ Chicago White Sox - Chicago
9) Phoenix Mercury @ Los Angeles Sparks - Los Angeles
10) Texas Rangers @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
11) San Francisco Giants @ Arizona Diamondbacks - San Francisco

Previews

Inter Milan suit up their third game this week. Can they beat the fatigue and Napoli?

2) Inter Milan is a good favorite to win this match at 2/5 (-250) compared to 11/4 (+275) for a draw and 15/2 (+750) for Napoli to win. Take a look at the handicap betting a few lines down, however, and one can see Inter Milan are only 6/5 (+120) when Napoli is spotted a goal. Combining the handicap tie for Napoli and accounting for the sportsbooks profits Milan are +145 to win by 2 goals or more. Inter Milan will be missing Thiago Motta at midfield and will be playing their third game this week. I think this will be a difficult game for Inter Milan much like the match against A.S. Bari earlier this season. It will come down to whether their strikers are able to pin-point difficult shots. If they can, don't be surprised by a 4-1 scoreline in favor of Inter.

Udinese will have home field advantage as they seek to regain a place in Europe in 2010.

3) This match features two teams who are underachieving thus far this season. Udinese sits in 12^th place with a 1-2-1 (W-D-L) record and with an even goal differential while AC Milan are currently 8^th with a 2-1-1 record and -2 differential. Udinese will seek a place in Europe this year after last seasons quarterfinal run in the UEFA Cup. AC Milan are trying to seek another Champions League place where they are currently competing in the group stage. Both teams are dealing with a slew of injuries: Udinese are missing Kwadwo Asamoah (M), Christian Obodo (M), Damiano Ferronetti (D), Christian Zapata (D) and AC Milan are missing Daniele Bonera (D), Davide Di Gennaro (M), and Marco Borriello (F). Considering these injuries SkyBet have AC Milan at 5/4 (+125) and combining the win and draw odds and accounting for the sportsbooks profit we get Udinese to win or draw at -145.

(top) Teams' strikeout rate vs. Hamels, with 100% being average.
Click image for larger view.

6) Hamels has faced the Marlins twice this season and has managed to go 1-1 in terms of this prop. In the first game he struck out 5 and gave up 4 hits facing 20 batters and in the second game he struck out 4 and gave up 5 hits facing 25 batters. The difference was mainly in how often the Marlins struck out. To date this season the Marlins are average 5.11 plate appearances per strikeout good for 25^th in the Majors. Looking at the graph on the right one can see the rate at which opponents strike out against Hamels compared to their average. One can see Hamels generally strikes out teams at or above their average, sometimes at more than twice their rate. He has struck out teams above their average rate for six straight starts nd I think if he can do that in this game he will win this prop. Hamels has had more strikeouts than hits in only 13 of 29 starts this season so it's by no means a sure bet, but I think Florida is one team he can do it against.

10) This one looks like a can't-miss for Texas. They're regarded as the better team offensively and the pitching matchup undeniably favors Texas. Tommy Hunter may not strikeout a lot of batters and he does not force too many groundouts but players have a tough time hitting off of him, his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is .259, which could be considered a sign of luck. He has a WHIP of 1.18 and his ERA is 3.25 which are near All-Star level. He also has a win at Oakland already this season, pitching 7 innings and allowing only 3 runs off of three hits and 2 walks.

Can the A's bats provide Mortensen with enough support against Tommy Hunter?

Oakland will counter with young Clayton Mortensen who was brought up from AAA earlier this season for the first time in his career. His numbers look pretty abysmal with a 1.60 WHIP and 6.12 ERA in 25 innings of work but those numbers are bloated from a poor pair of initial starts. In his third start of the season he pitched 6 quality innings at Minnesota and the A's won 12-5. Mortensen put up mediocre numbers in AAA with a 4.39 ERA and 1.39 WHIP but his ground-ball to fly-ball ratio has been outstanding in the Majors which is important since his home run-to-fly ball ratio is more than double that of Hunter's and the Rangers are a slugging team (3^rd in MLB).

I think this conception of the Rangers as a power offense is where people are a bit off. Batting average wise the Athletics and Rangers are identical and the Rangers are far worse than Oakland in terms of plate appearances per strikeout (PASO) - Texas ranks 30^th in PASO. Oakland may not have the slugging of Texas but at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium Oakland are typically the better offense. They've outscored their opponents by 53 runs in 76 games and have actually hit 3 more home runs than the opposition. Overall I think Oakland can hang with Texas offensively in Oakland and it will just be a matter of Mortensen getting a quality start. Look for Hunter to have a poor game because it happens to even the best of them.

Comparative Pitching Statistics
	IFFB%	GB%	HR/FB	Contact%	O-Contact%
T. Hunter	11.7%	37.3%	7.3%	84.1%	67.7%
C. Mortensen	4.2%	54%	16.7%	78.5%	42.9%

September 22nd, 2009 Picks

2009-09-22T06:55:00.008-06:00

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(skip to picks)Another day, another losing pick in the evening. I started out with a win going for FC Midtylland in Danish soccer then picked up a second win when Dallas Clark went for 80 yards and tied the Monday Night Football record for quickest touchdown (12 seconds). Instead of being satisfied with two wins I went for another and lost as Joe Saunders showed the Yankees why they won't make it to the World Series this year. So on to a new day of picks then, yeah?

Picks
1) Liverpool @ Leeds United - Leeds United win, draw, or lose by 1 goal
2) Blackburn Rovers @ Nottingham Forest - Blackburn Rovers
3) Joe Blanton vs. Josh Johnson - Blanton pitches more or equal innings
4) Durham Bulls vs. Memphis Redbirds - Durham
5) How Many Runs Will Be Scored Before The 5^th Inning (Cubs @ Brewers): 4 Or Fewer vs. 5 Or More - 4 runs or fewer
6) Philadelphia Phillies @ Florida Marlins - Philadelphia
7) Boston Red Sox @ Kansas City Royals - Kansas City
8) New York Yankees @ Los Angeles Angels - Los Angeles

Previews

Leeds United will face off against a shadow squad from Liverpool.

1) Liverpool should easily defeat Leeds United and by more than two goals if they were to play Leeds like they would a team from the Premiership. Liverpool will be more focused on Champions League matches and winning the Premier League than they are on the Carling Cup, however. The preview on ESPN's site can be found here and suggests Liverpool will likely be playing a squad of reserves with their key players such as Torres and Gerrard on the bench to come in only if Liverpool finds themselves losing or tied. SkySports report the same here. They also report Leeds will also have their minds on a match against MK Dons as they attempt to promote themselves to the Championship from League One (3^rd tier). With both sides focused more on their league matches than this Cup match I think we might see some dreary play with a 2-1 scoreline in favor of Liverpool - Beckford likely scores for Leeds. Click here for a bevy of news articles regarding this match.

2) Another match between a top-flight side, Blackburn Rovers, at a lower division side, Nottingham Forest of the 2^nd tier Championship. Blackburn will be playing quite a few second teamers hoping for a spot against Wigan Athletic this weekend so it won't be a massacre here. SkyBet has odds for this match with Nottingham Forest at 2/1 (+200) and Blackburn Rovers at 11/8 (+135) and a draw (after 90 minutes) at +225 so we could very well see this match go into extra time and possibly penalties. I would take Blackburn in those situations as they are a bigger club with more depth.

September 21st, 2009 Picks

2009-09-21T07:17:00.007-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, the NFL was definitely not as kind as college football was. I went 1-1-0 on my picks today winning with Everton and losing with the St. Louis Cardinals. Cardinals had a chance to walk off with the bases loaded and one out but some poor hitting and worse base running ended my streak. The less said the better and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) FC Midtylland @ AGF Aarhug - FC Midtylland win or draw
2) Olhanense @ Sporting Lisbon - 2 goals or fewer
3) Will Derek Lowe Be The Winning Pitcher (Braves @ Mets): Yes vs. No - Yes
4) St. Louis Cardinals @ Houston Astros - Houston
5) Indianapolis Colts @ Miami Dolphins - Indianapolis
6) Who Will Score First: Indianapolis vs. Miami - Indianapolis
7) How Many Receptions Will Reggie Wayne Record - 6 Or Fewer vs. 7 Or More - 7 or more
8) San Francisco Giants @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Arizona
9) New York Yankees @ Los Angeles Angels - New York
10) How Many Points Will Be Scored In The 2^nd Half (Colts @ Dolphins): 19 Or Fewer vs. 20 Or More - 19 or fewer

September 20th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-20T02:09:00.008-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-0-0 for my own picks today as I went for an eighth day in a row without falling below the .500-mark. Some of you may have noticed I lost out on all the 2^nd half point props in college football, so maybe it's best to calculate the final score with over/unders and lines and go the opposite of that then. I picked up one win yesterday with Jahvid Best rushing for 5 touchdowns while Minnesota got 3 touchdowns total and picked up my other win with the Dodgers wailing on Brad Penny and the Giants' 'pen for 12 runs. Hopefully the NFL will be as kind and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Blackburn Rovers @ Everton - Everton win
2) New England Patriots @ New York Jets - New England
3) New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles - Philadelphia
4) Arizona Cardinals @ Jacksonville Jaguars - Jacksonville
5) Oakland Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs - Oakland
6) Houston Texans vs. Chris Johnson - Texans gain more rushing yards
7) Cincinnati Bengals 2^nd Half Points @ Green Bay Packers Winning Margin - Bengals 2^nd half points
8) Brett Favre vs. Matthew Stafford - Stafford passing yards
9) St. Louis Rams Points Scored @ Washington Redskins Winning Margin - Rams points scored
10) Jake Delhomme vs. Matt Ryan - Ryan passing yards
11) Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves - Atlanta
12) Kurt Busch vs. Mark Martin - Martin has a better final position
13) Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco 49ers - Seattle
14) Tampa Bay Buccaneers TDs Scored @ Buffalo Bills Winning Margin - Buccaneers TDs scored
15) San Francisco Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
16) Baltimore Ravens @ San Diego Chargers - Baltimore
17) Cleveland Browns @ Denver Broncos - Cleveland
18) Pittsburgh Steelers @ Chicago Bears - Pittsburgh
19) Los Angeles Sparks @ Seattle Storm - Seattle
20) Chicago Cubs @ St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis
21) New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys - New York

September 19th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-19T02:06:00.009-06:00

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(skip to picks)A nice rebound day going 8-3-0 here and 2-0-0 for my Streak picks overall. Started out the day with a 3-0 win for Arminia Bielefeld on the road, skipped the next soccer match and got the come from behind win with the Marlins to finish the day. Florida rallied with 4 runs in the top of the 9^th and it proved just enough to avoid losing for the 10^th straight time at Great American Ballpark. We're back into the college football season tomorrow and hopefully there's at least one gimme screaming at you on the board. And so, with that, we continue, onward and froward to the picks.

Picks
1) Stoke City @ Bolton Wanderers - Stoke City win or draw
2) East Carolina Pirates 2^nd Half Points @ North Carolina Tarheels Winning Margin - East Carolina 2^nd half points
3) #8 California Golden Bears Rushing TDs @ Minnesota Golden Gophers Total TDs - California rushing TDs
4) #18 Utah Utes @ Oregon Ducks - Oregon
5) #19 Nebraska Cornhuskers @ #13 Virginia Tech Hokies - Virginia Tech
6) #3 USC Trojans Winning Margin @ Washington Huskies Points Scored - USC winning margin
7) Arizona Wildcats @ Iowa Hawkeyes - Iowa
8) San Francisco Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
9) #17 Cincinnati Bearcats @ Oregon State Beavers - Cincinnati
10) Northwestern Wildcats @ Syracuse Orange - Syracuse
11) Los Angeles Angels @ Texas Rangers - Los Angeles
12) #23 Georgia Bulldogs @ Arkansas Razorbacks - Arkansas
13) Texas Tech Red Raiders Points Scored @ Texas Longhorns 2^nd Half Points - Texas Tech points scored
14) Colorado Rockies @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Colorado
15) Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Marquez - Any other outcome (non-decision)

Previews
2), 6), and 13)For these picks I tried not to think too much about them and instead just used the over/under and spread to figure what the result might be. From the over/under (denoted OU) and the Line (denoted Ln) one can figure the final score. Say Team A and Team B's final scores are denoted 'A' and 'B' then we can figure the final score from OU and Ln:

i) A + B = OU
ii) A - B = Ln
iii) 2×i) + ii) ==> 2A = OU + Ln ==> A = (OU + Ln)/2
iv) Insert iii) into i) OU/2 + Ln/2 + B = OU ==> B = (OU - Ln)/2

Now you can just plug in the over/under and the line to get the final scores. For East Carolina @ UNC the O/U is 44 and the line is 7.5 so the final score is 25.75 to 18.25, so ECU is figured to score 0 to 18 points, possibly all or none in the second half. Since 7.5 is less than half of 18 I'll go with the second half points.

USC is favored to win by 19 with 52 total points scored so (52-19)/2 = 16.5 is less than 19 so go with USC winning margin. You can figure of Texas Tech's points is more than half of Texas' points as well. Good luck, and go with your gut if you figure one team will score all their points in the first half or will just get whomped by more than the line shows.

September 18th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-18T02:08:00.002-06:00

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(skip to picks)Wow, well the day started off miserably with FC Basel handling AS Roma 2-0. That might have been the biggest upset in Europa League play but Hamburg SV lost to Rapid Vienna 3-0! Everton scored 3 goals before the half so my 2 goals or fewer pick was quickly sunk there and out of frustration I picked the low % Beckett to give up fewer hits to the Angels than Hamels to the Nationals. Lost that one 5 to 7 and at this point my blog picks were 0-5. A run of good luck followed, picked up a win with 3 runs or fewer scored in the final 3¹/₂ innings of the Oakland game and won my next 5 blog picks to finish 5-5-0. I expect to do better on the new day so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Arminia Bielefeld @ MSV Duisburg - Arminia Bielefeld win or draw
2) Sheffield Wednesday @ Sheffield United - Sheffield Wednesday win or draw
3) San Diego Padres @ Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh
4) Florida Marlins @ Cincinnati Reds - Florida
5) Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves - Philadelphia
6) Calgary Stampeders @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Hamilton
7) Los Angeles Angels @ Texas Rangers - Texas
8) Chicago Cubs @ St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis
9) Boise State Broncos Winning Margin @ Fresno State Bulldogs TDs and FGs - Boise State winning margin
10) Los Angeles Sparks @ Seattle Storm - Seattle
11) New York Yankees @ Seattle Mariners - New York

September 17th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-17T01:47:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)God damn it, even though I spent another day above .500 with my picks here I ended up 1-3-0 with my actual Streak picks. I am just really poor at knowing which picks to take. I suppose I ought to go with the picks I'm least confident in. Started out nice with the over in the Spain-Poland game but then got shot down when Liverpool played sloppy as hell and won by the score of 1-0. Then the Mets and Braves played me when they failed to score in the 1^st inning but scored in 6 of the next 8 innings. Finally the Giants played tease as they came back from 4-0 only to fall short by a single run in the 9^th. A day better left forgotten and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) AS Roma @ FC Basel - AS Roma win
2) Kansas City Royals @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
3) AEK Athens @ Everton - 2 goals or fewer
4) Indiana Fever @ Washington Mystics - Washington
5) Cole Hamels (v. Nationals) vs. Josh Beckett (vs. Angels) - Beckett allows fewer hits
6) Florida Marlins @ Cincinnati Reds - Cincinnati
7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets@ Miami (FL) Hurricanes - Miami (FL)
8) Phoenix Mercury @ San Antonio Silver Stars - San Antonio
9) Cleveland Indians @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
10) How Many Runs Will Be Scored In Innings 6 Through 9 (Indians @ Athletics): 3 Or Fewer vs. 4 Or More - 3 or fewer

September 16th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-16T01:28:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)A bit better day as I went 2-1-0 on my Streak picks. Started out with a last second loss with Greece, France made the go-ahead basket with 0.2 seconds remaining though they had led most of the game. I picked up my first win of the day with Real Madrid scoring a couple of goals late to win 5-2 while Chelsea defeated a very tough FC Porto 1-0. My second win came with Cliff Lee pitching a complete game. I might have thought twice about that pick but the Nationals on the road are usually bankable for mediocrity. Some interesting picks up tomorrow, some easy, some not. If it looks like a lopsided matchup it probably is and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Poland vs. Spain - 153 points or more
2) Florida Marlins @ St. Louis Cardinals - Florida
3) FC Barçelona @ Inter Milan - FC Barçelona
4) Debrecen @ Liverpool - Liverpool win by 3 goals or more
5) Slovenia vs. Turkey - Turkey
6) New York Mets @ Atlanta Braves - 1 or more runs scored in the 1^st
7) Los Angeles Angels @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
8) Atlanta Dream @ Detroit Shock - Detroit
9) Sue Bird points and assists vs. Candace Parker points - Parker points
10) Colorado Rockies @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco

September 15th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-15T00:43:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)It was just another one of those days. Started out with Randers really being as bad as advertised as they went down 3-0 at home. Then I picked up a win with del Potro actually defeating Federer in 5 sets. Missed the 7pm picks and capped it off with a Florida Marlins loss. Their pitching was just too awful to win the game. Rule of thumb 83: Florida teams have shitty bullpens. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) Greece vs. France - Greece
2) Piacenza @ Padova - Piacenza win or draw
3) Manchester United @ Besiktas - 2 goals or fewer
4) Real Madrid (@ FC Zürich) vs. Chelsea (v. FC Porto) - Real Madrid wins by more goals
5) Toronto Blue Jays @ New York Yankees - Toronto
6) How Many Innings Will Cliff Lee Pitch: 6²/₃ Or Fewer vs. 7 Or More - 7 or more
7) Los Angeles Angels @ Boston Red Sox - Los Angeles
8) Milwaukee Brewers @ Chicago Cubs - Chicago
9) How Many Strikeouts Will Dan Haren Record: 6 Or Fewer vs. 7 Or More - 7 or more
10) Colorado Rockies @ San Francisco Giants - Colorado

September 14th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-14T02:31:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, another poor day for me in which I remained over .500 but still picked more losers than winners for my own streak. I went 4-1 in NFL straight up picks, but ended up taking the Houston Texans who could not do anything against a revamped Jets defense. Then the Dodgers got shut down by AL transfer Brady Penny. I never got a chance to pick Green Bay who pulled off a last minute victory so I'm stuck on the losing end of things at the end of the day. On the plus side I should win 2 out of 3 fantasy football league games even though I played a man down with Anthony Gonzalez going out. The one loss was my team that had Gonzalez and Breaston so I played two men down in that one. Well, I think the streak breakers of the day lie in baseball so good luck and on with the picks.

Picks
1) Aalborg BK @ Randers FC - Randers FC win or draw
2) Juan Martin del Potro vs. Roger Federer - 4 or 5 sets played
3) Terrell Owens vs. Randy Moss - Moss records more receiving yards
4) Tampa Bay Rays @ Baltimore Orioles - Tampa Bay
5) Houston Astros @ Cincinnati Reds - Cincinnati
6) Florida Marlins @ St. Louis Cardinals - Florida
7) Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Diego Padres - San Diego
8) San Diego Chargers Winning Margin vs. Oakland Raiders 2^nd Half Points - Chargers winning margin

September 13th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-13T02:40:00.003-06:00

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(skip to picks)Ouch, today hurt. I continued my losing ways with Tim Clark carding a stroke worse than Mahan in the morning golf. From there Manchester United demolished by Tottenham Hotspur pick 3-1 and after that Notre Dame made some poor play calls near the end of the game, failed to eat up enough clock, and gave away the game in the last minute to Michigan. That put me at L6, a personal worst. At least the Dodgers' bats seem to have woken up as they won easily. Thank goodness for that and on to the picks.

Picks
1) AS Roma @ Siena - Siena win or draw
2) Stewart Cink vs. Kenny Perry - Cink cards a lower or equal front 9 score
3) Rafael Nadal vs. Juan Martin del Potro - Nadal
4) Tiger Woods vs. Brandt Snedeker or Marc Leishman - Snedeker or Leishman card a lower 4^th round score
5) Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals - Denver
6) Miami Dolphins @ Atlanta Falcons - Atlanta
7) Philadelphia Eagles @ Carolina Panthers - Philadelphia
8) Minnesota Vikings @ Cleveland Browns - Minnesota
9) New York Jets @ Houston Texans - Houston
10) Maurice Jones-Drew and Torry Holt vs. Reggie Wayne and Joseph Addai - Wayne and Addai record more total yards
11) Kansas City points scored vs. Baltimore Ravens winning margin - Baltimore winning margin
12) Roy Williams vs. Antonio Bryant - Bryant records more receiving yards
13) Calvin Johnson vs. Marques Colston - Johnson records more receiving yards
14) Los Angeles Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants - Los Angeles
15) Clinton Portis vs. Brandon Jacobs - Jacobs records more total yards
16) Steven Jackson vs. Julius Jones - Jones records more rushing yards
17) San Francisco 49ers Total Touchdowns vs. Arizona Cardinals Passing Touchdowns - 49ers total touchdowns
18) Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers - Green Bay

September 12th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-12T02:09:00.001-06:00

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(skip to picks)1-3-0 today and I did it by picking against my picks when they won and with them when they lost. Kevin Na got me on the winning track after Oswalt's abysmal performance last night. I followed that up with a ridiculous 40 pitch inning from Harden preventing him from going 5 innings. He gave up 1 run and still was at 100+ pitches after four. So with the pitchers fucking me I went against my own pick and took Tiger to birdie the par-5 15^th. Big mistake. Tiger overshot the green on his second approach shot and managed just a par. So finally I went with Cleveland to defeat Greinke. Greinke pitched well and allowed just 4 hits and 1 run in 7 innings but the Indians were in the game because, of course, Greinke received only a single run of support. Well, a couple blown walk off opportunities thrown out at home later the Royals finally got a home run and took the game 2-1. I would like to write more, but it would just sound like bitching, because it would be simple bitching. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) Tim Clark vs. Hunter Mahan - Clark cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Duke Blue Devils @ Army Black Knights - Duke
3) North Carolina Tarheels @ Connecticut Huskies - North Carolina
4) Stanford Cardinal @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons - Wake Forest
5) Manchester United @ Tottenham Hotspur - Tottenham Hotspur win or draw
6) Virginia Tech (v. Marshall) vs. Boston College (v. Kent State) - Boston College has a larger winning margin
7) Tiger Woods' 3^rd Round Score: 67 or lower vs. 68 or higher - 67 or lower
8) Notre Dame Fighting Irish @ Michigan Wolverines - Notre Dame
9) Atlanta Braves @ St. Louis Cardinals - Atlanta
10) Air Force Falcons @ Minnesota Golden Gophers - Air Force
11) LSU Tigers (v. Vanderbilt) vs. Auburn Tigers (v. Mississippi State) - LSU has a larger winning margin
12) Kyle Busch vs. Matt Kenseth - Busch has a better final position
13) USC Trojans @ Ohio State Buckeyes - USC
14) Detroit Shock @ Chicago Sky - Chicago
15) Los Angeles Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants - Los Angeles
16) Colorado Rockies @ San Diego Padres - San Diego
17) Oregon Ducks (v. Purdue) vs. Utah Utes (@ San Jose State) - Utah has a larger winning margin

September 11th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-11T01:13:00.002-06:00

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(skip to picks)Aaarrgghghgh, well I got my 14^th W5+ with David Toms this morning but then my special ability kicked in. Instead of picking Chicago Sky, Florida Marlins, the 114 yards or under, or Chris Johnson in the Steelers game (all winners) I settled on Roy Oswalt to give up fewer hits than Derek Lowe. Well, Oswalt may claim he felt healthy enough to pitch but 10 hits and 6 runs in 2 innings do not lie. Even still Lowe teased me by giving up 9 hits in 5²/₃ innings before he got pulled. Oh well, another streak down the drain, but if I keep picking around .600 overall I should be back to W5 post haste. So on to the picks then!

Picks
1) Kevin Na vs. Retief Goosen - Na cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters - 2 sets played
3) Will Rich Harden Be The Winning Pitcher (Reds @ Cubs): Yes vs. No - Yes
4) Leeds United @ Southend United - Leeds United win
5) Tiger Woods' Score On The Par 5 15^th: Birdie (4) vs. Any Other Score - Any other score
6) Kansas City Royals @ Cleveland Indians - Cleveland
7) Hamilton Tiger-Cats @ Toronto Argonauts - Toronto
7) Carl Edwards vs. Brad Keselowski - Edwards has a better final position
9) Atlanta Braves @ St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis
10) Colorado Buffaloes @ Toledo Rockets - Colorado
11) Milwaukee Brewers @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Arizona
12) Calgary Stampeders @ Edmonton Eskimos - Edmonton
13) Los Angeles Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco

September 10th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-10T01:22:00.002-06:00

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(skip to picks)Today was full of down to the last second props with Belgium scoring in injury time, the last shot of the game putting Poland/Turkey over, the Yankees going up 4-2 with 4 runs in the eighth though by now we're used to the Rays bullpen blowing leads. They're at 4 or 5 leads blown in a row now. I continued my streak with that Euro basketball over/under then picked up another win with an easy Nationals hitting Cliff Lee prop. Today looks like some decent picks but I'm still hoping we get some soccer on the board. So on with the picks!

Picks
1) David Toms vs. Ernie Els - Toms cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Minnesota Twins @ Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto
3) Phil Mickelson's Score On The Par 5 15^th: Birdie (4) vs. Any Other Score - Birdie (4)
4) Florida Marlins @ New York Mets - Florida
5) Fernando Gonzalez vs. Rafael Nadal - 4 or 5 sets played
6) Jonathan Dwyer's Rushing Yards (Clemson @ Georgia Tech): 114 Or Fewer vs. 115 Or More - 114 or less
7) Indiana Fever @ Chicago Sky - Chicago
8) Derek Lowe vs. Roy Oswalt - Oswalt allows fewer hits
9) Chris Johnson vs. Willie Parker - Johnson records more total yards
10) San Antonio Silver Stars @ Sacramento Monarchs - Sacramento
11) Seattle Mariners @ Los Angeles Angels - 8 runs or fewer

September 9, 2009 Picks

2009-09-09T03:14:00.008-06:00

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(skip to picks)Lost my meager three game streak yesterday on that European Basketball Championship over/under but did manage to get back a couple wins with Marin Cilic defeating Andy Murray and the Yankees walking off with Nick Swisher's second home run of the game. I can already tell those two soccer matches are trying to trick me into losing my streak while attempting to get two picks in for the price of one. By lucky charms I'll have some sort of winning streak come 7pm. And so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Belgium @ Armenia - 2 goals or fewer
2) Poland vs. Turkey - 156 points or more
3) Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh
4) St. Louis Cardinals @ Milwaukee Brewers - 26 hits+runs+errors or fewer
5) Netherlands @ Scotland - Netherlands win
6) Novak Djokovic vs. Fernando Verdasco - 40 games or more played
7) Melanie Oudin vs. Caroline Wozniacki - Wozniacki wins 2-0
8) Cliff Lee's strikeouts vs. Washington Nationals' Hits Off Lee - Nationals hits off Lee
9) Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees - Rays win or lose by 1
10) United States @ Trinidad & Tobago - Trinidad & Tobago win, tie, or lose by 1
11) Detroit Shock @ Minnesota Lynx - Minnesota
12) Atlanta Braves @ Houston Astros - Houston
13) Roger Federer vs. Robin Soderling - Federer loses 13 games or fewer
14) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Arizona
15) Who Will Score More Runs In Innings 4 Through 6 (Dodgers @ Diamondbacks) - Arizona

Previews
1) I like 2 goals or fewer since Belgium defeated Armenia 2-0 in Belgium and now they're on the road so I would expect them to either win 1-0, 2-0, or draw 1-1, or lose 1-0. The only 3 goal or plus scoreline I see having a chance of occurring here is a 2-1 Belgium win. The odds at Skybet have under at -137.5 (8/11) and the over at even odds (+100).

3) The Cubs are 30-40 on the road while Pittsburgh is 36-33 at home. Carlos Zambrano is a pretty solid pitcher, but his ERA is only 4.60 in day games this season compared to 3.17 in night games. Kevin Hart has given up 3 or more earned runs in all 6 of his starts since being acquired by Pittsburgh from the Cubs. He has also made it out of the 6^th inning three times. Chicago actually looks like a decent pick here, I just don't like their losing record on the road.

Click image for larger view.

8) Looking at the graph on the right one sees Cliff Lee has been causing NL teams to strike out more often relative to their season average than AL teams. The red line represents strikeouts in relation to season average while the black line represents hits per strikeout in that particular game. Whenever the black line is over the red line it represents a loss in the context of this prop. Wins are when the red line is over the black line. One can then see that overall Lee is 8-17 with one push so far this season and has lost three in a row after dominating the NL for four games after being traded to Philadelphia. The Nationals are at the top of the bottom third of MLB in terms of plate appearances per strikeout though at 5.27; they also average 4.33 plate appearances per hit, which is poor overall. The Angels lead the MLB in plate apperances per hit with one every 3.91 while the worst team is San Diego with one every 4.69 plate appearances, so Washington's 4.33 is closer to the bottom. Cliff Lee could dominate Washington and win the prop 4 to 3, but I think Washington will get at least 6 hits and strike out no more than 6 times.

September 8th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-08T04:32:00.007-06:00

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(skip to picks)I got to celebrate Labor Day with some manual labor, helped a friend move their furniture. Topped the day off with some curry and steak. As for my picks they went pretty poorly. I would have reversed my position relative .500 if I'd just stuck with my gut on tennis matches. So I'll stick with it today and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Germany vs. Russia - 140 points or less
2) York City @ Barrow AFC - Barrow AFC win or draw
3) Marin Cilic vs. Andy Murray - Murray will lose 14 games or more
4) Tampa Bay Rays @ New York Yankees - New York
5) Florida Marlins @ New York Mets - Florida
6) Indiana Fever @ New York Liberty - New York
7) River Plate @ Rosario Central - River Plate win or draw
8) Gael Monfils vs. Rafael Nadal - 41 games or fewer played
9) Seattle Mariners @ Los Angeles Angels - Seattle
10) San Antonio @ Los Angeles - 147 points or more

September 7th, 2009 Happy Labor Day!!

2009-09-07T01:29:00.016-06:00

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(skip to picks)Let me just say the Rays bullpen is an embarrassment right now, and Joe Maddon is way too far down the Sabermetrics hole if he can't figure out who's actually pitching well on a given day rather than who the stats say should pitch well. Three straight games the Rays have blown a lead to Detroit in the final innings. This one was especially awful as Lance Cormier had just struck out a batter to start off the 9^th. Maddon replaces him and dude walks a man on first, next relief pitcher walks his first batter. Maddon puts in another reliever and he gives up a single, a grand slam, and a triple before finally Choate gets in the game and gets two outs with a man on third. So I lost my 5 game streak and just got it back to one with the Dodgers losing to San Diego 4-3. Labor Day looks to have some easier picks than Sunday, so good luck and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Phil Mickelson's Front 9 Score: 35 or lower vs. 36 or higher - 35 or lower
2) Robin Soderling vs. Nikolay Davydenko - Davydenko
3) Yankees' Hits Off Garza vs. C.C. Sabathia's Strikeouts - Sabathia's strikeouts
4) Deutsche Bank Championship Winner: Stricker, Goosen, or Harrington vs. Rest Of Field - Stricker, Goosen, or Harrington
5) Melanie Oudin vs. Nadia Petrova - Petrova
6) Boston Red Sox @ Chicago White Sox - Boston
7) Monaghan @ Saint Patrick's - 3 goals or more
8) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Arizona
9) Cincinnati Bearcats @ Rutgers Scarlet Knights - Rutgers
10) Toronto Argonauts @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats - 47 points or more
11) Caroline Wozniacki vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Kuznetsova
12) Ricky Ray vs. Henry Burris - Ray passes for more yards
13) Miami(FL) Hurricanes @ Florida State Seminoles - Touchdown scored first
14) Miami(FL) Hurricanes @ Florida State Seminoles - 24 points or more scored in the 2^nd half

Previews

Soderling (-155) is favored and is 4-2 against Davydenko (+135), but only 1-2 against him on hard courts.

2) Well, it looks like both Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko have had a bit of trouble defeating top tier opponents lately. Soderling has been knocked out of his past 3 events by #42 Lleyton Hewitt, #6 Juan Martin del Potro, and #40 Nicolas Almagro. Davydenko has been sent off by #23 Sam Querrey, #9 Gilles Simon, and #3 Andy Murray so that overall I would say Davydenko has been in better form. Head to head Soderling is 4-2 over Davydenko, but is 1-2 against him on hard courts. Checking on 5dimes.com Soderling is a -155 favorite while Davydenko is +135. The odds favor Soderling, but history and form favor Davydenko in my book.

Opponents' strikeout rate vs. Sabathia compared to average rate for season.
Click image for larger view.

3) The graph on the left shows how poorly teams bat against C.C. Sabathia in terms of how often they strike out. If a team has a strikeout for every 5 batters faced and they strike out every 2.5 batters faced when Sabathia pitches then they are marked at 200% for that game. One can see teams are striking out 1.5 times to twice as often against Sabathia over the past month. One can also see that teams have struck out progressively more often each time they face Sabathia.

Tampa Bay struck out at 80% their season average against C.C. the first time they faced him and at 106% the second time. It would not be a stretch to see them strike out at 150% their average rate in today's game. Looking at this chart one sees Tampa Bay are the 3^rd worst team in terms of plate appearances per strikeout at 4.97, which would give Sabathia 6 strikeouts if he faces 30 batters. If he is pitching well he could double that rate, as he has done in 4 of his past 5 starts.

As for Matt Garza he has given up 4, 5, and 8 hits to the Yankees in three starts this season. If Sabathia can reach 10 strikeouts I think he'll win this prop and that's even if Garza has a bad game. The main caveat is Sabathia's day/night split. His K/9 is 8.41 in night games and only 5.9 in day games. I still like the strikeouts here as Garza's median number of hits given up in 27 starts this season is only 5.5.

4) There are 12 players at -10 to par or better with Stricker and Goosen at -13 and Harrington at -12. Stricker and Goosen have three wins between them this year. The other nine players have three wins between them. I like that the most experienced at winning are tied for the top spot going into this round.

5) I had Melanie Oudin up here originally because I saw she was a slight favorite on 5dimes, something like -110 to -105. Here on SkyBet they have both at -110, so there's money down on both sides. The thing is, Oudin is unseeded and is on a major cinderella run after defeating Dementieva and Sharapova. Nadia Petrova is still better and I find myself believing in Oudin less. These tournaments can be draining and I think Petrova will be a wall Oudin will fail to climb. Good luck.

St. Patrick's replay their fourth round draw home at Richmond Park after last month's fixture at Monaghan ended in a 0-0 draw.

7) This is a replay of a 4^th round Ford FAI Cup match between Monaghan United and St. Patrick's Athletic. The first match was played at Monaghan's home park and ended in a 0-0 draw. Reading a match report from stpatsfc.com one gets the impression scoring opportunities were to be had but none materialized. RTE carries a nice preview of the match. They note that St. Patrick's recently lost to Steaua Bucuresti 5-1 in aggregate and with their dropping to 7^th in the tables their only realistic avenue back into the major UEFA competitions next summer is through a Ford FAI Cup victory. The article mentions some injury concerns for St. Patrick's, with Ryan and Harris out on defense and O'Connor out at midfield. Looking at FAI Cup results for St. Patrick's one can see 10 of their 17 matches in the past 5 years have had 3 or more goals scored. One can also read a short match preview from the Monaghan point of view on their homepage. Note they lost 0-3 at home to First Division side Shelbourne in their most recent match. I think St. Patrick's could achieve a similar scoreline.

8) Max Scherzer won his last start against the Dodgers, in L.A., pitching 7²/₃ innings and allowing only 1 run. The Diamondbacks won that game 4-1. The last game Vicente Padilla pitched was against the Diamondbacks. Padilla allowed 1 run in 5¹/₃ innings and the Dodgers won 4-3. Right now Arizona is producing more on offense - 5.2 runs in their last 10, 5-5 record compared to L.A. who are scoring 3.5 runs in their last 10 with a 5-5 record. Being at home I think Scherzer can pull off another solid performance and win for Arizona in a close game.

September 6th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-06T00:03:00.008-06:00

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(skip to picks)Pretty glad to get back on track after that awful Friday picking around 30%. I went 4-0-0 on my picks today. I started out with Ian Poulter threatening to break my streak. Stewart Cink eagled #2 and then Poulter missed a 3' putt and a 6' putt, both of which would have brought him level with Cink and won the prop. Fortunately, on the final hole, Poulter sank a 61-foot putt. Incredible! After that I decided to let it ride and picked up another win with Gregg Paulus throwing only one TD pass. My third win of the day came with Yovani Gallardo fanning 6 batters to 5 for Matt Cain. Then I wrapped it all up with Brazil winning convincingly 3-1. There look to be few gimmes tomorrow so best of luck feeling out the upsets and favorites. And on to the picks!

Picks
1) Kenya @ Mozambique - Kenya win or draw
2) Morocco @ Togo - Morocco win or draw
3) Sean O'Hair vs. Jim Furyk - O'Hair cards a lower or equal 3^rd round score
4) Detroit Tigers @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
5) San Francisco Giants @ Milwaukee Brewers - Milwaukee
6) Boston Red Sox @ Chicago White Sox - Chicago
7) Kim Clijsters vs. Venus Williams - Clijsters
8) Mississippi Rebels @ Memphis Tigers - 54 points or fewer
9) Winnipeg Blue Bombers @ Saskatchewan Roughriders - 51 points or fewer
10) Kyle Busch vs. Mark Martin - Martin has a better finish
11) San Diego Padres @ Los Angeles Dodgers - 8 runs or fewer
12) Taylor Dent vs. Andy Murray - 28 games or more played

September 5th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-05T00:34:00.005-06:00

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(skip to picks)Wow, just a horrid day for my picks, I'm lucky to have picked up two wins. Started out with Verplank mauling the front 9. One eagle and a few birdies later he was 5-under. Of course Cabrera was three strokes better on the back 9 to even things up after he lost the front 9 prop. I then lost with Woody Austin getting onto the green in 3 strokes and putting in from close. After that I won with Serena Williams being taken to 21 games. Then it was back to losing when Phil Mickelson missed a five footer for birdie. Things continued to be ridiclously shitty when Wienerwright [sic] got lit up in the 5^th inning to the tune of 6 runs. He got pulled after that and finished with 5 strikeouts, one away from winning the prop. Fortunately, I ended the day on a high note with the Seattle Mariners picking up another win on the road. So on to the picks of tomorrow!

Picks
1) Ian Poulter vs. Stewart Cink - Poulter cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Macedonia @ Scotland - 2 goals or fewer
3) Minnesota Golden Gophers @ Syracuse Orange - Paulus throws 0 or 1 touchdown passes
4) Navy @ Ohio State vs. Kentucky @ Miami(OH) - Kentucky and Miami(OH) score more combined points
5) Jie Zheng @ Nadia Petrova - Petrova
6) Steve Stricker vs. Tiger Woods - Stricker cards a lower or equal front 9 score
7) John Isner vs. Andy Roddick - Roddick wins 3-0
8) Baylor Bears @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons - Baylor
9) Georgia Bulldogs @ Oklahoma State Cowboys - Oklahoma State
10) Matt Cain vs. Yovani Gallardo - Gallardo records more strikeouts
11) Carl Edwards vs. Mike Vickers - Edwards has a better final position
12) Philadelphia Phillies @ Houston Astros - Houston
13) BYU Cougars @ Oklahoma Sooners - Longest touchdown is 59 yards or more
14) Detroit Tigers @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
15) Alabama @ Virginia Tech - Alabama scores more 1^st half points
16) El Salvador @ United States - United States wins by 2 goals or more
17) Brazil @ Argentina - Brazil win or draw
18) LSU Tigers @ Washington Huskies - LSU winning margin

September 4th, 2009 Picks

2009-09-04T01:21:00.024-06:00

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(skip to picks)I got a little reckless today and ended up dumping my streak on Dementieva. Definitely underestimated Melanie Oudin who ended up beating Dementieva in a huge upset. Safina dropped the first set of her match against Barrois but came back to take the next two sets 6-3 apiece. I got back on track with Pujols and Holliday and then capped the day off with a Yankees win in Toronto. We've got a ton of picks tomorrow and if you're not going for the monthly I recommend staying off the front 9 golf props and maybe going with some straight up MLB. Good luck and on to the picks.

Picks
1) Angel Cabrera vs. Scott Verplank - Cabrera cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Woody Austin's Score On The Par 5 18^th: Par (5) vs. Any Other Score - Par (5)
3) Serena Williams vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez - 17 games or more played
4) Y.E. Yang vs. Zach Johnson - Johnson cards a lower front 9 score
5) Nicolas Almagro vs. Robby Ginepri - Ginepri
6) Phil Mickelson's Score On The Par 5 18^th: Birdie (4) vs. Any Other Score - Birdie (4)
7) New York Liberty @ Connecticut Sun - Connecticut
8) Strikeouts Recorded By Adam Wainwright (Cardinals @ Pirates): 5 Or Fewer vs. 6 Or More - 6 or more
9) New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays - New York
10) Dallas Cowboys @ Minnesota Vikings - Minnesota
11) Tulsa Golden Hurricane @ Tulane Green Wave - 64 points or fewer
12) Nicolas Kiefer vs. Rafael Nadal - 28 games or fewer played
13) San Francisco Giants @ Milwaukee Brewers - Milwaukee
14) Seattle Mariners @ Oakland Athletics - Seattle
15) Atlanta Dream @ Sacramento Monarchs - Sacramento
16) Montreal Alouettes @ B.C. Lions - 55 points or more

Previews

Mickelson		Austin
2007	2008	2003	2004	2007	2008
5	5	5	8	4	5
3	4	5	5	5	4
4	4	--	--	5	4
4	--	--	--	4	4
Gray scores are 'any other result'.

2/6) Here's some scores on that par 5 18^th for Mickelson and Woody Austin. The gray scores indicate 'any other result', i.e. non-birdies for Mickelson and non-pars for Austin. One can see Mickelson birdied this hole in 4 of 7 rounds while Austin scored par in 6 of 12 rounds.

5) Robby Ginepri is 1-0 in his career against Nicolas Almagro, winning on the hard courts in Sydney in 2007. It was a very close match with the final score being 4-6 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-3. BetFair has Ginepri as a slight favorite at -111 to +108 while SkyBet puts both men at -120 apiece.

The Pirates are 19^th in the Majors with a 5.39 PASO.

8) Adam Wainwright has averaged 5.86 strikeouts in 28 starts this season and has recorded 6 or more strikeouts in exactly 50% of those games. Wainwright has faced Pittsburgh twice this season, striking out 7 on April 6^th, and striking out 6 on August 8^th. The Pirates are in the bottom half of the league in terms of plate appearances per strikeout at 5.39, 19^th worst in Major League Baseball. They're averaging 6.96 strikeouts per game, so they'll have to strike out a bit more than usual for Wainwright to win this prop. I think he can handle it though, Pittsburgh probably won't chase him giving Wainwright plenty of chances to record strikeouts.

9) The Yankees look to take another game in Toronto after winning yesterday 7-5. They grabbed a first inning 4-0 lead but from there had difficulty scoring. Twice in the latter innings they failed to score a runner on third with one out and for the game as a whole New York struck out a whopping 13 times. They probably won't jump out to such a lead against Toronto ace Roy Halladay, but with Joba Chamberlain pitching I do feel they'll be able to stay in the game. Clicking on Halladay's name here one can see his game log. Halladay has given up 4, 7, and 4 earned runs in his last three starts. He pitched a complete game against the Yankees near the beginning of the season, a win for Toronto. Since then he's pitched Toronto to a couple of losses, most recently on August 4^th where he conceded 4 earned runs. As long as Chamberlain stays steady I think the Yankees will be able to either chase Halladay and win big or stay in the game and win a close one. Even the Yankees slump offensively, but I don't see it happening tonight.

The BC Lions have one of the worst offenses in the CFL, can they stop league leaders Montreal?

16) I have seen lines for this game at 53.5, 54, and 54.5 which would imply the under is slightly favored here. I still like 55 or more points to be scored however. Last season Montreal and B.C. combined for 70 points in B.C. and scored 55 points between themselves in the game at Montreal. So far this season 55 or over has won 3 out of 4 games in B.C. with their opponents scoring most of the points. Montreal is 3-1-0 away from home and leads the league in overall scoring with 271 points in 8 games. I'm hoping they can tack on 40 points or so on their own.

September 3rd, 2009 Picks

2009-09-03T00:34:00.020-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-0-0 today and I finally reached that coveted blue star. Started the day with Jurgen Melzer. I was cringing at the thought of another blown streak when he lost the first set 1-6 but before I knew it he was back on top winning the next three 6-4 6-3 6-4. I avoided the Argentine soccer where Estudiantes held on for a close 2-2 draw. They were up in the first half 2-2 then suddenly around 75 minutes in San Lorenzo equalized. Close call for all those going with the odds. Then I picked up win 10 with Billingsley giving up a double and a home run after taking a no-hitter into the 5^th inning. My cable provider blacked out the game right after the double, thanks for removing the anticipation I'm not a fan of watching the snail's pace of baseball anyways. College football starts tomorrow so it's on to the picks. Good luck!

No Last Hurrahs As Safin Falls In First Round

J. Melzer def. M. Safin 1-6 6-4 6-3 6-4

It looked pretty iffy after losing the first set 1-6 but Melzer found his game after that for three straight sets.

``Safin came out in the opening set and looked awe-inspiring, much like he did when he burst on the scene at the 2000 US Open and, at the ripe age of 20, upset the then 13-time Grand Slam winner and seemingly unbeatable Sampras to take his first Grand Slam title. But even as he charged out ahead, you could sense that this might get complicated for Safin. Melzer became scrappier, lengthening the points and forcing Safin to work harder. Serving at 3-4 in the second, 15-15, the two players had a long rally and Safin looked winded. He double faulted on the next point to go down 15-40. While he managed to save the two break points and hold serve, you sensed that Safin was beginning to crack."

Read More....Box ScorePhotos

Picks
1) Elena Dementieva (v. Melanie Oudin) vs. Dinara Safina (v. Kristina Barrois) - Dementieva wins by more games
2) Cleveland Indians @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
3) Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder vs. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday - Pujols and Holliday record more total bases
4) James Blake vs. Olivier Rochus: Blake Wins 3-0 vs. Any Other Result - Blake wins 3-0
5) Tacuary @ Sol de América - Tacuary win or draw
6) South Carolina Gamecocks @ North Carolina State Wolfpack - 47 points or more
7) San Francisco Giants @ Philadelphia Phillies - San Francisco
8) New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays - New York
9) New York Giants @ New England Patriots - New England
10) North Texas Mean Green @ Ball State Cardinals, Ball State Scores: 39 Or Fewer vs. 40 Or More - 40 or more
11) Marc Gicquel vs. Andy Roddick - 28 games or fewer played
12) Seattle Mariners @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
13) Oregon Ducks @ Boise State Broncos - Boise State

Previews

Elena Dementieva has better odds to win the U.S. Open crown than Dinara Safina.

1) Here I think Dementieva is just playing better tennis at the moment. She won her first round 6-1 6-2 whil Safina dropped a set in her match. I know Safina can be dangerous and she's world #1 by going deep into tournament after tournament. Last week was not a deep foray, however, as she lost in the first round. In the same tournament Dementieva beat Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in straight sets to take another championship. SkyBet has Safina at 1/16 (-1600) with a handicap of 6 games and Dementieva at 1/33 (-3300) with a handicap of 6.5 games. Odds favor Dementieva here and I think Barrois could extend Safina's struggles. Dementieva has also won over 61% of her total games in 2009 while Safina has won 59%.

Detroit needs a solid game from Nate Robertson, especially if Carmona pitches at 100%.

2) Detroit is leading the AL Central and at 44-22 wins 2 out of every 3 games at home. Cleveland is 30-39 on the road, not terrible, but not good either. They can play well offensively and are 7^th in the majors in runs scored but their pitching, especially relief pitching, has not been a strength this season. Detroit's starter Nate Robertson< has been converted from a relief pitching role in place of Armando Gallarraga. He'll probably only throw 70-80 pitches tonight but fortunately the Tigers have a solid bullpen with guys like Lyon, Rodney, Seay, and Te-Ni. Of course, if Fausto Carmona has a good game, which he does every once in a while, and Robertson folds early Cleveland could definitely pull off the win here.

3) Pujols, Pujols, Pujols. The man is a beast and while he's going to go hitless in a quarter of his games like any other top-level slugger he also leads the majors in home runs. Looking at the graphs to the right one can see spikes in Pujols overall games at 4 and 8 total bases representing his home run and multi-home run games. Those bumps are absent in Holliday's numbers but he does have a nice plateau at 3, 4, and 5 total bases so he gets a good number of extra base hits. For Milwaukee Prince Fielder is the bigger home run threat, but one can also see he goes hitless in over 30% of his games which is poor and probably a result of teams being able to pitch around him. Braun is a bigger threat than Holliday, but if John Smoltz can neutralize the threat from him I feel confident Manny Parra will give up the hits to the Cardinals duo. Braun and Fielder have a combined slugging percentage of 1.146 and Pujols and Holliday combine for a 1.193 slugging percentage, a very slight edge.

Proportions of total games with 'N' total bases.
Click image for larger view.

7) Gah, I have a bad feeling about taking the Giants here. Yes, Tim Lincecum will pitch terrifically, he does that often. The Phillies batters have a lifetime .206 batting average, .361 slugging average and an abysmal .606 OPS. I just have a bad feeling the Giants will fail to muster any run support for the guy. San Francisco is averaging just 3.69 runs per game on the road. Pedro Martinez may be old but he's still keeping Philadelphia in the game. Unless Lincecum can pitch 7 strong innings and the Giants can take a lead into the 8^th I think Philadelphia finds away to manufacture a go-ahead run. Very close and I would pick Philadelphia here against any pitcher in the league, except Lincecum.

The Yankees will need those red bats swingin' as it's unlikely Chad Gaudin can shut down the Blue Jays in Toronto.

8) The Yankees have been stellar in the second half of the season, going 34-11 since the All-Star break. The Blue Jays have managed to go only 15-27 in that span. Ricky Romero is a pretty good pitcher when he's on and the Blue Jays are always tough at Rogers Centre where they are 34-32 this season. Still, the Yankees are the best offense in baseball in terms of runs, slugging, on-base, and OPS. Romero is definitely better than Chad Gaudin who has been shuffled in and out of the bullpen by the Yankees and Padres this season. If ever there were a pitching matchup Toronto could take advantage of it would be this one. Toronto has gone 1-1 with Romero pitching against New York, both in NYC and both 1 run games. I'll leave my pick on the Yankees still with Toronto's bullpen facing the Yankees' bats. They'll need 'em to make sure Gaudin doesn't put them in too big a hole.

13) Boise State is favored in this one over at 5dimes.com at -160 odds with Oregon clocking in at +140. Oregon may want revenge for the loss their suffered at the hands of the Broncos in Eugene last season but Boise State should be the better team overall this season. I also like that Boise State plays on blue colored artificial turf. That's got to be distracting if you haven't practiced on it before.

September 2nd, 2009 Picks

2009-09-02T00:27:00.008-06:00

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(skip to picks)1-0-1 today. I took Bohemians to win by more than Derry City but I was fairly sure both teams would lose. Neither team has been able to string together four wins in a row this season reliably. Then I took Manny Ramirez to make an out with his second plate appearance, which he did. Now I'm bearing down on a W10 once again. This time I'll just keep picking like I have been rather than skipping a day waiting for something nice looking but ultimately wrong to come along. A number of solid picks to extend your streaks are up on the board tomorrow. I'll try and throw out some quick rationale for each pick rather than posting lengthy-ish previews or nothing at all. Good luck and on to the picks.

Picks
1) Jurgen Melzer vs. Marat Safin - Melzer
2) Chicago White Sox @ Minnesota Twins - Minnesota
3) Estudiantes La Plata @ San Lorenzo - Estudiantes La Plata win or draw
4) Richard Gasquet vs. Rafael Nadal - 28 games or more played
5) San Diego Padres (v. Nationals) vs. Oakland Athletics (vs. Royals) - Athletics have a larger victory margin
6) Los Angeles Angels @ Seattle Mariners - Los Angeles
7) Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
8) Serena Williams vs. Melinda Czink - Williams loses 5 games or fewer
9) New York Mets @ Colorado Rockies - 10 runs or more scored
10) How Many Earned Runs Will Chad Billingsley Allow (Diamondbacks @ Dodgers): 0 or 1 vs. 2 Or More - 2 or more

Previews
1) Melzer vs. Safin: With this one the odds simply favor Melzer at 8/11 (-137.5) to evens (+100) for Safin. Throw in that Melzer is 3-1 all-time against Safin and it looks like as good a bet as any straight up tennis pick.

2) Mark Buehrle just hasn't been his old self against the Twins lately. He's pitched against them four times this season and had very different results of late. At The Cell he's given up 2 runs in 13¹/₃ innings in two games, both in the first half of the season and both wins for the Sox. At the Metrodome, however, he gave up 13 runs in 9²/₃ innings over two games, both losses. The White Sox have been slumping lately and recently traded away Jim Thome. They're only 28-39 on the road as well, while Minnesota is 39-29 at home.

5) Felix Hernandez is easily in the top 3 AL pitchers but that does not really matter when facing the L.A. Angels. He's pitched against them once already this season, a 6-5 loss where King Felix gave up 6 earned runs. Last night rookie pitcher Doug Fister held the Angels down for 1 run and the Mariners won 2-1, so clearly the Angels are not invincible. I would say they have the game to lose, however. If they're batting well it doesn't matter who's pitching against them.

10) Chad Billingsley has allowed 2 or more earned runs in 21 of his 27 starts this season. Sounds pretty good, but the main caveat is that one of those 6 games allowing zero or one earned run was against the Diamondbacks, a 1-0 win on June 3^rd in Los Angeles.

September 1st, 2009 Picks

2009-09-01T01:06:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-0-0 today as I picked up wins with Barçelona and the L.A. Angels. Streak for the cash may be riddled with unforeseen upsets but today it was a good idea to go with the better teams. Tomorrow looks to be a little tougher than today was with games between cellar dwelling K.C. at Oakland but there it's probably a good idea to just go with the home team. Good luck and on to the picks!

No Henry, No Messi, No Problem For Ibra And Mates

FC Barçelona 3 - 0 Sporting Gijon

Barçelona was missing a number of key players, but then so were Sporting Gijon. The Nou Camp visitors started 5 off-season signings.

``Keita, Bojan and Maxwell all started in a new-look Barcelona side, as Thierry Henry and Yaya Toure were left on the bench and Rafa Marquez and Andres Iniesta - on their way back from injury - watched on from the stands, along with new signing Dmitro Chygrynsky. Sporting came into this game with five players missing through injury and coach Manuel Preciado opted to field all five summer signings from the start. It was proving something of a frustrating evening for [Ibrahimovic], but he finally got his reward eight minutes from time when he was left all alone to finish with ease at the back post after Sporting had once again failed to deal with a Barca corner. The Barca striker looked to be in an offside position, but he will hardly care now that he is off the mark for his new club."

Read More....Box ScorePhotos

Picks
1) Jarkko Nieminen vs. Fabio Fognini - Nieminen
2) Dinara Safina vs. Olivia Rogowska - 16 games or fewer played
3) Derry City (v. Galway United) vs. Bohemians Dublin (@ Sligo Rovers) - Bohemians larger margin of victory
4) Who Will Score First: Toronto Blue Jays @ Texas Rangers - Toronto scores first
5) Tszvetana Pironkova vs. Maria Sharapova - Sharapova loses 6 games or fewer
6) Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
7) Atlanta Braves @ Florida Marlins - Atlanta
8) Phoenix Mercury @ Detroit Shock - Detroit
9) Connecticut Sun @ Sacramento Monarchs - Connecticut
10) Kansas City Royals @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
11) Manny Ramirez's Second Plate Appearance: Hit Or Walk vs. Any Other Result - Any other result

August 31st, 2009 Picks

2009-08-31T00:01:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)I didn't get a chance to make the full slate of picks yesterday but I was very fortunate to pick up a win with Everton and the Braves scoring the first run of their game. Everton won on a last minute penalty kick while the Braves lost the game but scored in the top of the 1^th with Martin Prado going yard. Tomorrow has some tough ones but hopefully a couple that one can count on to boost their streak. And so on to the picks!

Picks
1) Giovanni Lapentti vs. Simon Greul - Lapentti
2) Roger Federer vs. Devin Britton: How Many Games Will Federer Lose, 4 Or Fewer vs. 5 Or More - 5 or more
3) Tampa Bay Rays @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
4) Leicester City @ Newcastle United - 2 goals or fewer
5) Sporting Gijon @ FC Barçelona - FC Barçelona wins by 2 goals or more
6) Vera Dushevina vs. Venus Williams - 16 games or more played
7) How Many Runs Scored In 1^st Inning (Yankees @ Orioles): 0 or 1 run vs. 2 or more runs - 2 or more runs
8) Minnesota Vikings @ Houston Texans - Houston
9) What Will Be The First Score Of The Game (Vikings @ Texans): Touchdown vs. Field Goal or Safety - Touchdown
10) Chicago White Sox @ Minnesota Twins - Minnesota
11) Washington Nationals @ San Diego Padres - Washington
12) Los Angeles Angels @ Seattle Mariners - Los Angeles
13) Runs Scored In Innings 4 Through 6 (Diamondbacks @ Dodgers): 2 Runs Or Fewer vs. 3 Runs Or More - 3 or more

August 29th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-29T02:48:00.006-06:00

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(skip to picks)Yesterday was a bit of an up and down day for me on the Streak. I started out picking up a win with Sergio Garcia aided by Padraig's double bogey on that long par-5 eighth. Then I made the mistake of picking Mainz to win or draw at Borussia Monchengladbach instead of taking Tiger to hit worse than -3 to par. I got a win back when I randomly took the over on that WNBA game. There were 114 points scored in the first half alone! Finally, ended the day with a losing streak thanks to Felix Hernandez being less than perfect. Ah well, one good day and it's a whole new streak so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Arsenal @ Manchester United - Arsenal win or draw
2) Indianapolis Colts @ Detroit Lions - Indianapolis
3) Detroit Shock @ San Antonio Silver Stars - San Antonio
4) Toronto FC @ Seattle Sounders FC - Toronto FC win or draw
5) New Orleans Saints @ Oakland Raiders - Oakland
6) Tampa Bay Rays @ Detroit Tigers - Tampa Bay
7) Who Will Win The 140^th Travers Stakes: Quality Road or Hold Me Back vs. Any Other Horse - Any other horse
8) Which Team Will Score The Games First Run: San Diego Padres vs. Florida Marlins - Florida
9) Cleveland Indians @ Baltimore Orioles - Baltimore
10) Texas Rangers @ Minnesota Twins - Minnesota
11) Buffalo Bills @ Pittsburgh Steelers - 18 points or more scored in the 1^st half
12) San Diego Chargers @ Atlanta Falcons - Touchdown is the first scoring play
13) New York Jets @ New York Giants - Giants
14) Colorado Rockies @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco
15) Kansas City Royals @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle
16) Chivas USA @ Los Angeles Galaxy - Los Angeles win

August 28th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-28T00:37:00.005-06:00

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(skip to picks)A terrible 6-11-0 day for me yesterday after going 16-3-2 the past two days. I started out with Werder Bremen's defense holding strong and allowing zero goals while scoring only two of their own. Aktobe never had a chance as they went down a man with 10 minutes left in the first half. Then I picked up my only win of the day as Sigma Olomouc drew against Everton. Things went poorly from there as Manchester City won their Europa League match 2-0 as well, then J.A. Happ got left in one inning too many. He allowed 5 hits through 7 innings and was sitting just below 100 pitches. They trotted him back out, however, and he gave up a single and a two run jack in the eighth. The Phillies ended up losing the game 3-2. To finish things off the 'high powered' Angels offense was shutout and the Mariners/Royals combined for many more runs than the Athletics could score. Bahhh, good to be away from that day and on to the picks.

Picks
1) Sergio Garcia vs. Padraig Harrington - Garcia cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Tiger Woods' 2^nd Round Score: 68 or lower vs. 69 or higher - 69 or higher
3) Mainz @ Borussia Monchengladbach - Mainz win or draw
4) Atlanta Braves @ Philadelphia Phillies - Atlanta
5) Tampa Bay @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
6) Calgary Stampeders @ Toronto Argonauts - 53 points or fewer
7) Sacramento Monarchs @ Minnesota Lynx - 78 points or more scored in the 1^st half
8) New England Patriots @ Washington Redskins - Washington
9) New York Liberty @ Chicago Sky - Chicago
10) Green Bay Packers @ Arizona Cardinals - Arizona
11) Felix Hernandez (v. Royals) vs. Tim Lincecum (v. Rockies) - Hernandez allows fewer earned runs

August 27th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-27T01:35:00.001-06:00

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(skip to picks)9-3-0 today. My first 3 picks turned out badly but from then on I couldn't miss. I lost my W3 from yesterday with Hanescu losing one set in a tiebreak and getting trounced in the final set 6-1. Then I made the mistake of picking Wigan Athletic who were thrashed by Blackpool 4-1. Finally I was able to pick up a win with the Yankees hitting two home runs before the 6^th inning and from there I grabbed another win with the Dodgers beating up on converted reliever Josh Fogg. Tomorrow looks to be jam-packed with 7 picks or more if some of the over/unders go over quickly. Good luck and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Luke Donald vs. Kevin Na - Na cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Werder Bremen @ Aktobe Lento - 4 goals or more
3) J.B. Holmes' Score On The Par 4 16^th: Par (4) vs. Any Other Score - Any other score
4) Everton @ Sigma Olomouc - Sigma Olomouc win or draw
5) Tiger Woods' Score On The Par 5 8^th: Birdie (4) vs. Any Other Score - Any other score
6) Lucas Glover vs. Phil Mickelson - Mickelson cards a lower or equal front 9 score
7) Manchester City @ Crystal Palace - 3 goals or more
8) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
9) K.J. Choi's Score On The Par 4 16^th: Par (4) vs. Any Other Score - Par (4)
10) How Many Hits Will J.A. Happ Allow: 5 hits or fewer vs. 6 hits or more - 5 hits or fewer
11) Chicago White Sox @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
12) Atlanta Dream @ Detroit Shock - Detroit
13) Miami Dolphins @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Tampa Bay
14) How Many Runs Scored In Innings 6 Through 8 (Padres @ Braves): 2 or fewer vs. 3 or more - 2 or fewer
15) Which Game Will See More Total Runs Score: Royals @ Mariners vs. Athletics @ Angels - Athletics @ Angels
16) Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco
17) Phoenix Mercury @ Los Angeles Sparks

August 26th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-26T01:36:00.002-06:00

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(skip to picks)BOOM! Broke out of that slump with a perfect 7-0-2 record. Got my streak back up to three with Kunitsyn, Blackburn, and the Marlins. Florida blew a number of chances to score but still found themselves up 2-1 thanks to the Mets blowing it with bases loaded as well. After that nailbiter I passed on the 8 o'clock matchups and passed up on another win. Hopefully tomorrow will be half as good and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Victor Hanescu vs. Jurgen Melzer - Hanescu
2) Who Will Be Winning After 5 Innings: Cleveland Indians @ Kansas City Royals - Kansas City
3) Wigan Athletic @ Blackpool - Wigan Athletic win
4) Celtic @ Arsenal: Will Celtic Score A Goal, Yes vs. No - Yes, Celtic scores
5) Detroit Tigers @ Los Angeles Angels - Los Angeles
6) How Many Home Runs Will Be Hit Before The 6^th Inning (Rangers @ Yankees): 0 or 1 home run vs. 2 or more - 2 or more
7) Tampa Bay Rays @ Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto
8) Houston Astros @ St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis
9) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Colorado Rockies - Los Angeles
10) Chivas USA @ Real Salt Lake - Real Salt Lake win
11) Oakland Athletics @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle
12) How Many Runs Scored In Innings 4 Through 6 (Diamondbacks @ Giants): 2 or fewer vs. 3 or more - 2 or fewer

August 25th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-25T09:55:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)Had another sub-par day yesterday. First Hammarby goes down 1-0 off an own goal, then Aston Villa and Liverpool combined for 4 goals for my lone win of the day. Villa won 3-1 by the way, Liverpool lost twice all of last season but have lost twice in the first 3 games of this season, yikes. Then Roy Halladay had an abysmal game allowing 8 earned runs in 5 innings. I picked against Halladay when Tampa Bay played the Jays in Florida on the 14^th but lost that game as Halladay played well that day. Then Toronto had the good faith to lose quickly so instead of winning with 1 or more runs in the fifth inning I got a loss with the Angels as Detroit's bats finally woke up on the road. Sheesh. These picks are late but I did manage to get a win with Kunitsyn this morning. Good luck and on to the picks.

Picks
1) Taylor Dent vs. Igor Kunitsyn - Kunitsyn
2) Blackburn Rovers @ Gillingham - Blackburn Rovers win
3) Philadelphia Phillies (@ Pirates) vs. New York Yankees (v. Rangers) - Phillies have a larger margin of victory
4) New York Mets @ Florida Marlins - Florida
5) Cincinnati Reds @ Milwaukee Brewers - Cincinnati
6) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
7) Candice Dupree vs. Lisa Leslie - Leslie more points
8) Arizona Diamondbacks @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco
9) Dan Haren vs. Matt Cain - Cain more innings pitched

August 24th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-24T00:13:00.007-06:00

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(skip to picks)Wow, that was quite a fall there. I lost my 8 game streak taking VfL Wolfsburg instead of Burnley. From what I saw in the 2^nd half Wolfsburg was just outhustled by HSV. They looked like a team that had forgotten how to earn a victory, which I guess is what happens after you win 20 games at home in a row. Then the Little League props got replaced by MLB matchups. I took the Nationals who beat up on Manny Parra right on cue but I ended the day without a streak when the Houston Dynamo were unable to create much against Seattle in MLS play. Oh well, now it's time to go for a flurry of picks and try to get a big run up by throwing caution into the wind. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) Hammarby IF @ Gefle IF - Hammarby IF win or draw
2) How Many Earned Runs Will Cliff Lee Allow: 0 or 1 vs. 2 or more - 0 or 1
3) Aston Villa @ Liverpool - 3 goals or more
4) Prince Fielder vs. Ryan Zimmerman - Zimmerman records more total bases
5) Tampa Bay Rays @ Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto
6) New York Jets @ Baltimore Ravens - Baltimore
7) Cleveland Indians @ Kansas City Royals - Kansas City
8) Detroit Tigers @ Los Angeles Angels - Los Angeles
9) How Many Total Runs Scored In The 5^th Inning: 0 runs vs. 1 or more - 1 or more

August 23rd, 2009 Picks

2009-08-23T01:28:00.001-06:00

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(skip to picks)Holy hell and damnation. I neglected to make any picks on Saturday and ended up going 11-3 overall. Of course, I have no way of knowing when I'm going to get better than 3 out of 4 picks right beforehand but it would have been nice to rack up a couple wins today. A week straight of over-.500, here's to 8 days in a row. So on to the picks!

Picks
1) Everton @ Burnley - Burnley win or draw
2) Hamburger SV @ VfL Wolfsburg - VfL Wolfsburg win
3) Mercer Island, Washington vs. Urbandale, Iowa - Mercer Island
4) Los Angeles Angels @ Toronto Blue Jays - Los Angeles
5) Milwaukee Brewers @ Washington Nationals - Washington
6) Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City Royals - Minnesota
7) San Francisco Giants @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
8) Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics - Detroit
9) San Antonio Silver Stars @ Detroit Shock - San Antonio
10) New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
11) Seattle Sounders FC @ Houston Dynamo - Houston win

August 22nd, 2009 Picks

2009-08-22T01:30:00.002-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, I bumped my streak up to 8 with Warner Robins from Georgia but aside from Little League my baseball picks were total shyte yesterday. The Red Sox were simply no match for the Yankees offensively, and San Francisco beat the Rockies with Aaron Cook heading out early (after 47 pitches) with a sore shoulder. The Cardinals just couldn't generate any offense and lost to SD while the Royals were oh so close to winning their game against Minnesota, or at least taking it into even more extra innings. I'll be going for a week straight picking over .500 tomorrow, so beware. I may not make it. And so on to the picks!

Picks
1) Stoke City @ Birmingham - Stoke City win or draw
2) Vancouver, British Columbia vs. Reynosa, Mexico - Reynosa
3) Willemstad, Curaçao vs. Maracaibo, Venezuela - Willemstad
4) Los Angeles Angels @ Toronto Blue Jays - Los Angeles
5) Roger Federer vs. Andy Murray - Federer
6) Warner Robins, Georgia vs. Staten Island, New York - Staten Island
7) Chicago Cubs @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
8) Arizona Diamondbacks @ Houston Astros - Houston
9) Matt Kenseth vs. Mark Martin - Martin has a better final position
10) Pittsburgh Steelers @ Washington Redskins - Washington
11) New York Giants @ Chicago Bears - Chicago
12) Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
13) Indiana Fever @ Seattle Storm - Indiana
14) San Diego Chargers @ Arizona Cardinals - Arizona

August 21st, 2009 Picks

2009-08-21T01:55:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)HSV wrapped up their Europa League qualifying tie today with a 5-1 win against EA Guingamp from French Ligue 2. The one goal for Guingamp was actually an own goal by backup keeper Wolfgang Hesl. Now HSV only have to avoid conceding five goals back in Hamburg while losing by 4 goals or less to advance to the group stage. Tomorrow looks to be a bit trickier than yesterday, especially if the Little League games get rained out and so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Staten Island, New York vs. Mercer Island, Washington - Staten Island
2) Nîmes Olympique @ Dijon FCO - Dijon FCO win
3) Taoyuan, Taiwan vs. Ramstein AFB, Germany - 12 runs or more
4) Urbandale, Iowa vs. Warner Robins, Georgia - Warner Robins
5) New York Yankees @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
6) Saskatchewan Roughriders @ Montreal Alouettes - 55 points or more
7) Tennessee Titans @ Dallas Cowboys - Dallas
8) Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City Royals - Kansas City
9) San Francisco Giants @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
10) St. Louis Cardinals @ San Diego Padres - St. Louis

August 20th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-20T01:00:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)Picked up another win with Liverpool beating Stoke City 4-0 while Burnley pulled off a huge upset, defeating Manchester United 1-0. Tomorrow looks like a switch back to some easier matchups, so good luck and on to the picks!

Picks
1) Mark Calcavecchia vs. Jonathan Byrd - Byrd cards a lower front 9 score
2) San Francisco Giants @ Cincinnati Reds - San Francisco
3) Hamburger SV @ Guingamp - Hamburger SV win
4) Sergio Garcia vs. Lucas Glover - Glover cards a lower front 9 score
5) Usain Bolt's 200m Finishing Time: 19.33 seconds or less vs. 19.34 seconds or more - 19.33 seconds or less
6) Valencia @ Stabæk IF - Valencia win
7) Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets - Atlanta
8) Philadelphia Eagles @ Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis
9) Josh Johnson strikeouts vs. Houston Astros hits off Johnson - Astros hits off Johnson
10) New England Revolution @ Seattle Sounders FC - Seattle Sounders FC win
11) Indiana Fever @ Sacramento Monarchs - 149 points or more
12) How Many Total Bases Will Albert Pujols Record: 2 or fewer vs. 3 or more - 2 or fewer

August 19th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-19T01:44:00.008-06:00

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(skip to picks)Up to the 5 win mark again with the Americans taking 1^st and 3^rd in the 400m hurdles yesterday. The Tigers pulled off a nice win against Seattle to move a game further ahead of the White Sox in the division. With two outs and men on 2^nd and 3^rd Fernando Rodney got caught up in a battle with Jose Lopez. Lopez kept hitting the ball foul and had a full count. Rodney started throwing pitches high and inside, settling on a 99mph fastball. Finally with the 12^th pitch Rodney took the fastball down low, well out of the strike zone and got Lopez to whiff. End of game, Tigers win. It's good to have a dependable closer which most playoff bound teams do. Relief pitching made the difference tonight in two games with Boston winning and Texas losing and I suspect Boston's relief pitching will help land them the wild card spot in the AL. Well, on to the picks.

Picks
1) Ivo Karlovic vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu: 2 sets played vs. 3 sets - 2 sets
2) IAAF Men's Discus Final: Gerd Kanter vs. Any Other Throwers - Kanter
3) Maccabi Haifa @ FC Red Bull Salzburg - FC Red Bull Salzburg win
4) Manchester United (@ Burnley) vs. Liverpool (v. Stoke City) - Liverpool has a larger margin of victory
5) Los Angeles Angels @ Cleveland Indians - Los Angeles
6) Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz vs. Aaron Hill and Adam Lind - Hill and Lind record more total bases
7) Florida Marlins @ Houston Astros - Houston
8) Los Angeles Galaxy @ Chicago Fire - Los Angeles win or draw
9) How Many Innings Will Rich Harden Last: 6¹/₃ or less vs. 6²/₃ or more - 6¹/₃ or less
10) St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
11) Minnesota Lynx @ Los Angeles Sparks - 76 points or fewer in the 1^st half

Previews & Notes
1) In the first round Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated world #46 Mischa Zverev 6-1 7-5 while Ivo Karlovic took down #13 Gael Monfils 6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(2). The results are on the official tournament website, here. Discounting Challengers matches Karlovic is 1-0 against Mathieu with a straight sets victory in Rome last year. SkyBet has Karlovic as a fairly heavy favorite to win this match. Karlovic is +110 to win in straight sets while Mathieu is at +350 for a straight sets win. For 3 set victories it's +275 and +450 for Karlovic and Mathieu, respectively. This is the first match of the day on court 3 so barring weather it should start right on time and be decided well in time for the next picks of the day.

2) Gerd Kanter is far and away the biggest individual favorite to win this event and is even favored against the field. SkyBet has him at -200 with the biggest challenger being Virgiljus Alekna at +350. When accounting for the sportsbooks profits and combining the odds for the field, however, Kanter is only about -115 against the field. The IAAF website has a good preview for the final. Highlights being that Kanter has won 28 straight discus events with his last loss coming in July of 2008 to none other than Alekna.

August 18th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-18T00:33:00.002-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, picked up a couple of wins with Igor Andreev and Carp n' the Cards. Yesterday was almost entirely made up of major favorites coming through. Kevin Gregg blew a 1 run lead with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9^th making the Padres the only minority pick to pull through on this day. Tomorrow might be a little trickier, so on to the picks!

Picks
1) Chelsea @ Sunderland - Sunderland wins, draws, or loses by 1 goal
2) Nationality Of 400m Hurdle Winner: United States vs. Any Other Nationality - United States
3) Seattle Mariners @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
4) Josh Beckett Strikeouts vs. Toronto Blue Jays Hits Off Beckett Or Tie - Blue Jays hits
5) Phoenix Mercury @ Chicago Sky - Chicago
6) Kansas City Royals @ Chicago White Sox - Chicago
7) Chicago Cubs @ San Diego Padres - 4 runs scored before 5^th inning
8) Alana Beard vs. Candace Parker - Beard more 1^st half points

August 17th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-17T01:43:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)A 2-0-0 day today with Tottenham Hotspur defeating Liverpool and the Angels romping past the Orioles with a 9 run 13^th inning. Baltimore was one home run away from winning that game for a while but didn't really threaten to score in the extra innings otherwise. And can ya believe it? Angels @ Baltimore is on the board again except this time it's Santana (CGSO vs. Tampa Bay last start) against young strikeout pitcher David Hernandez. I gotta say I like the Angels' chances once again assuming Santana is really back to his old form. So good luck tomorrow and on to the picks.

Picks
1) Igor Andreev vs. Nicolas Kiefer - Andreev
2) BK Häcken @ Malmö FF - BK Häcken win or draw
3) Will Tommy Hanson Be The Winning Pitcher (Diamondbacks @ Braves): Yes vs. No - No
4) Los Angeles Angels @ Baltimore Orioles - Los Angeles
5) San Francisco Giants @ New York Mets - New York
6) Staten Island, New York vs. Bernardsville, New Jersey - Staten Island
7) Carolina Panthers @ New York Giants - New York
8) Chicago Cubs @ San Diego Padres - San Diego
9) St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers - St. Louis

August 16th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-16T01:26:00.003-06:00

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(skip to picks)Very poor 1-3-0 day for me today. Started out with a Sean O'Hair loss. The man who finished 10^th at the Masters had the worst round of the entire remaining field. Then I picked up a win with Urbandale, Iowa in the Little League World Series. I skipped past a few picks and settled on the Seattle Storm which was a loss and then I stubbornly took another Seattle team. The Mariners were quite bad as they were shut down by Mitre. Well, the less said about those picks the better and on to a new day.

Picks
1) Angel Cabrera vs. Kenny Perry - Cabrera cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Liverpool @ Tottenham Hotspur - Tottenham Hotspur win or draw
3) San Francisco Giants @ New York Mets - New York
4) Andy Murray vs. Juan Martin del Potro: Murray Wins In 2 Sets vs. Any Other Result - Murray wins in 2 sets
5) Los Angeles Angels @ Baltimore Orioles - Los Angeles
6) Tony Stewart vs. Jimmie Johnson - Stewart has a better final position
7) Houston Astros @ Milwaukee Brewers - Milwaukee
8) Boston Red Sox @ Texas Rangers - Texas
9) Tiger Woods Wins By 3 Or More Strokes vs. Any Other Result - Any Other Result
10) Chicago White Sox @ Oakland Athletics - Chicago
11) Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves - Atlanta
12) Chula Vista, California vs. Granite Bay, California - Chula Vista

August 15th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-15T01:14:00.002-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-1-0 today. Started off with Mickelson and Rory getting me back two games, but then I skipped over Roddick and the Phillies and ended up going down with James Shields and the Rays. Frustrating. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) Ryo Ishikawa vs. Sean O'Hair - O'Hair cards a lower front 9 score
2) Wigan Athletic @ Aston Villa - Aston Villa win
3) Urbandale, Iowa vs. Columbia, Missouri - Urbandale, Iowa
4) Peabody, Massachusettes vs. Lincoln, Rhode Island - Lincoln, Rhode Island
5) Tiger Woods' 3^rd Round Score - 69 or higher
6) Jason Leffler vs. Brad Keselowski - Leffler has a better final position
7) Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves - Philadelphia
8) Atlanta Falcons @ Detroit Lions - Detroit
9) San Francisco Giants @ New York Mets - New York
10) Colorado Rockies @ Florida Marlins - Florida
11) Seattle Storm @ Atlanta Dream - Seattle
12) Andy Roddick vs. Juan Martin del Potro - del Potro
13) Russellville, Kentucky vs. Bartholomew County, Indiana - Bartholomew County, Indiana
14) Phoenix Mercury @ San Antonio Silver Stars - San Antonio
15) Boston Red Sox @ Texas Rangers - Boston
16) Salem, Oregon vs. Mercer Island, Washington - Mercer Island, Washington
17) Los Angeles Sparks @ Sacramento Monarchs - Los Angeles
18) New York Yankees @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle

August 14th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-14T02:01:00.009-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, Tiger killed my streak and played a great round to take the lead at Hazeltine. I figured he would get a bogey on the back nine like he did in all four rounds in 2002, but he did not. Detroit and then Mickelson for par got me back two wins, but I missed out picking the big favorite San Antonio to win over Bridge City. I ended up taking CC to allow more hits, but after the marathon game against the White Sox last night Seattle never had a chance. I did finish over .500 in my picks, barely, and that will be the goal today. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) David Toms vs. Phil Mickelson - Mickelson cards a lower front 9 score
2) Rory McIlroy vs. Jim Furyk - McIlroy cards a lower or equal front 9 score
3) Belenenses @ Leixoes - Belenenses win or draw
4) Tiger Woods' Score On No. 15: Birdie (4) vs. Any Other Score - Any Other Score
5) Andy Roddick vs. Novak Djokovic - Roddick
6) Connecticut Sun @ Washington Mystics - Washington
7) San Francisco Giants @ New York Mets - New York
8) BC Lions @ Toronto Argonauts - BC
9) Philadelphia Phillies @ Atlanta Braves - Philadelphia
10) Minnesota Vikings @ Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis
11) Toronto Blue Jays @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
12) Boston Red Sox @ Texas Rangers - Texas
13) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Los Angeles
14) Denver Broncos @ San Francisco 49ers - Denver
15) Chicago White Sox @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland

August 13th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-13T00:11:00.005-06:00

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(skip to picks)Upped my streak to 5 with the Blue Jays going down by only one run to the Yanks. I guess Cano was close to hitting a 3 run shot instead of an RBI single so that was very fortunate. A lot of people complained about the refs in the USA-Mexico game, but really the United States just petered out at the end. It seemed wherever the ball went there were Mexico players around to scoop it up while the Americans were nowhere to be found. Kind of a bummer there. Oh well, on to hopefully another good day of picks.

Picks
1) Tiger Woods' Back 9 Score: 34 Or Lower vs. 35 Or Higher - 35 or higher
2) Michael Young vs. Grady Sizemore - Sizemore records more total bases
3) Detroit Tigers @ Boston Red Sox - Detroit
4) Lucas Glover vs. Stewart Cink - Glover cards a lower or equal front 9 score
5) Genoa @ Villarreal - Villarreal win
6) Phil Mickelson's Score On Hole No. 13: Par (3) vs. Any Other Score - Par (3)
7) Florida Marlins (v. Astros) vs. Cincinnati Reds (v. Nationals) - Cincinnati has a larger victory margin
8) Bridge City vs. San Antonio - San Antonio
9) Arizona Cardinals @ Pittsburgh Steelers - Pittsburgh
10) Indiana Fever @ Minnesota Lynx - Minnesota
11) Calgary Stampeders @ Edmonton Eskimos - Edmonton
12) C.C. Sabbathia: Strikeouts vs. Hits Allowed - Hits allowed
13) Result Of Ichiro Suzuki's 3^rd Plate Appearance: Hit or Walk vs. Any Other Result - Hit or walk

August 12th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-12T00:50:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)Got a win with Candace Parker today. It was looking bad for a while, she had one rebound and zero points at the half, managed to claw her way back even at 9 after the third and then ran away with it in the last few minutes of the game. Lot's of free throws and offensive rebounds allowed her to win the prop. Hopefully I can get a couple here tomorrow. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees - Toronto wins or lose by 2 runs or fewer
2) Oakland Athletics @ Baltimore Orioles - Baltimore
3) Italy @ Switzerland - Switzerland win or draw
4) Tampa Bay Rays @ Los Angeles Angels - Los Angeles
5) United States @ Mexico - Mexico win
6) Texas Rangers @ Cleveland Indians - Cleveland
7) Philadelphia Phillies @ Chicago Cubs - Philadelphia
8) Pedro Martinez: More Strikeouts vs. More Or Equal Innings Completed - More strikeouts
9) Chicago White Sox @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle
10) Mark Buehrle's Pitches Thrown: 109 or fewer vs. 110 or more - 109 or fewer

August 11th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-11T01:59:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)0-0-0 today, skipped 'em all today after my morning picks went down in fire. Tomorrow looks a bit more promising, however so on to the picks.

Picks
1) Tommy Haas vs. Ivo Karlovic - Karlovic
2) Grimsby Town @ Tranmere Rovers - Tranmere Rovers win
3) Detroit Shock @ Washington Mystics - Detroit
4) Houston Astros @ Florida Marlins - Florida
5) Philadelphia Phillies @ Chicago Cubs - Philadelphia
6) Milwaukee Brewers (v. San Diego) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (v. Cincinnati) - Milwaukee has a larger victory margin
7) Shameka Christon vs. Candace Parker - Parker points and rebounds
8) Los Angeles Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants - San Francisco
9) Runs Scored In Innings 4 Through 6 (Rays @ Angels): 3 runs or less vs. 4 runs or more - 4 runs or more

August 10th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-10T01:06:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-0-0 on the day with Pakistan once again demolishing Sri Lanka and the Tigers pulling out an 8-7 victory over the Twins in the late innings. My blog picks also flipped going 8-4-0 the day after going 4-8-0. Go figure. Tomorrow doesn't look like a lot of real promising picks, but that's just like... my opinion.... Man. So on to the picks.

Picks
1) Jimmie Johnson vs. Kurt Busch - Johnson has a better final position
2) Hansa Rostock @ Arminia Bielefeld - Hansa Rostock win or draw
3) Detroit Tigers @ Boston Red Sox - Boston
4) Cincinnati Reds @ St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis
5) Tampa Bay Rays @ Los Angeles Angels - Tampa Bay
6) Chicago White Sox @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle
7) Indiana Fever @ Los Angeles Sparks - Los Angeles

August 9th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-09T01:46:00.004-06:00

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(skip to picks)Well, a terrible day for my picks at 4-8-0, and 2-3-0 on my actual streak picks. Jason Marquis walking Dempster to send a Cubbie home ticked me off enough to take Hendricks without a second thought. I guess 5 walks was Marquis' high for the season, but he really hurt the Rockies' chances there. While I was looking up the recap for the Rockies game I guess Hendricks won his fight. I also got bombed by Queens Park Rangers and Bayern Munich. QPR especially had a ton of chances to win that game, but they just couldn't finish. The one goal they did score was actually pretty lucky where Ramage crossed the ball and it bounced past his own player and past the goalie into the net. So on to the picks and back over the gray-line!

Picks
1) Pakistan @ Sri Lanka - Pakistan^*
2) Anthony Kang vs. Y.E. Yang - Yang cards a lower front 9 score
3) Lorient @ Lille - Lille win
4) Minnesota Twins @ Detroit Tigers - Detroit
5) Florida Marlins @ Philadelphia Phillies - Florida
6) Who Will Win The WGC-Bridgestone: Tiger Woods vs. Any Other Player - Any Other Player
7) Milwaukee Brewers @ Houston Astros - Houston
8) Andy Roddick vs. Juan Martin del Potro - Roddick
9) Chicago Cubs @ Colorado Rockies - Chicago
10) Chicago Sky @ Detroit Shock - Detroit
11) Buffalo Bills @ Tennessee Titans - Tennessee
12) Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees - New York

^*_{If you can manage it you'll get a chance to see who wins the toss and bats first which is an advantage at Premadasa, also to see if Jayawarende and Jayasuriya are in for Sri Lanka. And Pakistan is batting first.}

August 8th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-08T01:18:00.000-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-1-0 on the day. I woke up to Padraig Harrington being ahead by a stroke, but he missed the fairway with his first two shots on #8 and ended up with a bogey. Both Harrington and Verplank ended up even par on the front 9 and Harrington maintained his tournament lead into the weekend. I picked up my two wins for the day with VfL Wolfsburg and Real Madrid. Wolfsburg got goals from their top scorers Misimovic and Grafite to win 2-0, highlights are here. Real Madrid had Ronaldo and Kaka on show and the rest of their team did very well also. They won 5-1 and some great goals can be seen here. 12 picks on the board for tomorrow and hopefully a few more to be added later in the day. I really like the home teams to win in MLB, especially a couple that lost today. So on to the picks!

Picks
1) Ernie Els vs. Vijay Singh - Els cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Blackpool FC @ Queens Park Rangers - Queens Park Rangers win
3) Bayern Munich @ 1899 Hoffenheim - Bayern Munich win
4) Tiger Woods' 3^rd Round Score - 68 or higher
5) Kyle Busch vs. Carl Edwards - Busch has a better finishing position
6) Texas Rangers @ Los Angeles Angels - Los Angeles
7) Edmonton Eskimos @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Edmonton
8) Milwaukee Brewers @ Houston Astros - Houston
9) Chicago Cubs @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
10) Johny Hendricks vs. Amir Sadollah - Hendricks
11) Indiana Fever @ Phoenix Mercury - Phoenix
12) Tampa Bay Rays @ Seattle Mariners - Seattle

August 7th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-07T01:12:00.009-06:00

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(skip to picks)1-1-1 today. Started off with a tough loss when Kaymer gave up three strokes on the 9^th hole to O'Hair. Kaymer hit into the fairway bunker, chipped 20 yeards back out into the rough then hit into another bunker. It was the perfect storm of 'how to misplay a hole' and just in time to save the pick for O'Hair. Then I rolled with the Twins who went 0-for-13 with RISP in the game and fell 2-1 to Cleveland. Of course, the Nationals put up 12 runs on Florida, sweeping the Marlins and winning their fifth game in a row so that prop was a push. Then I finished with the New York Yankees who had an 8 run inning en route to a 13-6 victory. Hopefully tomorrow can continue in this latter vein. And on to the picks.

Picks
1) Pakistan @ Sri Lanka - Pakistan
2) Scott Verplank vs. Padraig Harrington - Harrington cards a lower front 9 score
3) Phil Mickelson's 2^nd Round Score: 68 or lower vs. 69 or higher - 68 or lower
4) VfB Stuttgart @ VfL Wolfsburg - VfL Wolfsburg win
5) Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees - New York
6) Arizona Diamondbacks @ Washington Nationals - Arizona
7) Real Madrid @ Toronto F.C. - Real Madrid win by 2 goals or more
8) Connecticut Sun @ Minnesota Lynx - Connecticut
9) John Isner vs. Tomas Berdych - Isner
10) Chicago Cubs @ Colorado Rockies - Colorado
11) New York Liberty @ Sacramento Monarchs - Sacramento
12) Atlanta Braves @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
13) Saskatchewan Roughriders @ BC Lions - BC

2009-08-06T00:06:00.001-06:00

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(skip to picks)1-1-0 today, which is fucking ridiculous considering I had plenty of winning picks to choose from. Passed on the Braves, passed on the Rays, passed on Barca; I should have gone 4-0-0 today. Ah well, and of course both of the picks I wrote about lost. I'll just leave them alone and hope for a 9-2-0 day on my blog picks tomorrow and so on to those picks!

Picks
1) Martin Kaymer vs. Sean O'Hair - Kaymer cards a lower or equal front 9 score
2) Florida Marlins (@ Nationals) vs. Minnesota Twins (@ Indians) - Minnesota has a larger margin of victory
3) Aaron Cook vs. Cliff Lee - Lee allows fewer hits
4) Tiger Woods' 1^st Round Score: 67 or lower vs. 68 or higher - 68 or higher
5) Los Angeles Angels @ Chicago White Sox - Chicago
6) MSK Zilina @ Hajduk Split - Hajduk Split win
7) Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees - New York
8) Arizona Diamondbacks @ Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh
9) New York Mets @ San Diego Padres - San Diego
10) Atlanta Braves @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
11) Seattle Storm @ Los Angeles Sparks - Los Angeles

August 5th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-05T00:50:00.003-06:00

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(skip to picks)1-0-0 today with St. Louis rallying down the stretch. I could have picked up a couple of other wins with Vaslui or Sporting, but I can live with not taking such close results. Either of those soccer games could have gone the other way very easily. Pretty sure the tennis match doesn't start until 10pm EDT based on this. Good luck with tomorrow and on to the picks.

Pujols Grand Slam Caps Off Cards Rally

St. Louis Cardinals 12 - 7 New York Mets (in 10)

Joel Piniero got bombed badly today. You could tell it wasn't his day when he gave up an early 2-RBI double to Johan Santana (batting under .100).

``The Cardinals scored eight times in the last three innings to hand New York its fifth loss in six games. With two out and the bases loaded in the 10th, Sean Green replaced Pedro Feliciano (4-4) and hit Mark DeRosa on the left elbow with his first pitch to give St. Louis an 8-7 lead. With the Citi Field crowd still jeering Green, Pujols hit an 0-2 pitch into the seats in left to tie Ernie Banks' NL record of five slams in a season. The All-Star slugger is 7 for 9 with 24 RBIs with the bases loaded this year. He is one slam behind the major league record for a season held by Travis Hafner and Don Mattingly."

Read More....Box ScorePhotos

Picks
1) Celtic @ Dinamo Moscow - Celtic win or draw
2) How Many Runs Will Be Scored Before The 5^th Inning (Cardinals @ Mets): 3 or fewer vs. 4 or more - 4 or more
3) APOEL Nicosia @ Partizan Belgrade - 3 goals or more
4) Atlanta Braves @ San Diego Padres - Atlanta
5) Chicago Sky @ Indiana Fever - 152 points or more
6) New York Yankees @ Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto
7) Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
8) Seattle Mariners @ Kansas City Royals - Seattle
9) Maria Sharapova vs. Victoria Azarenka - Azarenka
10) Texas Rangers @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland
11) FC Barçelona @ Seattle Sounders FC - FC Barçelona win by 2 goals or more

Previews

Partizan Belgrade are down 2-0 after the first leg in Cyprus. Can they make up the difference in Serbia to advance?

3) This is the second leg of the final qualifying round tie between Serbian Super Liga champions FK Partizan Belgrade and Cyprus First Division champions APOEL Nicosia. APOEL took a 2-0 lead over Partizan as they capitalized on a couple of corner kick opportunities while Partizan felt out their opponent, creating opportunities near goal but failing to pursue them aggressively. I think Partizan Belgrade will be much more comfortable at home and with the added incentive of needing to win by 2 goals or more in regulation will be much more aggressive. SkyBet has Paritzan as -300 favorites to win and has over 2.5 goals equal odds to under 2.5 at -120, which shows over 2.5 goals here is more favored than in the bulk majority of soccer matches. APOEL Nicosia is a good team with some success in the UEFA Cup and Champions League in the past 5 years, but I don't think they can keep Partizan from scoring today.

Victoria Azarenka has lost only twice this year on hard courts (23-2 record) with 3 tournament wins.

9) First off, oddsmakers have Victoria Azarenka as the favorite to win this match. SkyBet has Azarenka at 4/7 (-175) and Sharapova at 5/4 (+125). BetFair has it at 1.58 (about -170) for Azarenka and 2.68 (about +170) for Sharapova. Head to head Azarenka is 1-0 against Sharapova, winning in straight sets 7-6(9) 6-2. Maria Sharapova has made her return from injury this year and has done well, but not amazing. She has played one hard court tournament this year and bowed out in the quarterfinals to Venus Williams 6-2 6-2. Victoria Azarenka has been terrific this year and especially at hard court tournaments. She has won three tournaments on hard court, including in Miami where she defeated Serena Williams, and has lost only twice on hard courts, once to Serena and once to Vera Zvonareva. Azarenka definitely has the skill to win this match and I hope she can take it in straight sets.

August 4th, 2009 Picks

2009-08-04T00:41:00.011-06:00

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(skip to picks)2-1-0 today though my blog picks got back to .750, I took Edwards in NASCAR and passed on Hamlin, Tampa Bay, and Gefle IF. *d'oh!* At least Verlander and the A's made up for that poor luck. And so on to the picks.

Denny Hamlin Comes From Behind At Pocono

Kurt Busch 9^th, Carl Edwards 18^th

Carl Edwards just didn't have the car to win this race. He consistently lost spots out of the restart.

``Having said Friday that he expected to win the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, Hamlin charged to the front from the sixth position with 13th laps left in Monday's rain-postponed race and ended a 50-race drought in the Sprint Cup Series. After beating Juan Montoya to the checkered flag by .869 seconds, Hamlin wept in Victory Lane, overcome with emotion in the aftermath of the recent deaths of his grandmother, Thelma Clark, and the mother of tire specialist Patrick Mullen at Joe Gibbs Racing. With the strongest car in the field car at the 2.5-mile triangular track, Hamlin passed Clint Bowyer for the lead off Turn 1 on Lap 191 of 200 and stayed in front the rest of the way. Montoya slipped past Bowyer for the second spot on Lap 192."

Haren, D-Backs Bullpen Survive Mets Rally

Arizona Diamondbacks 6 - 5 New York Mets
Dan Haren - 7 IP, 3 K

Verlander Hangs Strong, Clete Belts One Past Baltimore

Detroit Tigers 6 - 5 Baltimore Orioles
Justin Verlander - 8 IP, 8 K

The Mets stayed true to form and kept with their ability to put the ball into play.

``Arizona won three of four in the series behind Reynolds, who put up impressive numbers despite resting during Sunday's 5-2 victory. The slugger went 5-for-12 with four homers and five RBIs against New York. Reynolds has seven long balls in his last seven games to give him 32 on the year and is batting .387 (24-for-62) with eight homers since the All-Star break. He is tied with Wright with four homers at Citi Field this season. Four relievers combined to shut out the Diamondbacks after Figueroa left, giving New York a chance to rally. Castillo hit a two-run single in the Mets' three-run fifth and Murphy went deep for his seventh homer to make it 6-5 in the sixth. New York had a chance to tie it in the eighth but couldn't come up with a big hit."

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Justin Verlander probably would have been pulled early if his poor inning had been the sixth instead of the first.

``For 15 minutes Monday, the Baltimore Orioles made Justin Verlander look like one of baseball's worst pitchers. It didn't last. The Detroit ace allowed five runs before getting his second out, but didn't give up another in his eight innings of work, allowing the Tigers to rally for a 6-5 victory. The Orioles stunned Verlander by scoring the five runs in the first, starting the game with four hits. Brian Roberts led off with a homer, and the next three batters singled to load the bases. Aubrey Huff made it 2-0 by grounding into a force at second before Ty Wigginton doubled in the third run and Luke Scott added a two-run double. "After that, he was a completely different pitcher," Huff said. Baltimore only got three more hits in the game."

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Rajai Davis Caps Oakland Rally With Two Run Triple

Oakland Athletics 3 - 2 Texas Rangers

That was wholly unexpected, considering the A's had 2 hits and 4 total baserunners the entire game going into the 9^th a 3 run rally was... a nice surprise.

``Pinch hitter Rajai Davis tripled down the right field line to drive in two runs and lift the Oakland Athletics to a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night. A's starter Brett Anderson gave up six hits over 7 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. Dustin Nippert, who started in place of the injured Kevin Millwood, gave up a hit in five innings. He walked two and struck out five. C.J. Wilson (4-5) blew his third save in 16 chances after allowing singles to Jack Cust, Tommy Everidge and Mark Ellis, before Davis' triple. `We had the right people in the game to end it right there," Rangers' manager Ron Washington said. "But they pulled it off. We brought in our closer and they beat him.'"

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Picks
1) FC Vaslui @ Omonia Nicosia - FC Vaslui win or draw
2) Sporting Lisbon @ Twente Enschede - Sporting Lisbon advances
3) San Antonio Silver Stars @ Los Angeles Sparks - Los Angeles
4) Arizona Diamondbacks @ Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh
5) Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
6) St. Louis Cardinals @ New York Mets - St. Louis
7) New York Liberty @ Detroit Shock - 147 points or fewer
8) San Francisco Giants @ Houston Astros - Houston
9) Los Angeles Angels @ Chicago White Sox - Los Angeles
10) Cappie Pondexter vs. Lauren Jackson - Pondexter scores more points
11) Milwaukee Brewers @ Los Angeles Dodgers - Los Angeles
12) How Many Home Runs Will Be Hit In Innings 4 through 6 (Braves @ Padres): Zero vs. 1 or more - Zero

August 3rd, 2009 Picks

2009-08-03T00:56:00.005-06:00

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(skip to picks)1-2-0 today. Started off nicely with win courtesy of Ukraine in Donetsk but I overslept the Brondby pick. I took the Mets hoping they'd continue to streak but they reverted back into impotent form. A lot of poor plate discipline allowed Garland to take a complete game easily. Really my baseball picks were shytt yesterday so Atlanta had no chance. Billingsley dominated and Jurrjens got blown up in the 5^th. It was no good unless you're a Dodgers fan in which case it was good to see Billingsley kicking ass again. I think he'll be fine too, just a cramp. And so on to the picks.

Ukraine Jumps On England Early Once Again To Claim Under-19 Euro Championship

Ukraine U-19 2 - 0 England U-19

The sentiment here seems to be Ukraine just played a better game and may well have the more talented team.

``Ukraine became the first team to win the UEFA European Under-19 Championship on home soil as a goal early in each half from Denys Garmash and Dmytro Korkishko earned a clinical victory against England in Donetsk. As they had done in their semi-final, Yuriy Kalitvintsev's team made the perfect start with Garmash – whose double against Serbia on Thursday sealed Ukraine's place in the final – supplying another assured finish to Korkishko's near-post corner in the fifth minute. Provider turned scorer five minutes after half-time, Korkishko's perfectly-executed free-kick putting the home team in complete command and inflicting more final misery on England."

Garland Dominates Mets In Complete Game

Arizona Diamondbacks 5 - 2 New York Mets

So much for that blip of offense the Mets had managed to muster this past week.

``Jon Garland pitched his first complete game in more than a year and Chad Tracy hit a two-run double, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 5-2 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday. With streaking slugger Mark Reynolds getting a scheduled rest, Augie Ojeda started at third base for the Diamondbacks and reached base safely all five times up from the No. 8 spot in the lineup. Jeff Francoeur homered for the Mets (50-54), who had won six of eight. David Wright grounded into two double plays and finished 0 for 4, ending an 11-game hitting streak."

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Dodgers Find Their Groove To Take Series In Atlanta

Los Angeles Dodgers 9 - 1 Atlanta Braves

Billingsley was on a major roll when he left the game with a leg cramp. Chances are it's nothing.

``Kemp had three hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth and a two-run single in the eighth as the Dodgers outhit the Braves 19-5. Andre Ethier and James Loney also had three hits. Chad Billingsley (11-6) threw five scoreless innings before leaving with a cramp in his right hamstring. Billingsley gave up only two hits with one walk and nine strikeouts in five innings. After leaving a combined five runners on base in the third and fourth innings, Jurrjens' luck ran out in the fifth. After leaving a combined five runners on base in the third and fourth innings, Jurrjens' luck ran out in the fifth."

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Picks
1) Kurt Busch vs. Carl Edwards - Edwards has a better final position
2) Jeff Gordon vs. Denny Hamlin - Hamlin has a better final position
3) Kansas City Royals @ Tampa Bay Rays - Tampa Bay
4) Djugården @ Gefle IF - Gefle IF win
5) Dan Haren (v. Mets) vs. Justin Verlander (v. Orioles) - Verlander records more strikeouts
6) Chicago Cubs @ Cincinnati Reds - Chicago
7) Atlanta Braves @ San Diego Padres - Atlanta
8) Texas Rangers @ Oakland Athletics - Oakland

Previews
1,2) More or less just going by these odds from BetUs. Edwards seems to be favored quite a bit more than Kurt most places I've looked at while Hamlin and Gordon is predicted to be much closer. Here's the lineup for the race as well. Busch starts 4^th, Edwards 5^th, Jeff Gordon is 3^rd and Hamlin is 6^th.

Plate appearances per strikeout through August 2^nd, 2009.
Click image for larger view.

5) Looking at this matchup it seems to be a fairly close one. Dan Haren has an 8.88 K/9 and averages 6.95 strikeouts per game. Justin Verlander has a 10.65 K/9 and averages 7.82 strikeouts per game. That's especially impressive for Verlander considering he's pitching against a designated hitter each time out while Haren gets a couple shots at the pitcher each game. Combine that with the fact that Haren is pitching on the road against the Mets while Verlander is at home and I have to give the advantage to Verlander, hands down. Looking at the graph on the right the Mets take more plate appearances to strike out than any other team in the league. The Orioles are right up there as well but for the past month alone the Orioles are down to 5.56 PA/SO while the Mets are still league leaders at 7.06. Even if the Orioles hadn't been striking out more often I still wouldn't bet on the Mets swinging and missing or watching the ball slide into the zone more often than Baltimore. Of course, Verlander could possibly get chased early by Baltimore and end up with a low strikeout count but I think Haren will have to pitch a complete game to get more than 6.

August 2nd, 2009 Picks

2009-08-02T01:16:00.004-06:00

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Picks
1) England U19 @ Ukraine U19 - Ukraine U19 win or draw
2) FC Midtjylland @ Brøndby IF - Brøndby IF win
3) Arizona Diamondbacks @ New York Mets - New York
4) Buick Open Winning Score: 22 under or lower vs. 21 under or higher - 21 under or higher
5) Kurt Busch vs. Carl Edwards - Edwards has a better final position
6) New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox - Chicago
7) Los Angeles Angels @ Minnesota Twins - Minnesota
8) Indiana Fever @ Washington Mystics - Indiana
9) Toronto Blue Jays @ Oakland Athletics - Toronto
10) Chicago Cubs @ Florida Marlins - Florida
11) Connecticut Sun @ Detroit Shock - Detroit
12) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves - Atlanta

Random Notes
First off, check out Chad Billingsley's game log. In the past month and more he's got a couple of nice quality starts... against Cincinnati and the Padres. Against St. Louis, Houston, Milwaukee he was knocked around, badly. 6 walks against the Cards? 5 outs to 6 earned runs against the Astros? With Jurrjens pitching and Manny in an ever longer slump Atlanta seems like a good pick there.
Same with the Marlins. The Cubs were expected to contend and win the NL Central but Dempster is not the most reliable pitcher to roll with if you're calling a road win. Nolasco, on the other hand, has done well lately. Well enough to make this a close game through 6 innings.
I do like Toronto on the road as Vin Mazzaro has been shown to be quite hittable. The Athletics have been rock solid offensively scoring 5+ runs in each of their last 5 games. Plus Toronto's bullpen is never a safe bet to hold a lead. I'm almost talking myself out of this one but am counting on Ricky Romero to go deep in the game.
Weaver's right handed. If he's not 100% on with his stuff today Mauer, Morneau, and the rest, could take advantage. Seriously.
Damn you SM, are you seriously going to leave this Mets game locked through a rain delay? Inconsistent much?

August 1st, 2009 Picks

2009-08-01T01:03:00.009-06:00

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(skip to picks)3-1-0 today. Finally had a real solid day on the blog. The previews of the matchups have been rather sparse lately and that's a combination of being busy with other things like differential equation proofs (I know they work for real world problems but the Ivories like a bit more rigor). That will probably be the case for a few days but I'll try and get up some bare bones previews at least. Started off with Tiger Woods' incredible start on the back 9, then SV Ried disappointed themselves and me, but Volstad and the Marlins got me back on track followed by the Phillies breaking out of their funk (kind of) just in time to give Cliff Lee the win. And so it's on to a new month and a new day of picks. Good luck you monthly maniacs!

Tiger Roars Back Up The Leader Board With 63, John Senden Takes Weekend Lead

Tiger Woods' First 9 Holes: 30

Tiger Woods was just in a career best kind of mood to start the day. I really think his early morning start helped out while his afternoon start hurt him in the first round and will limit his success in the third round.

``Tiger Woods had the best five-hole start of his career, chipping in for eagle and making four birdies. Woods finished with a season-low 9-under 63 Friday in the Buick Open to shoot up the leaderboard. The round was his best round in relation to par in four years. Woods was coming off what he said was probably the worst putting day of his career on Thursday, leading to a lackluster 71 in his first competitive round since missing the cut at the British Open. He quickly clawed back into contention with his birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie tear and finished the day 10 under for the tournament. John Senden shot a 66 to take the second-round lead at 14 under, two shots ahead of Michael Letzig (65) and another stroke in front of Vaughn Taylor (68) and Bill Lunde (65). Woods entered the weekend four strokes back in a pack of six, including Kevin Stadler, who shot his second straight 67. Senden is shooting for his second PGA TOUR title and first in three years. The Australian has four top-10 finishes this season, including a pair of fourth-place ties."

Newcomers SC Magna Put SV Ried's Six Match Streak To An End

SC Magna Wiener Neustadt 2 - 1 SV Josko Ried

SV Ried had some golden opportunities slip by such as Jonathon taking a shot with no defenders except the keeper in front of goal. He booted it right to the goalie. "Unglaublich!" (unbelievable!) cried the announcers. Bummer for them.

It was a nerve-wracking end to the game. It was an extremely important victory because we were exposed by Graz [last week]. Now we're back in the championship race. ---SC Magna Wiener Neustadt coach Helmut Kraft
I can't really criticize our effort. Our defense appeared to be a little arrogant. Their offense was just of a higher quality. ---SV Ried coach Paul Gludovatz
It was a great game. We turned things around and I got a shot on goal. We showed character today. We'll try to take the first half also next game. ---Diego Viana, SC Magna
I had faith I could score a goal even when I was on the sidelines. We showed we can succeed even without the lead and win a game. We're sure better at home than away. ---Tomas Simkovic, SC Magna
We were inattentive to their counter attack and that's something you can't afford away from home. They were two careless goals. We may as well have made the goals for them. We had the game wrapped up and have only ourselves to blame for the loss. ---Herwig Drechsel, SV Ried

Quotes & CommentarySC Magna RecapSV Ried Recap

Marlins Wrestle One Away From Cubs

Florida Marlins 5 - 2 Chicago Cubs

Chris Volstad was solid and the Cubs relievers were uncharacteristically poor. Volstad at home was the main reason for taking the Marlins here I thought.

``Volstad retired the first 12 batters and took a shutout into the seventh, but Jake Fox's two-out, two-run homer tied the score at 2-all. The hit brought a roar from the crowd of 25,024, with many of the fans clad in Cubs blue. It was the 22nd homer allowed by Volstad, who went 6 ²/₃ innings. The score was 2-all when Carlos Marmol (2-2) came into the game in the eighth with a scoreless streak of 8 1/3 innings, but he walked the first two batters. Dan Uggla scored from second on Baker's hit, and Helms doubled to hike his average as a pinch-hitter to .387. Florida won despite striking out 13 times, stranding nine runners and committing an error for the first time in nine games."

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Stellar Cliff Lee Completes Game In First Start With Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies 5 - 1 San Francisco Giants

Thankfully Philadelphia finally managed to get a hit with men on base sometime in the latter stages of the game. Ibañez and Howard were still slugs though. Thankfully Lee was practically unhittable.

``Jayson Werth homered to put Philadelphia ahead early and added a two-run single in the seventh, Raul Ibanez drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh for an insurance run and Lee did the rest. Lee pitched a four-hitter, carrying a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and even adding two hits with the bat, and the Philadelphia Phillies felt an immediate impact two days after acquiring the left-hander from Cleveland, beating the San Francisco Giants 5-1 on Friday night. Lee doubled in the eighth for his first career extra-base hit and that gave him his first multihit game; he doubled his previous career hit total. Fittingly, it was Ben Francisco -- who also came to the Phillies from the Indians on Wednesday -- whose sacrifice fly helped Lee score his first career run."

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Picks
1) FC Sion Sitten @ Neuchâtel Xamax FC - Neuchâtel Xamax FC win
2) New Zealand @ South Africa - South Africa
3) Winnipeg @ Toronto - 44 points or fewer
4) Tiger Woods' 3^rd Round Score: 66 or lower vs. 67 or higher - 67 or higher
5) Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves - Atlanta
6) New York Yankees @ Chicago White Sox - New York
7) Carl Edwards vs. Brad Keselowski - Edwards has a better finishing position
8) Los Angeles Angels @ Minnesota Twins - Minnesota
9) Arizona Diamondbacks @ New York Mets - Arizona
10) Toronto F.C. @ New England Revolution - Toronto F.C. win or draw
11) Phoenix Mercury @ Minnesota Lynx - Minnesota
12) Seattle Mariners @ Texas Rangers - Seattle
13) Saskatchewan Roughriders @ Calgary Stampeders - Saskatchewan wins or loses by 9 or less points
14) Los Angeles Sparks @ Sacramento Monarchs - Sacramento