August 5th, 2009 Picks

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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.