August 11th, 2009 Picks

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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.

August 4th, 2009 Picks

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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."

Read More....LeaderboardLap-By-Lap CommentaryPhotosHighlights

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." Read More....Box ScorePhotos

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." Read More....Box ScorePhotos

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.'"

Read More....Box ScorePhotos

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