Month: August 2020

The good thing about wagering on sports this time of year is that with a plethora of activity, you may fine a soft line here or there if you probe hard enough. Two teams who are beginning to get healthy and make some noise are the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Philadelphia Phillies seek to push their winning streak to 10 games for the first time in nearly 15 years when they wrap up a three-game series against resurgent Tom Glavine and the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday.

With a 5-4 win in the middle game of the series on Tuesday, Philadelphia (18-14) has won nine in a row for the first time since a 13-game streak from July 30-Aug. 12, 1991.

The streak also has allowed the Phillies to move within two games of the Mets, who sit atop the NL East and are trying to avoid their first three-game losing streak of 2006.

The City of Brotherly Love is beginning to embrace the Phil’s as both the 76ers and Flyers have been banished from their respective sports and the players are brimming with confidence. Having won 9 in a row and facing a pitcher (Glavine), you would think the Phil’s would be rock solid favorites, but the morning line has the game a pick-em!

The lefty’s last two outing have been superb however and there should be some Mets money to keep the odds attractive if you are a Cory Liddle fan. The right-hander will try to put together consecutive wins for the first time this season. Against Atlanta on Friday, he gave up three runs and five hits with a season-high three walks over six innings in a 6-3 victory that lifted the Phillies to .500 for the first time this year.

He’s had success against his former team, going 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA in five outings, striking out 26 and walking just five.

Glavine (4-2, 1.94) will make the start for New York looking for his 280th career win, but also looking to beat the Phillies for the first time in 10 starts.
Since last defeating Philadelphia on Sept. 19, 2002, Glavine is 0-7 with a 5.82 ERA and opponents have hit .298 against him. He has dropped his last five starts versus them, allowing 24 runs and 35 hits in 29 innings.

Overall, Glavine is 24-16 with a 3.77 ERA in his career against Philadelphia.
At 40, Glavine is pitching recently like the two-time Cy Young Award winner he is. In wins April 29 over Atlanta and Thursday against Pittsburgh, the left-hander has given up just seven hits with 11 strikeouts and just three walks in 14 innings.

Take the Phillies to extend their streak!

In the other game you have two teams passing each other in the express elevator. The Dodgers are on their way to the penthouse, while Houston is freefalling to the outhouse. LA winner of 4 in a row is beginning to get production from their big name players Garciaparra, Drew and as always Jeff Kent.

On the other hand you have Astro’s slugger Lance Berkman in a terrible funk hitless in five at-bats and is 4-for-20 with no RBIs on the road trip. Only 14 of his 36 RBIs have come on the road. Tonight momentum is in the Dodger’s favorite.

Brett Tomko (3-1, 3.41 ERA) has been outstanding in his last three outings for Los Angeles, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in that stretch. He did not win his last outing despite allowing five hits over seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 loss to San Diego on Thursday.

“I tweaked a couple of things in the bullpen this week, and it worked. I felt more comfortable with my off-speed stuff,” Tomko said. “It would have been a lot nicer if we would have come out with the win.”

The veteran right-hander is 4-5 with a 4.90 ERA in 13 career starts against Houston.

Impressive Houston rookie Taylor Buchholz (2-1, 2.16) will oppose Tomko in his fifth career start. Buchholz is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA since joining the rotation on April 17.

The right-hander failed to record a decision his last time out after allowing three runs and six hits over seven innings in a 5-4 loss at Colorado last Friday.

You have to grab LA at -110!

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The good news for the LA Angels is that they are only four game back in the loss column in the wacky AL West. The bad news is that 2005 CY Young award winner Bartolo Colon is returning and has looked brutal in 2006.

In his third minor league rehabilitation start, Colon gave up six earned runs and nine hits against the Fresno Grizzlies. In three starts for the Angels this season, Colon is 0-2 with a 7.07 ERA and they are going to send down their best pitcher to accommodate him.

Jered Weaver, the Angels’ first-round draft pick in June 2004, reduced his ERA to 1.37 and became the second pitcher in franchise history to win his first four major league starts on Tuesday night. The other was Bo Belinsky, who won his first five starts in 1962 and finished his rookie season 10-11. Whether that’s enough to keep Weaver up in the bigs is another story. He has allowed just four earned runs, 16 hits and four walks in his 26 1-3 innings of work — and has received a total of 30 runs of support from his teammates.

The player who should be sent down is Weaver’s brother Jeff Weaver who is 3-9 with an embarrassing ERA of 6.15, but is earning $8.3 million.

The Angels are lucky to have Orlando Cabrera in the lineup as this guy has been incredible. Cabrera has reached base in 43 consecutive games without the benefit of a fielder’s choice, the longest current streak in baseball and longest in club history. He has hit safely in 27 of his last 31 contests and is 25-for-54 over his last 14 games, raising his average from .271 to .313.

When the LA Dodgers acquired Brad Penny a couple of years ago, much was expected of the hard throwing righthander, but some arm ailments affected him and he was just 7-9 in 2005. Already in 2006 he has equaled his 2005 total. Penny (7-1, 2.34 ERA) is 5-0 with a 2.03 ERA over seven starts since his lone loss of the season at Arizona on May 1. He also hasn’t allowed a home run in 10 outings since April 14.

The right-hander enters tonight’s start with a scoreless streak of 14 1-3 innings after a victory at Colorado on Friday. He surrendered five hits over 8 1-3 innings in a 3-0 win.

Padres catcher Mike Piazza, a former Dodger who is hitless in his last nine at-bats, is hitting .400 (12-for-30) with three homers and 12 RBIs in his career against Penny. Piazza is hitting just .188 at home this season.

The Colorado Rockies look to win three straight road games for the first time since April when they continue a four-game series against the Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium on Wednesday.

The Rockies (32-32) opened the season winning 10 of their first 13 road games, but have gone just 6-13 away from Denver since May 1. Still, Colorado is 16-16 on the road this season — a huge improvement over last season’s 27-54 mark.

Garrett Atkins had a double and scored two runs, and is batting .395 (17-for-43) with seven runs, five doubles and nine RBIs during a season-high 12-game hitting streak.

Washington will counter with Tony Armas (6-3, 3.48), who has won six of his last seven decisions. He allowed three runs and six hits in five innings in a 9-8, 12-inning win over Philadelphia on Friday, but did not receive a decision.

The Nationals have won in six of his last seven starts.

Armas is just 1-1 with a 4.80 ERA in six starts at RFK, and has pitched five or fewer innings in three of his last four home starts, posting a 7.13 ERA in those games.

The right-hander is 2-2 with a 7.39 ERA in seven starts against the Rockies, but went 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA in two starts against them last season.

We told you what to expect this year from over the hill Randy Johnson and he has failed to earn his salary in 2006. Johnson (7-5, 5.63 ERA) was hit hard again his last time out, allowing six runs and six hits over four innings of a 6-5 loss to Oakland on Friday. He gave up three more homers, a season high, to bring his total for the year to 15.

The Big Unit has surrendered 10 homers in his last 33 1-3 innings spanning six starts, doing nothing to dispel the notion that his dominance may be fading at age 42. Last year, he gave up a career-high 32 homers in his first season with New York.

Bob Acton

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