SportsBettingChamp.com Sports Blog

The New York Yankees (62-52) and the Texas Rangers (60-55) will face off against each other tonight in Texas. With both teams acting as potential AL Wild Card contenders, this final game in the series could be pivotal. The Rangers lead the 4 game series 2-1 at this point, but New York won 5-3 last night and could split the series with a win tonight. Game time is scheduled for 8:05 PM Eastern at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick between the Yankees and the Rangers:

- Mike Mussina (14-7, 3.44) will start for New York

- Scott Feldman (4-4, 4.97) will start for Texas

- Mussina 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA in his last nine starts against the Rangers

- In his first career start against the Yankees, Feldman gave up one run and four hits in 5 innings of a 2-1 road victory on June 30

- Texas has won 4 of its last 6 games

- Mussina has given up just 12 earned runs in 44 innings (2.45 ERA) over his last seven starts.

- In his last four starts, Feldman has let in 17 earned runs in 21 innings (7.29 ERA).

- New York is 26-26 on the road

- Texas is 31-25 at home

- New York is 4-6 in its last 10 games

- Texas is 6-4 in its last 10 games

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If you were not taking Tampa Bay seriously this season, you may want to reconsider.  They are certainly a well built team that’s been years in the makings. The Tampa Bay Rays (68-45) beat the Cleveland Indians (49-64) 10-7 Wednesday night to remain 3 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the AL East race. The Rays were down 7-4 entering the bottom half of the ninth inning when there massive rally began. Carlos Pena topped off the 6 run inning with his own 3 run walk off homerun off of Cleveland reliever Masa Kobayashi. Another homerun by Gabe Gross was hit in the inning, which tied the game at 7. The win pulls the Rays closer to the 70 win mark, something that they remarkably haven’t done in any of the last 10 seasons. Rays manager Joe Madden had this to say about the game: “Probably the most exciting win I’ve been involved with here.”  Masa Kobayashi (4-5) was charged with the loss, and Troy Percival (2-0) was given the win.

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With the Phillies holding a slim 1.5 game lead on the Marlins in the NL East, the two meet tonight, the second game of the series. The Florida Marlins (60-53) defeated the Philadelphia Phillies (61-51) 8-2 last night to take the first game. Both teams will send out young pitchers (Sanchez is 24, Kendrick is 23) to the mound. Game time is scheduled for 7:05 PM Eastern at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick between the Marlins and the Phillies:

- Florida will send out Anibal Sanchez (1-0, 3.18) to the mound

- Philadelphia will start Kyle Kendrick (9-5, 4.59)

- Sanchez’s first start of the season on Thursday was his first start in 15 months

- Phillies won seven of their last nine games

- Florida is 9-4 in its last thirteen road games

- The Marlins also hold a 6-4 edge in the season series against the Phillies

- Philadelphia has won four of the last six home contests against Florida.

- The Phillies are 29-24 at home

- The Marlins are 27-27 on the road

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It took someone who wasn’t even expecting to play to finally end the extra innings game between the Chicago White Sox (62-49) and the Detroit Tigers (55-57). The game lasted 4 hours and 58 minutes, but Chicago’s Nick Swisher hit a three run homer in the bottom of the 14th to give the White Sox the 10-8 win. The game went into extra innings at 6-6, and neither team scored until the 14th inning. In the top of the inning, Detroit’s Placido Polanco hit his second homer of the game, which brought in 2 runs to make it 8-6 in the Tigers favor heading into the bottom of the inning. Chicago’s Orlando Cabrera scored after an error, to make the score 8-7. With two outs and a 2-1 count, Swisher stepped to the plate and hit his three run bomb to right-center field. The win gave Chicago a one game lead on Minnesota, who lost to Seattle, in the AL Central. Adam Russell was given the win, his fourth of the season. Joel Zumaya was given the loss.

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The New York Yankees (61-50) take on the Texas Rangers (58-54) Monday night in Texas. Over the last month, the Yankees have been red hot and are back in playoff talks after an abysmal start to the season. Game time is scheduled for 8:05 PM Eastern.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick between the Yankees and the Rangers:

- Joba Chamberlain (4-3, 2.24) will pitch for New York

- Vicente Padilla (12-5, 4.52) will start for Texas

- New York is 25-24 on the road

- Texas is 29-24 at home

- New York has won 16 of its last 24 games since July 5th

- New York has lost 5 of its last 8 games on the road

- Texas has won 4 of its last 6 games

- Padilla is 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA in two career starts versus the Yankees

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The Tampa Bay Rays (66-44) beat the Detroit Tigers (55-56) Sunday in the 10th inning by a score of 6-5. The way they won was anything but ordinary, and ranks up there with the worst ways to lose a game (if you’re a Tigers fan). After Detroit got a run in the top of the tenth to go up 5-4, Tampa Bay’s outfielder Carl Crawford hit an RBI single in the bottom half of the 10th inning. Carlos Pena then drew a game-ending, bases-loaded walk. To make matters even worse for Detroit, the reason the bases became loaded was when Detroit pitcher Fernando Rodney issued a walk, than hit a batter to get two guys on. A sacrifice hit moved the runners to second and third, and Rodney again issued a walk to the next batter, before Pena drew his walk.  Speaking after the game, Detroit manager Jim Leyland had this quote: “You’ve got to step it up if you want to be in the hunt. You don’t want to be in the hunt, go home. Take an early vacation. Come back for spring training. We’ll bring some kids up to play. We should be embarrassed. I’m not sure enough people are.” Trever Miller was given the win, with Fernando Rodney taking the loss.

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The Los Angeles Angels (69-41) take the field against the New York Yankees (60-50) Sunday afternoon in the Bronx. The Angels hope to take the 4 game series, and New York is hoping for a split as they won yesterdays game after LA took the first two. Game time is scheduled for 1:05 PM Eastern.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick between the Angels and the Yankees:

- John Lackey (9-2, 2.93) will start for the Angels

- Darrell Rasner (5-8, 4.92) takes the mound for the Yankees

- The Angels are 8-2 in their last 10 games

- The Yankees are 5-5 in their last 10 games

- The Angels are 14-7 overall against the Yankees in the last 3 years

- The Angels are 38-20 on the road

- The Yankees are 35-26 at home

- Angels starter John Lackey came within two outs of a no-hitter before eventually giving up a hit against Boston in his last start

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The New York Mets (58-52) took on the Houston Astros (52-57) in Houston Saturday night. It did not go as planned for New York. Once again, Johan Santana pitched a strong game and handed a 4-1 lead over to the bullpen. We all should have guessed what happened next.  Santana earns yet another no decision as the Mets lost to the Astros 5-4 in 10 innings.

Billy Wagner came in with the Mets up 4-2 and eventually loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth inning. Mark Loretta was on third with Hunter Pence, who was on second, immediately following him after a single by Geoff Blum.  Loretta collided with Mets catcher Ramon Castro, which jarred the ball loose.  Pence, still on Loretta’s heels, scored as well.  Loretta referenced himself playing football, as he said, “I felt like a fullback going in there. It was like a car wreck.”

The loss was big for the Mets, who now are two games behind NL East leading Philadelphia. Billy Wagner was charged with a blown save, and Aaron Heilman took the loss.  Jose Valverde was credited with the win.

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The Cleveland Indians (47-61) will take on the Minnesota Twins (61-48) in an AL Central showdown. These are important games for the Twins, as they can try to gain wins to keep up with the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox. The Twins need to continue their winning ways as of late to stay in contention.

Consider these criteria when determining a pick between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox:

- Paul Byrd (5-10, 4.93) will take the mound for Cleveland

- Kevin Slowey (7-7, 4.00) will start for Minnesota

- Byrd is 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA in three starts versus Minnesota in 2008

- Minnesota has won six out of its last seven games

- Minnesota is 38-20 at home

- Cleveland is 18-35 on the road

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The Boston Red Sox (62-48) beat the Oakland Athletics (53-55) 2-1 Friday night in a tight 12 inning battle. Both of Boston’s runs came from newly acquired outfielder Jason Bay, who was involved in a three-team trade. Bay was brought in to replace Manny Rameriz, who was traded to the Dodgers. He led things off in the 12 by hitting a clutch triple, and eventually scored on a Jed Lowrie single. Red Sox fans went wild after he hit the triple, which left Bay to say this after the game: “It definitely ranks up there with one of the better moments I’ve had.” Oakland is currently in a major downfall, just 2-13 in its last 15 games. Mike Timlin was given the win, with Alan Embree taking the loss.

As always, if you’re looking to bet on sports, head over to http//www.SportsBettingChamp.com for information on how to win 97% of your sports bets!