[W.HI.P]

Originally Posted by W.HI.P

for monday....

toronto blue jays vs tampa bay rays
halladay - niemann

bottom of the first, bases loaded, nobody out, pena at bat with a 3-2 count ....is it a walk or a grand slam.....

for the rest of this season, these two teams will face each other more than any other two teams in baseball.

bet on the tampa bay rays

halladay's 10-1 record might be decieving to the eyes.
fact....the blue jays are 2 - 3 in the past 5 that halladay has started.
in addition, this is halladay's first game off injury.
the elite pitchers of the major leagues are under .500 while coming off an injury.

when the blue jays were in 1st place in the major leagues, and all the silly media was going on about the jays being a world series team, i began making some pretty extreme posts about the reality behind the blue jays as a team.
where a team is in the standings, does not always indicate how good a team is.
form plays a big part of that early on in a season.
teams that are truly in contention, become in form later in the season, and even more so near play-off time..
its the smaller, weaker teams that have to be in form when everyone good is out of form to get some wins.
the blue jays are that weaker team with no light in sight.

the rays on the other hand, are the elite, getting in form slowly like the yankees, to compete for this pennant race.

i keep hearing people talking about the rays as if winning the division was a fluke.
lets take a closer look at these rays....
they are without any doubt, the fastest team in baseball.

bj upton 24 yrs 28 stolen bases, elite lead off man
carl crawford 28 yrs .316 average, leads the major leagues with an incredible 39 stolen bases already.
evan longoria 23 yrs 2nd in rbi's in the american league, .306 average, 16 home runs.... one of the greatest baseball players of our time.
carlos pena 31 yrs leads the american league with 23 home runs
bartlett 29 yrs .364 average, and all round player with speed and pop

scott kazmir 25 yrs career numbers .385 era 823 strike outs in 773.2 innings pitched... he is who he is and can only get better.

james shields 27 yrs .341 era, some consider him to be the rays best starter... he's good, but the rays hold some serious pitchers.

david price 23 yrs so far in the major leagues, he's got a 3.38 era, but expect that to improve with time.
without doubt, he is the rays elite.... time will show that.
expect his strike-out ratio to out numbers his innings pitched, he's that dominating.

jeff niemann 25 yrs solid starter making a claim in the world series rays rotation.

matt garza 25 yrs 361 era, pitching well of late

jp howell 26 yrs 1.67 era the rays closer has not given up a run since becoming tampa bay's closer... 46 k's in 37.2 innings

wheeler, balfour, bradford and choate make this bullpen one of the strongest in the majors [not to compare with the mets or red sox pens]

st.louis cardinals vs san fransisco giants
thompson - lincecum

its too bad we couldn't have a carpenter vs lincecum match-up.

bet on the san fransisco giants

expect lincecum to dominate this cardinals under par line-up.

la dodgers vs colorado rockies
wolf - jimenez

the dodgers are around .500 at home in their past 25 games.
funny how all those home games were only paying out 1.25-1.30.
are they missing the fact that manny is not yet back.
do the math, bet against the dodgers at this time.
ubaldo jimenez is the superior pitcher here.

by the way, the rockies over their last 22 games are 19-3

bet on the colorado rockies

add last nights win and make that 20-3


for tuesday.....
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st.louis cardinals vs san fransisco giants
carpenter - johnson

chris carpenter leads the major leagues with his 1.78 era, he also leads the major leagues with his 0.70 whip.
numbers don't always tell the truth, but in this case it does.
if you haven't seen him this season, i suggest that find a way to watch this guy right now, its some of the best you'll ever see.

bet on the st.louis cardinals

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