Baseball Updates

Sorry I have not been around lately posting.

I am trying to post as much as possible, but work is really getting in the way.  I will try better to get out more picks here in the next couple of weeks!

-DC

Tuesday, June 19th

6:10 Texas @ San Diego

Texas will be at San Diego for the second game of the series tonight.  Yesterday Texas was able to get the win in a lowing scoring game; 2 – 1.  Tonight could be a different story if things play out the way we see it happening.

The Texas side of the story is definitely going to be the key factor in this game.  The man of the night is going to be Scott Feldman.  On the year he has a 0 -6 record and a 6.50 ERA.  The sad thing is these stats don’t do justice to the year for Scott Feldman.  Since taking a starting role on May 14^th he has lost 6 consecutive appearances and supported a 7.36 ERA.  In those games the opposing team has scored on average 7.7 runs.  It seems that nothing is going right for Scott Feldman and we are hoping that continues tonight.

Edinson Volquez will be on the mound for the San Diego Padres.  On the season he has a 3 – 6 record and a 3.70 ERA.  He has been roughed up three times on the year, against Milwaukee and against the LA Dodgers twice.  In all of his other starts he has not given up over 3 earned runs.  Overall,  Edinson has done his part for the team on the year and we are expecting him to be able to keep in together tonight and pitch a decent game.

Tonight is all about trends.  We expect to see Scott Feldman keep up with that trend and at least give San Diego a chance to win the game late.  The value is there in this game and is the reason that this game is a play.

Projected score: Texas 4 – San Diego 6

Pick: Decent Play San Diego (+119)

Tuesday, June 19th

6:10 Miami @ Boston

Tonight begins a three game series between the visiting Miami Marlins and the Boston Red Sox.  Miami comes into the series on a 2 – 10 skid, where they are having a hard time against AL East opponents, going 1 – 5 against Tampa Bay and 1 – 2 against Boston in a series at Miami.  Boston hasn’t been much better, but has an easier schedule over the same span going 5 – 7.

On the mound tonight is Mark Buerhle for the Miami Marlins.  Buerhle on the year has a 5 – 7 record and a 3.41 ERA.  As of his last 5 starts he has a tad higher ERA, but still a respectable 3.82 ERA, giving up 14 runs in his last 33 innings pitched.  On the season Buehrle has not given up more than 4 earned runs in a start and in three out of his last four starts he has only given up 2 earned runs.  Mark has had a rough month of June, getting three consecutive losses while still only allowing 8 runs in those three starts.  The problems haven’t been the pitching for the Marlins, it has been their pitching.  Since June 1^st, they have only average 2.3 runs per game.

Boston has Clay Buchholz starting for them tonight.  On the season Clay has a 7 – 2 record and a whopping 5.38 ERA.  The good news about the ERA is as of late he has been improving, so the ERA is kind of skewed.  In his last 5 starts he has an ERA of just 2.48, giving up 10 earned runs in 36 1/3 innings pitched.  Also, 5 of those last 10 earned runs came 5 games ago when he surrendered 5 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings at Baltimore.  Other than that game he has given up 3 or fewer earned runs since May 11^th.  Boston’s offense seems to be hard to find.  Over their last 10 games they have scored more than 6 runs 3 times.  In all of the other games they have only averaged 2.28 runs. 

Expect Boston and Miami have a hard time to get runs across the plate tonight.  Clay Buchholz is definitely on the upswing after a miserable start to the season and should be able to continue that tonight.  The combination of the great starting pitching and the struggling bats for both teams is the reason that we will be on the under tonight.

Projected score: Miami 2 – Boston 4

Pick: Decent Play Miami @ Boston Under 9.5

Monday, June 18th Standings

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been able to update the blog on the last two plays.  It has been a busy weekend and haven't been by a computer enough to get the write-ups out.  I have an updated standings for Diamond Crusher through today Monday, June 18th.  We had a bad week last week and there could be many reason for this.  It could be because of inter league play.  I have not had the formula going long enough to be able to cap inter league, so this was my first shot at it.  Only time will tell. 

Anyways we were able to start this week out well with a NY Mets victory where R.A. Dickey continued dominate on the mound.  I should be able to get the write-ups out for the rest of the week by 5:00 CDT (Unless it is a day game).

Also, I have a game by game breakdown of all of the games that have been part of Diamond Crusher, if you would like a breakdown by game feel free to email me at diamondcrusher7@gmail.com and I will attach the breakdown of historical wagers.  Again, the wagers only go back to June 1st as that is when i finally was able to get everything ready to go for this year.

                                       

                              

Saturday, June 16th

9:05 Arizona @ Los Angeles Angels

Arizona was able to take the first game of the series last night winning 5 – 0 with Trevor Cahill going 7 innings and allowing no runs.  Tonight we are expecting the same outcome as last night.

Joe Saunders is on the mound tonight for the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He has had a rollercoaster of a year which results in a 4 – 4 record and a 3.48 ERA.  Saunders started the year giving up only 3 earned runs in his first for starts which included a complete game shut out at Miami on April 27^th.  In May it was a completely different story going 1 -2 and posting a 6.12 ERA.  Saunders has started to get back on track though recently with a 2.50 ERA in his last three starts.

Ervin Santana seems to be going in the wrong direction as the year progresses.  In his last three starts he has given up at least 5 runs and in his last two starts he has given up 7 earned runs.  His ERA in his last five games is an 8.54, giving up 25 runs in 26 1/3 innings pitched.

With the pitchers heading in opposite directions this presents us with a prime opportunity to pounce a bad line.  Joe Saunders will continue to improve on his ERA that took a huge hit in May and Ervin Santana should continue to struggle recording outs.  This would normally be categorized as an Underdog Special, but with the higher degree in certainty in this game I am upgrading the play to a Best Play. 

Projected score: Arizona 7 – Los Angeles Angels 4

Pick: Best Play Arizona Diamondbacks (+131)

Let's get a victory! -DC

Saturday, June 16th

3:05 Colorado @ Detroit

This afternoon Colorado will be playing Detroit for the second game of a three game series.  Last night we saw Colorado open up against Detroit with a big 12 – 4 victory.   This afternoon we expect more of the same with a lot of runs being produced.

Christian Friedrich will be on the mound today for Colorado.  On the season Friedrich has a 4 -2 record and an ERA of 5.85.  In his starts this season Colorado has been able to support him with a lot of runs.  In his seven appearances this year Colorado has average 6 runs, and this is the reason that he has a winning record with such a high ERA.  His last start was a struggle giving up 8 earned runs in only 4 innings of work against the Los Angeles Angels.  Colorado has also been scoring a lot of runs as of late averaging almost 7 runs a game in their last 6 games overall.

Detroit will have Doug Fister starting tonight.  Fister has not started a game since May 28^th, returning from the 15 day DL with a strained left side.  On the year he has a 0 – 3 record and a 3.15 ERA.  Fister will probably not be as sharp as he was before the injury and should result in some runs for the Colorado Rockies.  Also, in Detroit’s last 8 games they have averaged 6 runs a game. 

Expect both teams today to be able to put up runs early and often.  Christian Friedrich should be particularly vulnerable today.  Both pitchers should take early exits today and should allow us to cash this ticket early in the game.

Projected score: Colorado 6 – Detroit 7

Pick: Best Play Colorado @ Detroit OVER 9.5

Feedback!

Hey Everyone,

I was just wondering what people thought of the blog so far.  As anybody seeing the information helpful or am I just wasting time?  I would enjoy some feedback!  You can comment on the blog below or feel free to email me at diamondcrusher7@gmail.com.  Thanks!

Thursday, June 14th

7:10 Philadelphia @ Minnesota

As I said earlier in the week I knew there some matchups later in the week that could be huge for us and this is one of those matchups.  In the first game in the series we backed Philadelphia and they were not able to come out on top.  They gave up way too many runs to be able to dig themselves out of an early hole.  Yesterday we saw Minnesota return the favor with P.J. Walters not able to record an out leading to a 6 run first inning.  Minnesota tried to battle back and ended up only losing the game by one.

Philadelphia will have Joe Blanton to the mound tonight who has a 5 – 6 record and a 5.40 ERA.  The last five games have been atrocious for him letting up 29 runs in only 26 1/3 innings of work and has given up at least 5 runs in each of those games.  The last time he has had a quality start was back on May 14^th when he was at home against the struggling Astros where he only gave up one run.  Philadelphia as a whole has not been faring well either currently they are on a 3 – 9 slide in June. 

Scott Diamond will be pitching tonight for the Minnesota Twins.  He has had a good year so far with a 5 – 1 record and a 1.61 ERA.  In his last two starts he has not given up an earned run.  In fact, the most runs he has given up is 3 runs which happened on two occasions against Milwaukee and Oakland.  Minnesota has also been hot as of late with a 7 – 4 record and June and a 10 -4 run dating back to May 28^th.

Minnesota should be able to win the series tonight with a dominating win.  The bats have been hot for them and against a struggling pitcher should become disastrous for the Phillies.  Expect Scott Diamond to have another good outing.  He will probably not be able to keep his earned runs steak alive in the game, but will pitch well enough for us to cruise to an easy victory.  This game will be a rebuttal game for Diamond Crusher after a tough start to the week so far.  Currently, we are on a 0 – 4 streak and most of the games have not been close, but expect us to get an early jump on what should be a great weekend.

Projected score: Philadelphia 4 – Minnesota 9

Pick: Moneyball Minnesota (-131)

Thursday, June 14th

7:15 Chicago White Sox @ St. Louis

Tonight Chicago White Sox are on the last game of a series against the St Louis Cardinals.  Winning the first game 6 – 1 and losing the second in a pitcher’s duel 1 – 0.  Tonight should have some fireworks in it not like the first two games.

Gavin Floyd will be on the mound tonight for the Chicago White Sox on the year he has a 4 – 6 record and a 5.37 ERA.  In his last five starts he has had some bad outing against sub-par teams like Houston and Minnesota.  In those last five games he has over a 10 ERA giving up over 30 runs in only 25 2/3 innings pitched.  Tonight we should expect more of the same with the St Louis bats able to get to Floyd early and often.

St Louis has Jake Westbrook pitching tonight who has had similar problems as of late giving up 22 runs in 26 innings pitched for an ERA of 7.62.  Chicago should be able to similar get ahold of the pitcher early causing this game to become a scoring fest.

This would have been probably an easy victory tonight for St Louis if their offense hasn’t been struggling as much as it has.  We will be instead be rooting for both teams to put up big runs to make it easier on ourselves.  Expect this game to sail past the total.

Projected score: Chicago White Sox 6 – St Louis 7

Pick: Good Bet Chicago White Sox @ St Louis OVER 8.5