Who would have pegged this one to be a pitcher’s duel?
Barry Zito and Jonathan Niese square off Friday night in what’s bound to be a low-scoring game between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.
Zito has been uncharacteristically good this year, tossing two terrific outings to start the year. He started with a shutout against Colorado to start the year, and followed it up with seven good innings in a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates last weekend. Continue reading
The Boston Red Sox will be honoring 100 years at Fenway all year long, but their first meeting with the New York Yankees doesn’t have much to be celebrated.
Both teams come limping into Fenway for another historic series Friday night, both trying to shake out of slumps.
The game will be played on the exact centennial anniversary of their first meeting at Fenway, where the Red Sox won in 11 innings on a Tris Speaker hit. Continue reading
Not a lot has changed in a year.
The Texas Rangers pounded the Detroit Tigers again with 19 hits and 10 runs in a 10-3 rout of Detroit Thursday night, and look to do it again as the series continues on Friday.
Mike Napoli gave bettors a huge MLB Player Props payout when he homered for the fourth-straight game, while Michael Young, Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz each had three hits. A similar storyline to last year’s ALCS when Cruz easily led the Rangers past the Tigers. Continue reading
Nelson Cruz is off to a cold start this year, but a date with the Detroit Tigers might just be the remedy. The right fielder torched the Tigers last year in the ALCS, hitting a whopping six home runs and 13 RBI – a record for the championship series.
The Rangers are hoping for a renaissance this week as they open a four-game set against Detroit on Thursday.
Cruz is hitting just over .200 with two home runs to start the year, but Texas has rolled to a 10-2 record and sits atop the AL West. A lot of that has to do with Josh Hamilton, who is 11 for his last 18 with three homers and nine RBI in his last four games. Continue reading
The Los Angeles Angels made waves in the off-season signing high-profile free agents Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson.
Only one of them has played like an All-Star so far.
Wilson will go for his third win in as many starts on Thursday, in hopes of pulling the Angels out of a slump. The lefty makes his home debut against the Oakland Athletics. Wilson has accounted for half of the team’s wins so far, including a dazzling performance against the New York Yankees over the weekend. He only allowed one run for the second-straight start, going six innings in a 7-1 win. Continue reading
Who saw this coming?
Justin Morneau seems to be getting his swing back just in time for the Minnesota Twins to blindside the New York Yankees. The Twins, owners of baseball’s worst record heading into the series, have now won two of three and are in position to win a series in a tough venue. And they’ve done it on the bat of Morneau.
The lefty hit two homers Wednesday night in a 6-5 win, and also had a tater in Monday’s 7-3 victory. Morneau only had four home runs total last year when he missed more than half the season due to a wrist injury and concussion. Continue reading
There are only a few ways I’m going no-doubt, all-in against the Los Angeles Dodgers these days. One of those ways is when Zack Greinke is on the mound at home.
The All-Star righty is turns megatron at Miller Park. He was 4-0 at home in his last four starts with the Kansas City Royals. He’s 12-0 at home since joining the Milwaukee Brewers, a streak that not only ties the longest active streak in the majors, but is also the longest in franchise history.
He gets the ball Wednesday night looking to extend that mark against the Dodgers and Bovada is favoring the Brewers by 1 1/2 runs with a relatively large -170 moneyline. Continue reading
Despite a .500 record, the Cleveland Indians are one of the hottest offensive teams in baseball. They are averaging over six runs per game with a home run in each of their first eight. They’ve gotten contributions from young and old as 34-year old Travis Hafner and sophomore second baseman Jason Kipnis are off to great starts.
Hafner has two home runs and 5 RBI so far this year, while Kipnis has added three bombs and seven RBI. That’s allowed Cleveland to score eight or more runs in each of its first three road games for the first time in franchise history. Continue reading
The Texas Rangers have suffered.
Losing two straight World Series is tough. Losing the ace of your staff to a division rival is tougher.
Yet, the Rangers apparently aren’t feeling the affects. They’ve won all three of their road games to start the year, and look for their first 4-0 start in 20 years Tuesday night.
Texas travels to Fenway to take on the struggling Boston Red Sox. Bovada is favoring the Red Sox by 1 1/2 runs with a -117 moneyline. Continue reading
There were questions to how the St. Louis Cardinals would look in 2012 with Albert Pujols out of the lineup and Adam Wainwright back from Tommy John surgery. But after 10 games, the answer is apparently no different than last year.
The reigning world champions are 7-3 and sitting atop the NL Central standings and showing no signs of slowing down. Continue reading