[InTheHole]

Drew Gordon comp

That's 4 straight Free Play winners with the Tigers over Orioles 6-3 Saturday! Part of my 3-0 SWEEP (free & paid plays) across the board yesterday! We keep it rolling Sunday, with yet another FREE winner on the Diamond...

Two southpaws square off today at PNC Park, and maybe if this was 5 years ago, I'd be inclined to back Mike Hampton... But since that's not the case, I'll happily take Paul Maholm in this spot. Why? Well, for starters, he's 2-0 with a stellar 1.98 ERA at home this season! I know full well he's had a couple rough starts of late, but those were on the highway. In fact, his last home start was a real gem, tossing 7 scoreless against the Rockies May 15th!

Meanwhile Hampton has been a disaster of late, going 1-1 with an ugly 7.20 ERA over his last 3 starts. He was especially bad in his last one, getting knocked around for 5 runs on 8 hits over 5 innings against the Rangers at home. Although he does have a nice win over the Pirates already this year, I'm still not convinced... That start was back in April, and since then Hampton has steadily declined.

Finally, although neither team is playing well, at the very least the Pirates are at home, where they sport a winning record & happen to hit lefties particularly well. Pittsburgh averages a hearty 5.4 runs per game against lefties at PNC Park this season, and getting a second crack at the struggling Hampton today is exactly what they need to get back on track. In the end, the Bucs protect their house, as Maholm bounces back nicely at home in this one!

Take Pittsburgh behind Maholm over Houston and Hampton in this MLB match up.

3♦ PITTSBURGH

[InTheHole]

Chris Jordan comp


Breaking pattern here for the Red Sox here, as I don’t believe there will be any skid-saving heroics here. The boys from Beantown avoided being swept and losing three in a row by knocking off the Mets. They went to Minnesota and after winning the series opener, lost two straight before avoiding a three-game slide to win the series-closer. Here we are again with the BoSox on a two-game slide, and I just don’t think there’s anything left in the tank.

Today marks their seventh straight game in as many days, and there’s that dastardly 2-4 slump they’re mired in right now. Since posting that 6-5 win against the Twins, the Red Sox have had trouble putting runs on the board, scoring no more than three runs the past five outings, averaging 2.6 runs per game.

I mention all this because the Red Sox came into this series staring at an AL East rival that had lost nine straight – beginning with a three-game skid at Fenway Park. Maybe it’s the Rogers Centre, since the Red Sox have lost 10 of their last 14 there. Maybe it’s the road in general, as the Sox are 11-16 while ordering room service.

We have a quality pitcher in Ricky Romero going for us today, as he’s 2-0 in as many home starts and totes a 1.38 ERA to go along with it. And though Boston is 8-2 in Jon Lester’s last 10 Sunday starts, the southpaw is 1-3 on the highway with a 7.04 ERA. And in Toronto, his last two times there, he’s given up 12 earned runs over just nine innings of work.

I’ll take the Blue Jays in this one, as they’re the value play.

1♦ BLUE JAYS (LIST Romero and Lester)