Al McMordie – Sports Handicapper

At 4:10 pm, our selection is on the New York Yankees over the Tampa Bay Rays.  The Yankees are said to be interested in a starting pitcher or two, specifically JA Happ and Cole Hamels, and when you look at the numbers of some of their current rotation members, you can understand why.  Exhibit number one is RH Sonny Gray, who the Yanks acquired from the A's at the deadline last season in hopes that he would be one of the anchors of their rotation at least through his current contract which ends this season.  Instead however, Gray has struggled, going 4-7 after he joined NY in 2017 and posting a 5-4 record with a 4.89 ERA and 1.48 WHIP in 14 starts this season.  Gray has not performed like the Yanks had hoped, that's obvious.  But with his team doing so well and an offense that is capable of winning on any given night, Gray can still turn things around.  Perhaps a start in St. Pete where he has had plenty of success will help him kick-start his season.  In four starts here, Gray is 1-0 with a 2.19 ERA in just under 25 innings.  New York is also 5-1 in Gray's last six starts vs. losing teams, and 7-0 their last seven off a loss.  With New York in off a 2-1 defeat last night, we'll take the Yanks.

At 4:05 pm, our selection is on the San Francisco Giants over the San Diego Padres.  With a 2-4 record and 4.70 ERA in 11 starts, San Francisco's LH rookie Andrew Suarez's numbers may not jump off the page at you.  But in addition to those statistics, Suarez has also struck out 57 batters and walked just 12 in 59 1/3 innings, and there are plenty of veterans in the league that would love to have that type of K:BB ratio (4.75).  He has a great chance to improve on his numbers this afternoon for two reasons.  First, Suarez has really enjoys pitching at his home park.  The first-year starter has a 3.41 ERA in five starts at AT&T Park compared with a 6.18 ERA in six road starts.  Second, is the fact that he is a southpaw.  San Diego has struggled all season against lefties, hitting just .228 with a .681 OPS vs. them.  Suarez will be be looking for his third straight quality start at home after blanking the Phillies over seven innings on June 2, and then allowing two runs in 6 1/3 innings against the Marlins last Monday.  Heading into Saturday, the Giants are 10-3 in their last 13 games here at AT&T Park.  Take San Francisco.

At 7:15 pm, our selection is on the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners 'under' the total.  When the Red Sox traded reliever Andrew Miller to the Orioles at the deadline in 2014 for Eduardo Rodriguez, hardly anyone outside of the two cities really noticed.  And if they did, it was because Miller was considered one of the top set-up men and potential closers in the Majors.  But almost nobody gave a second thought to the 21-year-old southpaw dealt to Boston who had yet to appear in an MLB game.  Miller turned out to be nothing more than a two-month rental for Baltimore, while Rodriguez made his big league debut the next season.  But now it looks like the O's traded yet another star pitcher in the making and got virtually nothing in return.  Now 25, Rodriguez is breaking out in a big way this season.  After winning 10 games combined the last two seasons, the Venezuelan southpaw is 9-1 with a 3.59 ERA and 10.4 strikeout rate through his first 14 starts of 2018. He's also gone 'under' the total in 37 of 57 starts. Take the Under.  As always, good luck...Al McMordie

At 2:00 pm, on Saturday, our selection is on Germany on the moneyline vs. Sweden.  Germany became the third straight reigning World Cup champion to lose its opening match with its 1-0 loss to Mexico on Sunday.  Italy and Spain also lost their first match as defending champions in 2010 and 2014.  It's true that both of those national teams failed to advance into the knockout stage, but Die Mannschaft’s prospects remain quite good to still make a deep run in this Tourney.  One thing to remember is that Mexico is loaded with talent and was widely considered the likely favorite to join the Germans to represent Group F in the knockout rounds.  Germany won the Confederations Cup last summer with a B-team roster which included a 4-1 victory over a similarly-constructed Mexico team in those quarterfinals.  Thus, El Tri was highly motivated with revenge plus very prepared to counterattack the Germans' possession tactics.  Germany will no doubt be razor-focused in this second match, since it cannot afford another disappointing performance.  This German team still oozes with quality at all three levels of the pitch.  They will be looking to defeat a Sweden side with one less day of rest and preparation following its 1-0 win on Monday over South Korea. That was not a surprising result despite Sweden moving on from the Zlatan Ibrahimovic era after he led the team for a decade.  Sweden had plenty of scoring chances but only scored via a penalty kick which raises concern that its roster lacks a reliable scoring threat without Ibrahimovic.  The Blue and Yellow also did not score a goal in any of its  final three warm-up friendlies for this tournament.  It's hard for me to believe Sweden will be able to stay with an angry and motivated German side. Take Germany on the moneyline.  WORLD CUP GAME OF THE WEEK.  As always, good luck...Al McMordie.