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What a putz decision to change my POD last minute yesterday. Goes to show why always following your original intuition is usually the best way to cap games. This drops the record back down to an even .500 at 21-21 -1.20 Units.

I do have a strong lean to Hawks on the ice tonight but it’s a bit to steep of a price so I will head back to the diamond. MLB: Texas Rangers -117 (Josh Lindholm) vs. Oakland Athletics (Bartolo Colon)

We are receiving an extremely cheap price on a far superior team all because of the unknown of their starting pitcher. Something that will not deter me from firing away because the talent level along with recent form far outweighs any possible pitching matchup between the A’s and Rangers. Texas once again no matter how many good players lost in the offseason continue to play terrific baseball and have the best record in the AL at 29-15 this all due to outstanding team chemistry with the right mix of talent.

Right now they are playing their best ball of the season going 10-2 over their past 12 games. During that span they have scored 6+ runs in 8 of the 12 games and it’s something extremely reasonable to expect going up against Colon who clearly is not the same pitcher as he was last year when using PED’s. They have even had recent success against Colon in a 6-3 victory back on May 14th in which he gave up 3 ER in 6 IP. Colon simply does not have the velocity or stuff to get through this line up effectively. In his last 4 starts he’s given up at least 3 ER only having pitched into the 7th inning once. For the entire year he’s given up at least 3 ER in 6 of 8 starts. Considering how the Rangers bats are swinging recently which does include roughing up 3 of the best starters in the AL over the weekend in Verlander, Sanchez and Fister I see know reason why they cannot do this once again.

As for the Athletics they have really come back down to earth now at 23-22 after their hot 10-2 start. As I have stated multiple times this was just a matter of time as it seemed nearly impossible with their lack of talent offensively that they could sustain such a torrid pace. While we may not know much about Lindblom from a starters perspective since he’s been a reliever for most of his career I think its reasonable to expect 5 half decent innings out of him before handing it over to the pen. While they have been taxed after getting a lot of work the past few games it doesn’t concern me due to the tremendous depth and multiple options that can work through the innings. Also for Lindblom he’s been a half decent career reliever posting numbers of 3.31 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. He’s spent his entire career in the NL so it will be the first time for this A’s line up seeing him, which almost always favors the pitcher. If he can maintain those kind of numbers against a lineup that has been struggling recently having scored 3 or fewer runs 11 of its past 16 games it should result in another Texas W.

At Arlington this year they are a solid 14-5 and no matter who the pitcher is should almost certainly be bigger favourites against a mediocre team with a mediocre pitcher on the bump.

Additional Strong Leans

UNDER 8.5 -117 Atlanta Braves (Teahran)/Minnesota Twins (Correia)

NHL

Chicago Blackhawks -130 @ Detroit Redwings