Major League Baseball - 18th April

[El Grande Duder]

1-1 last night so just lost out on the juice. Couple of nice picks tonight i like alot.

New York Mets @ Philadelphia Phillies - Phillies to win (1.96)
Santana gets the ball for the Mets and that is the SOLE reason the Mets are slight favourites for this on the board. However, he is struggling giving up lots of home runs (all 5 ERs last start came off long balls) and hes starting tonight in the most batting-favored ballpark in baseball, against one of the most powerful lineups in the NL. The Phillies run out their best starter so far in Cole Hamels, fresh off the back of 7 innings of 1 hit baseball against the Cubs, he has a nice 2.77 ERA in 4 career starts against the Mets so i think a win is on here.

Chicago White Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays - Under 9.5 Runs (1.84)
Hotshot prospect Jeff Niemann goes for the Rays off the back of a stellar debut, yielding 1 run over 6 innings against a then surging Orioles team. The Whitesox K alot and his nice sinking fastball should hurt them alot. Vazquez goes against him and is on the back of 2 stellar starts and is improving, giving up just 1 baserunner in 7 innings against a potentially explosive Tigers offense. Could be a dominant pitching duel here.

San Diego Padres @ Arizona Diamondbacks - Arizona -1.5 (2.30)
San Diego were involved in THE marathon game last night, not getting done until nearly 2am and having to fly out to Arizona for the weekend series. They go with Greg Maddux who hasnt faired well against the dbacks, and they have only on RP whos going to be truly ready to go. The Dbacks have a new-found patience at the plate and can lay of Maddux's junk and pick their poison. This could get nasty with Dan Haren getting the ball (3/3 quality starts this season) for the team of 2008 so far both offensively and pitchingwise.