Buster Sports
Mariners vs. Braves
Play: Mariners -111
The Seattle Mariners are in the thick of things in the AL wildcard race and tonight they play the rubber match in their three-game series with the Braves. We will be on the Mariners tonight as they look to bounce back from last night’s defeat. The starting pitchers for tonight’s game are for the Mariners RH Erasmo Ramirez (5-4, 4.52 ERA) and he will face the Braves RH R.A. Dickey (8-8, 3.98 ERA) Ramirez has pitched well since coming over from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline. In his last three starts with the Mariners he has an ERA of 3.18 with a WHIP of 0.941. It seems to us, that Ramirez really needed the change of scenery he got with the trade. As for Dickey he had a great July sporting a 2.45 ERA for the month. Now that August is here he has regressed over 1 1/2 runs in the month and we believe that this will be the direction for the 43-year-old veteran for the rest of the season. Backing our selection is the fact that the Braves are 0-5 in their last 5 games following a win and the fact that the Mariners are 5-1 in their last 6 road games vs. a right-handed starter.
The Prez
Mariners vs. Braves
Play: Braves +106
The Mariners and the Braves take SunTrust Park field on Wednesday night with first pitch slated for 7:35 p.m. ET with Seattle sending Erasmo Ramirez (5-4, 4.52 ERA) to the mound to oppose Atlanta's veteran R.A. Dickey (8-8, 3.98).
Ramirez has had nothing short of an inconsistent campaign. The right-hander has posted a 4.52 ERA despite decent strikeout (6.8 K's per nine innings) and walk numbers (1.8 walks per nine innings). His Achilles has been the long ball and his 1.6 home runs per nine innings comes into play in a hitter-friendly park like SunTrust. Ramirez has lost some electricity with his arsenal over the last trio of starts. In 17 innings of work he has struck out a mere seven batters while walking three.
Ramirez registered 26 appearances (only eight starts) as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays before being traded to the Mariners pre-non-waiver trade deadline. His 3.54 ERA in four starts since the late July swap is deceiving with a 5-plus SIERRA.
Dickey, contrary to Ramirez, has been consistent with the Braves this season. His ERA has continued to improve since late June and while he has outpitched his underlying peripherals this has been his M.O. during the latter stages of his career. Over his last 11 starts he has recorded a 2.45 ERA that includes a .238 opponents batting average against. Dickey has benefited from a .269 BABIP but his near 50 percent groundball rate and solid 28 percent hard contact rate makes him a solid option especially at SunTrust.
The Mariners have been all or nothing offensively this season. On Tuesday night Seattle was blanked for the 10th time this season.
Carmine Bianco
Philadelphia Union at Toronto FC
Play: Toronto FC -1
Toronto is unbeaten at home in 12 this season (9 wins 3 draws) outscoring opponents 30-8. Coming off a big win over previously undefeated at home Chicago 3-1 last week. Team is in great form and hopeful they won't bounce off that win.
Colorado Rapids at Portland Timbers
Play: Under 1 1st Half
This is the last of the 3 freebies today and a First Half play on Over 1. The last 7 games in Portland between these two have had at least 1 goal scored in the first half. Yes I actually look that up if it's not part of my OPTA statistics. 3 of those 7 were 1-0 finals. We'll look for an early one Wednesday night to open this game up somewhat.
Seattle Sounders at Vancouver Whitecaps
Play: Over 2.5
Vancouver have been solid at home this season and scoring has been a key. 7 of their past 10 at home have gone over his number. They'll face a Sounders side that kept me sleepless the other night with a subpar performance at home to Minnesota but who have been on a roll of late and 7 of their last 10 have gone over the total and 9 of their last 10 away have gone over the total. We did have the Under here in that lone game that stayed under (0-0 against the Galaxy).
Bob Balfe
Marlins/Phillies Over 10
We have two young pitchers facing off with not much work under their belt. These teams usually get together for a lot of runs and I don’t see that being any different tonight. Both pitchers give up the home run ball and will walk batters. That 1-2 combo always leads to a lot of runs. Look for a high scoring game.
Andre Ramirez
Mariners vs Braves
Play:Mariners -111
This one is all about momentum: Seattle has it and the Braves clearly don’t. Atlanta has fallen apart since the All Star break as they seem poised to let young guys like Albies get a crack at the major league level. Seattle is still in the midst of the crowded AL wild card race and is trying to get by with smoke and mirrors as far as their starting rotation goes. It shouldn’t matter too much against an Atlanta team struggling to score runs: the Mariners do enough here to get the win on getaway day and take the series.
Doug Upstone
Twins vs White Sox
Play: Twins -146
The Chicago White Sox are committed to building for the future and their farm system now has a lot of prospects. The problem this season is the big league team on the field is suspect and situations like this keep coming up. Home underdogs with a money line of +125 to +175 with an overused bullpen that pitches more than 3.2 innings per game, with a cold starting pitcher whose WHIP is 2.00 or higher over his last three starts are 13-60 since 2013.