Man, baseball’s been a weird beast so far this season. I’ve made a lot of good calls so far, and a few bad ones, but I think I can safely say I’m sitting atop my division. Too bad I can’t say the same for the White Sox. Let’s look at three great matchups for this coming Friday.
Angels at Yankees. Will a new month bring new luck for these two struggling AL would-be powerhouses? Guess it doesn’t matter which team Texeira plays for, it won’t help you win games. The Yanks are dying for some relief, while the Angels are just looking for some life from somewhere. Ortega faces off against Pettitte here, in New York, and Andy is having a pretty good start to the year. Ortega has an ERA over 7 with no wins to speak of yet in 2009. Pettitte has 16 K’s so far to Ortega’s 5. I’d expect the Yankees bats to come to life early, putting less pressure on a bullpen that has all it can handle right now. My baseball odds for this game is Yanks -170, Angels +140.
Marlins at Cubs. Two weeks ago this would’ve been the game/series of the week. Now it’s a couple mediocre teams facing off early in the season. Wow did the Marlins fall fast, huh? Five in a row dropped, six in a row…all signs point to an early spike from a team many aren’t ready to believe can maintain any type of consistency over the long haul. Of course, on the other hand, the Cubs are losing series to the Reds. Yeah, yeah, I know, the Reds are much improved. I still don’t buy it. But Harden is a stud, and it’s in Chicago. The North Siders are too talented to play .500 ball for long…aren’t they? Cubs -180, Marlins +155.
San Diego at Los Angeles. Jake Peavy, what happened? If i was a baseball betting man, Randy Johnson looks better than this guy right now. With Webb hurt and Peavy looking human, the NL aces are all upside-down. I’d love to say I have confidence that Jake will half his 5.75 ERA by the All-Star break, but he’d be luck to get it to the mid 4’s by June the rate he’s going. The Dodgers, however, somehow manage to offer a weaker effort in Clayton Kershaw, whose 7+ ERA in unbelievable. Too many pitchers so far with huge ERA’s. At least Peavy has 2 wins. I’m not giving the Dodgers much of a home-field edge behind this guy. Of course, they’re either first or second in the NL in the top 5 major offensive categories. Peavy won’t be happy to see them come Friday, guarantee you that. Dodgers -130, Padres +115.