Where has capper John Ryan decided to place his MLB picks today?

Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants

5* graded play on the Colorado Rockies as they take on the San Francisco Giants set to start at 5:05 PM ET. I also have a 5* play on the Seattle Mariners as they take on the Los Angeles Angels set to start at 9:05 PM ET.

The combination of the two offers an excellent opportunity to place no more than an additional 3* amount when parlaying the two teams. Given that both dogs are currently trading over +200, (with the Rockies at +200 and the Mariners at +225), a three unit wager would pay out 26.25 units. The mathematical odds of hitting this parlay are roughly 9:1 so don’t think that is a lock by any means. I have found though, that when I do get significant dogs of at least current odds at +140, it does offer the extra opportunity and subsequent risk of parlaying them together.

Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants

Last night, the Giants chose to honor Matt Cain’s perfect game and subsequently their bats turned in a dreadful performance when losing to the Rockies. They are now in a dead heat with the Los Angeles Dodgers (61-52) for the NL West division lead. Arizona is in third and has slowly crept up the standings and are only four games behind both teams.

The Rockies have nothing to play for except spoiling the party and this is where they are a very dangerous team for any contender to face down the stretch. Colorado has a decent offense that ranks sixth with a .267 team batting average, seventh averaging 4.69 runs per game, seventh averaging 9.21 hits per game, 13th averaging 1.10 home runs per game, and first averaging 0.36 triples per game. So, at anytime, a starter or reliever does not have his best stuff, the Rockies are fully capable of exploiting that weakness and scoring runs.

Matt Cain Matt Cain

He is not the Matt Cain, who dominates teams for what seems months of starts. he has posted a 5.09 ERA and a 1.641 WHIP allowing 24 hits and striking out just 14 batters in his last three starts spanning 17 ? innings of work. He has not had a win since July 15 and is just 2-3 in nine starts since his perfect game against Houston June 13.

Drew Pomeranz

The 23-year old, left-hander from Collierville, TN had an impressive last start defeating the Dodgers 2-0. He threw just four innings so did not qualify for the win, but was very good striking out seven batters, and allowing just three hits in that start. Defeating the Dodgers has built confidence in the young 6-5 230 pound starter and now he can set his eyes on the Giants.

He has an electric fastball that can reach 95 MPH and compliments that pitch with an above average curveball and change. Being young, he has a tendency to let his breaking pitches up in the zone and at this level MLB hitters will rarely miss those types of pitches. However, in his last start he had superior command of the curve that he will throw to left-handed batters and the change that he will feature exclusively to right-handed batters. Batters are hitting just .235 on the fastball and it will be thrown better than 80% of all pitches throw in today’s start. In terms of MLB picks, I like his chances very much against this Giants lineup today.

Seattle Mariners vs. Los Angeles Angels

Both Oakland and Los Angeles are falling behind the wild card pace while division leading Texas simply treads water and maintains a 5 ½ game lead. The Angels got a much needed win Friday, but are just 4-6 over their last 10 games.

Supporting DOG Playing System

Supporting this graded play is a system that has produced a record of 42-24 for 64% winners, but has made a whopping 44.9 units per one unit wagered since 2006. The average play has been a +164 dog play when considering MLB odds.

Iwakuma

He will make the start for Seattle and has great stuff, but he needs to start trusting his pitches more in certain counts. He gave up three earned runs on seven hits spanning five innings of work to the Yankees. A concern I do have is that he has allowed a home run in nine straight starts, but his counterpart Dan Haren has not been all that effective either.

Dan Haren

Haren, despite posting an 2.00 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP over his last three starts, he too has allowed a home run in eight straight starts. In fact he has allowed 12 home runs over his last eight starts so his value may be low. In 11 home starts he has posted a 4-5 record with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.360 WHIP spanning 67 ? innings of work.