Cappers Sports Picks

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach 2nd of 2 Free Picks Wednesday - Atlanta Braves Money Line (+) @ San Diego Padres @ 10:10 ET - The best thing that could have happened for Bartolo Colon was to go on the disabled list. He needed the break both physically and mentally as the 44 year old has had a horrible season thusfar. This is another contrarian play for me Wednesday because, of course, no one will want to back Colon considering his 2-7 season mark. However, I look for him to be fresh, strong, and confident for this game. The Braves are actually 3-4 in his road starts this season so they've not been dominated when he's away from home and he's faced the Padres twice in recent seasons and he won both starts. That included a dominating effort versus San Diego early this season. In 8 career starts against the Padres Colon has a minuscule 0.97 WHIP! He could hold a surprising upper hand over Luis Perdomo who had command issues in his most recent start but was fortunate to still get the win. By the way, in his 3 starts prior to that one he allowed 10 earned runs on 20 hits in less than 17 innings of work! In other words, don't be surprised if the Braves score the mild "upset" in this one! The Braves have won 8 of their last 10 games while the Padres have lost 5 of their last 8 games! Free Pick on Atlanta Braves on the money line late Wednesday night. Best of luck, Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach 1st of 2 Free Picks Wednesday - Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) @ Pittsburgh Pirates @ 7:05 ET - This line looks a little "funny" and, when that is the case I always like to investigate. In this case you have Pittsburgh as a very small home favorite even though they are at home and Ivan Nova is 5-2 in home starts this season and they're facing a Rays team that has Blake Snell on the mound and he is 0-4 on the season! Not only does the line look like a bit of a "trap" I also like the movement on this line as the majority of wagers (at least early on) have come in on the Pirates and yet the line has moved toward the Rays. Why is that? It's of course because the bigger dollars (and sharper money) are coming in on the road dog! Tampa's Snell does have 16 strikeouts in the 15 and 2/3 innings spanning his last 3 starts so he does have potential to give the Pirates lineup some issues here. This is his first ever start against them so that is an edge whereas Pittsburgh's Nova has faced the Rays 3 times in the past 24 months and he has been roughed up and gone 1-2 in those starts! Also, the Pirates have lost 4 of their last 6 games overall while the Rays have won 6 of their last 9 games overall. Look for the "upset" in this one! Free Pick on Tampa Bay Rays on the money line early Wednesday evening. Best of luck, Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach

Total Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Houston Astros vs Oakland Athletics @ 8:10 ET - Jesse Hahn just got rocked by the Astros in Oakland on Thursday and now has to face them again. The results are unlikely to be good considering Houston had no problem with his offerings last week as Hahn gave up 10 runs (9 earned) in just 2 innings of work. The situation is similar for David Paulino as he opposed Hahn on that day and was roughed up for 3 earned runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in just 5 and 1/3 innings. Paulino was fortunate the damage wasn't worse in a rather unimpressive outing. In fact, Paulino has a 5.04 ERA in his 5 starts this season and the over is 4-1 in those 5 games. He's dealing with a very confident A's team here as they've won 4 straight games and have averaged 7 runs and 12 hits per game in their last 3 games. As for the Astros lineup, they've certainly had plenty of confidence at the plate of late as well. Houston has averaged 6.1 runs and 10.9 hits per game in going 7-3 in their last 10 games. The over is 24-12 in A's games against teams with a winning record this season. The over is 7-4 in Houston's Wednesday games this season. The over is 7-3 this season in Astros games versus the A's and that includes 3-1 when they are the host. Look for another slugfest in this match-up tonight! 10* OVER the total in Houston

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Wednesday 10* Top Play Minnesota Twins Money Line (+) @ Boston Red Sox @ 7:10 ET - Boston's Rick Porcello is extremely overpriced here. He just might be the most hittable starting pitcher in MLB right now. Though he won his most recent start, that was his first win in a month! Porcello got hit quite hard even though he got the win and now check out this ridiculous stat I was alluding to. Porcello has given up 84 hits in his last 55 and 2/3 innings spanning his last 9 starts. In other words, the Red Sox right-hander has been given up an average of 1.5 hits per inning in his last 9 starts! During this stretch his ERA has gone from a 3.95 to a 5.00 but Porcello has truly been fortunate his ERA has not ballooned even higher. The Twins hold a pitching edge here as the Red Sox hitters have zero experience against Adalberto Mejia. The Minnesota southpaw has a 3.06 ERA in his 4 road starts this season and he has held hitters to just a .175 batting average in those outings! The lefty has led the Twins to victory in 2 of his last 3 road outings. Though he doesn't pitch deep into game he has gone at least 5 innings in each of his last 3 road starts and he also had a 7-inning outing at home this season. Even with yesterday's loss the Twins are a solid 23-11 on the road this season and they are 7-3 (+6,700) as a road dog of +125 to +175. Also, the Red Sox are only 19-23 (-$10,400) when off of a win this season. Even though Boston has a good batting average at home this season their .414 slugging percentage at Fenway ranks them #12 out of the 15 American League teams. With the way Porcello has been getting hit, this match-up and has upset written all over it! 10* MINNESOTA

IMPORTANT (this total IS AN 8.5 at the time of this posting but line feed is not working properly) Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Wednesday 8* OVER the total in Seattle Mariners vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 3:40 ET - With last night's game going over the total, the over is now a perfect 3-0 in games between these clubs this season. Not only that, the 3 games have averaged 15 runs per game! This total has dropped to an 8.5 this morning because Mark Leiter had a surprisingly solid start for the Phillies in his first ever MLB start and because Felix Hernandez is on the mound for the Mariners. Of course Hernandez has a helluva strong reputation but let's not forget that he does not have the same velocity he once did. That's a big part of the reason that Hernandez has a 4.68 ERA on the season. Also, he's not yet necessarily 100% healthy either and he has a 6.91 ERA and a 2.04 WHIP in his last 3 starts. As for Leiter, he had 14 walks against his 12 strikeouts in his 19 innings out of the bullpen this season. As a reliever he has compiled a 4.74 ERA this season. Leiter faces a tough Mariners lineup here and they are hungry to bounce back after a rare 3-game losing streak. That said, I don't expect this start to go very well at all for a still unproven Leiter. The over is 11-6 this season (and 51-33 the last 3 seasons combined) when the Phillies are a road dog of +125 to +175. The over is also an incredible 9-1 (90%) in Philadelphia's Wednesday games. Seattle is 16-9 to the over the past 3 seasons when they are a home favorite of -175 to -250. Also, the Mariners are 30-18 to the over in inter-league games the past 3 seasons combined. 8* OVER the total in Seattle

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Wednesday 8* OVER the total in San Francisco Giants vs Colorado Rockies @ 3:45 ET - With last night's game going 14 innings, both teams used up plenty of bullpen. That certainly could prove to be an issue for this afternoon's game because there is a decent probability that each of these starters will get roughed up. The Rockies send Kyle Freeland to the mound and he has allowed 10 runs (9 earned) on 19 hits in the 11 and 2/3 innings spanning his last two road starts. The Giants will have Ty Blach on the bump and he has allowed 14 earned runs on 21 hits in the 8 and 2/3 innings spanning his last two home starts. In Blach's last 7 starts overall there has not been a single under! Prior to yesterday's under, the over was 7-4 in Colorado's last 11 games. Also, the Giants were on a 10-4-1 run to the over their last 15 games prior to last night's extra inning marathon staying under the total. In afternoon games on the west coast the ball tends to carry better and the wind will be blowing out at a good clip for this one too. 8* OVER the total in San Francisco