Make that 5 letter Diamond, S-c-o-t-t, the L/H rookie of the year candidate for the Twinkies who checks in @ a very respectable 10-5, and an impressive 2.91 ERA for the year. Looking a little closer, the Canadien Diamond is 6-2 @ home (2.44 ERA), 5-1 in the daytime (2.06 ERA), and 2-1 his last 3 (1.93 ERA). He doesn't give up many roundtrippers nor does he walk alot of guys, which will really benefit him against the walk happy Rays (lead the AL in walks).
Rays hitters check in @ .222 vs lefties this year and making matters worse for TB is they have never seen Diamond before, never a good sign for the light hitting Rays. Don't be too impressed with the Rays recent run splurge as the planets lined for them in the form of the opponents starting pitching. Not the case today.
James Shields comes off 2 sterling wins reminiscent of his days of last year, a great sign for the playoff contending Rays who have been super in the month of August under Joe Madden. But no matter how well you play, you will lose games too, just the nature of the beast. The Twins active roster finds them hitting a stout .281 against Shields with Mauer and Morneau leading the way going 19-51 vs Shields. The Twins are hitting .259 for the year vs righties. Would not be surprised to see Shields struggle a bit today and with minimal offense expected from the Rays sticks, I see good value with the Twinkies today. A 3 star play for me-
TWINS +117, 2 UNITS
ALSO-
TB tt, under 4, +100
TB/MINN under 8, -115 (you knew that was coming)
Other plays,
NYY R/L, -1.5, -115 @ TOR, Happ is helpless, hapless, and hopeless, and Hughes is hungry
. Seriously, the Yanks are gonna' light up the scoreboard today. Only way to play this game.
As always, Good luck to all!
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