SAN DIEGO PADRES(Jackson) +170 over Atlanta Braves(Teheran)------Hmm.  The Braves are -180.   SD has the Team Revenge against Teheran......I'll take it.(Lose 7-3............Dansby Swanson got 3 RBI against me?  what kind of name is that?   Jackson destroyed in 2 innings)

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS(Cueto) -154 over Arizona Diamondbacks(Greinke)----sf won big yesterday but this is a revenge matchup.(Lose 4-3...........This is the only time this year when Cueto has failed to complete the 5th inning.   In 27 starts this season,  Cueto has allowed 6 ER in a start 3 times and 5 ER once(not counting the All-Star game in which he was annihilated).  Cueto walked 5 batters once in a win this year.  In THIS game,  Cueto allowed 4ER and walked 4,  making this arguably his worst start of the year)

MINNESOTA TWINS(Santana) +197 over Toronto Blue Jays(Stroman)-------Here's Santana,  coming off 6 consecutive awesome starts........and he's +197.  True,  Twins are 30 games below .500,  but they have the Team Revenge against ---yes-- the 5'8 Duke Blue Devil Stroman.   Toronto destroyed Minnesota last night but they've only scored 40 more runs than the Twins have this year and they actually have a lower team batting average than the Twins do.(Lose 8-7...........How much of a lead do you need to close?   Worst loss of the year.  Twins have a 4-run lead in the 4th innings and a 4-run in the middle of the 7th inning.  Ryan Pressly comes in after Santana had to go out.  Pressly failed to challenge Encarnacion with enough fastballs.   Still,  Twins were winning 7-6 going into the bottom of the 8th:  Paul Molitor leaves Pressly in there.......psshhhhh,  what a waste.  A waste of a great pick by me)

INDIANS(Carrasco) over Rangers(Griffin) parlayed with PIRATES(Taillon) over Brewers(Nelson) +198------Well,  Rangers beat Indians 9-0 then Indians beat Rangers 12-1 yesterday.  Rangers have won 75 games,  which is impressive,  but Griffin has definitely gotten worse,  with his ERA going from 2.93 to 4.68 over his last 10 starts.   Carrasco does have bad games sometimes,  but overall he's been much better.   Rangers' offense is flawed in that it is 27th in baseball in taking walks.  Pirates offense has scored about 40 more runs than Brewers' offense.   Taillon has been walking only 1 every 7.4 innings and he actually has the Pitcher Revenge against Milwaukee here.(Lose 7-0..........How does Carrasco do this bad and Griffin do this good?   I guess MSNBC'll have to get what's gonna to it.  Error at 1st base by Carlos Santana...........but it didn't matter:  Cleveland couldn't hit)

CHICAGO WHITE SOX(Quintana) -147 over Seattle Mariners(Miranda)-----Miranda hasn't pitched enough to show how good he is.  But Quintana's been consistent and good,  having the best season of his career.  Mariners have scored 83 more runs than CWS.  But White Sox DO hit significantly higher vs lhps while Mariners hit significantly lower vs lhps.  Yesterday,  Sale pitched a CG with 14 K's and the CWS lost for him,  demonstrating how average, if not weak,  the White Sox offense has been.(Win 9-3)

DETROIT TIGERS(Fulmer) -1.5(+100) over La Angels(Oberholtzer)-------Angels' offense has improved,  coming up pretty close behind the Tigers' in most categories.   But this is Oberholtzer's first start of the year.  I'll go with the Tigers, who are in a pennant race,  at home.(Lose 3-2...........two Tigers' players ejected by home plate umpire Mike Everitt.   Tigers' manager ejected by Mike Everitt..........Tigers' hitting coach ejected by Mike Everitt?   Now things are getting dangerous,  bitch.  Now they're dangerous.)

NEW YORK YANKEES(Pineda) -116 over Seattle Mariners(Martin)------Yankees on a 2-3 run.  They've won 3 fewer games than Mariners while Mariners have scored 69 more runs.  4 of Pineda's last 6 starts have been good.(Lose 7-5...........2HR by Gary Sanchez and 2HR by Stalin Castro,  yet Yankees still lose!  Amazing.)

COLORADO ROCKIES(Bettis) -108 over Milwaukee Brewers(Nelson)------These pitchers aren't good;  but with Adrian Gonzalez hitting 3 HR TODAY!..........we should at least bet Colorado because they have Carlos Gonzalez.(Lose 4-2.........Brewers win with 4 total hits(and 8 walks).  Bettis walked 7 in 5innings so.........yeah,  that's pretty pathetic)

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS(Godley) -120 over Atlanta Braves(Foltynewicz)(Win 9-8)
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS(Godley) -1.5(+160) over Atlanta Braves(Foltynewicz)-----Arizona's on a 3-7 run..........their offense is pretty good, however,  and they've scored 110 more runs this year than the Braves have.   AZ has scored 1, 2, 4, 8, 13 runs per game going back thru their last 5 games.  Foltynewicz might throw a few good innings,  but Arizona is at home here with the better offense and Godley got excellent run support in his last start.(Lose 9-8............Godley was rocked;  Freeman had 2HR;  Arizona was lucky to win)

MIAMI(Phelps) +115 over Pittsburgh(Kuhl)-----Kuhl looks pretty good but I'll take Miami today.(Win 3-1.........Xavier Scruggs HR............Miguel Rojas 2-3)

DETROIT TIGERS(Fulmer) +114 over Boston Red Sox(Porcello)-----Strange that neither of these teams are in 1st place in their divisions.  Boston is tied for 2nd and Detroit is 6 games back.   Obviously,  +114 is a great price for Fulmer at home.   But this is against Boston,  a team that has outscored the Tigers by 102 runs this year.   Is this by far the best season of Porcello's career?  Uhhh......yes(he's 16-3!).  But its possible they ran up the score in his last start( a 16-2 win) in a way that may hurt him in this game.  Porcello has not faced the Tigers this year while Fulmer,  in a No Decision game in which the Tigers won,  allowed 3 ER vs the Red Sox in 7.2 innings.(Lose 10-2.........Fulmer gets rocked and the Italianate Porcello gets his 17th win.   In the long run it could be good,  because Fulmer would have the Revenge in the post season but..........
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/europe/italy-earthquake/
(Updated 12:34 AM ET, Thu August 25, 2016

At least 247 people were killed after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy Wednesday, according to Italy's Civil Protection Department.)
     This was planned.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2638144/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ov_inf
(Ben-Hur (2016)
Release Info

Israel 18 August 2016

Italy         29 September 2016 )
      See how it opens in Israel 42 days before it opens in Italy?  Why?  I have no idea;  gotta ask Paramount and MGM.   Because everyone KNOWS how the Roman Empire looks in Ben-Hur.....)
   

COLORADO ROCKIES(Anderson) +120 over Chicago Cubs(Hendricks)------Cubs hit 6 pts better vs lhps but the Rockies' offense is better than the Cubs' in every category except walks.  There's no doubt Hendricks has been good,  but Anderson is not bad this year,  walking only 1 every 4 innings.(Win 7-6..........Ryan Raburn GWRBI..........David Dahl 2-4 HR)

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS(Greinke) -140 over San Diego Padres(Cosart)-----Greinke coming off a massive rocking.   And actually,  tho he started weakly,  Greinke has done ok this year,  going 11-4 on a team that doesn't win as much as it should.  AZ is currently on a 2-5 run.   I don't know what up with Cosart;  he hasn't pitched much,  but over 34 innings he's walked 24 while throwing about a .257 average.   Arizona's supposed to win this one,  they're favored to win,  I'll put a little on it.(Lose 7-4............Pat Corbin loses this game in 1/3 of an inning.........Ryan Schimpf 4-5,  2HR, GWHR.............Arizona's cost me so much money this year)

OAKLAND A's(Graveman) -116 over Chicago White Sox(Shields)-------A's are on a 5-game losing streak,  scoring about 3.5 runs per game over that streak.   Shields doesn't always have a bad game,  but when he does its............pretty extreme.  Good chance here for Oakland to break their streak.(Win 9-0.........CG SHO 2-hitter by Graveman...........Khris Davis 3-4,  HR.........Vogt 2-5 HR)

LA ANGELS(Shoemaker) -105 over Seattle Mariners(Iwakuma)-----Shoemaker has lost twice to Seattle so we can say he has the Pitcher Revenge.  Tazawa..........losing the game late for Boston today so maybe Iwakuma'll be a bit off.   Shoemaker was rocked in his last start but.......I'll put a little bit on him here at home.(Win 6-4...........Yunel Escobar 3-4..........Jett Bandy HR)

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS(Bumgarner) -164 over New York Mets(DeGrom)-----Mets are a .500 team now but..........their offense has scored only 450 runs,  fewer than the Phillies,  fewer than Oakland.  And the Mets are tied for last in baseball in batting average at .238(Win 10-7........Bumgarner allowed 4ER but he hit an HR.........Eduardo Nunez 4-4..........Denard Span 3-4.........Brandon Crawford 3-4.........DeGrom really got annihilated------I guess this was the day 'Ben-Hur' opened,  or the 19th of August.)

ATLANTA BRAVES(Foltynewicz) -109 over Minnesota Twins(Gibson)-----Foltynewicz got rocked by the Twins on July 27th(tho the Braves won that game).........so we might even say he has some Revenge here.   Gibson somehow shutdown the Red Sox on July 22nd,  but batters have hit .296 against him.   Twins have scored 122 more runs than the Braves,  but Braves now have Matt Kemp.(Lose 10-3.........CG by Gibson!  When does that ever happen?  Foltynewicz has a fastball up to 98mph,  but I don't know about his off-speed stuff.)

SEATTLE MARINERS(Martin) +124 over La Angels(Skaggs)-----Angels won late in the game last night but........they're not really in contention.   Mariners are.  Seattle has a chance for post-season play.   This is only Martin's 3rd MLB start.  And we see Russell Martin going 3 for 5 today for Toronto after hitting 2HR yesterday.   Might as well play Martin here;  Skaggs had 2 good starts followed by 2 bad ones.(Win 4-3.........amazing game-saving play at third base by Kyle Seager.   Don't know if I'd bet on Martin again after seeing him.   Escobar was 5 for 5 for Angels)

September 11th,  2016
'No Mas'----Hillary
Former first lady and Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton drops out of race.

"After much consideration,"  Clinton said, "reflecting on my own,  and my husband's,  ethical and moral conflicts----as well as those of the DNC,  and on the financial sourcing of both my campaign and my personal wealth,  I have decided,  for the good of the spiritual and moral salubrity of America,  to terminate my quest for the presidency."

   A spokesman for the disgraced Democratic National Committee,  speaking on the condition of anonymity,   acknowledged that the Democratic Party would not be henceforth fielding a presidential candidate in 2016,  but speculated that former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders would run with a yet to be named "third-party".

REDS(Finnegan) +118 over Marlins(Phelps)------Reds aren't getting that much better,  but they have been a .500 team in August.  I'll go with Red as a color after what happened yesterday.(Lose 6-3.........Chris Johnson 2-3, HR for Marlins........Prado 3-5)

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS(Ray) -130 over New York Mets(Colon)-----They played this matchup last start and both pitchers did well.   Since the Tampa Bay Rays had such a huge victory over New York yesterday,  I'll back Ray here.(Win 10-6.........Welington Castillo 4-5...........Goldschmidt 3-4)

ST LOUIS CARDINALS(Leake) +163 over Chicago Cubs(Lackey)------Leake lost to the Cubs on April 18th......giving him the Pitcher Revenge here.  But 3 of Leake's last 4 games have been bad.  The Cubs do not hit for an extraordinarily good batting average.  And while they score well,  they've only scored 8 more runs this year than the Cardinals have.   They key to the Cubs offense is walking,  a category in which they lead all of baseball by a lot(36 walks).  That's good for them,  but Leake doesn't give many walks(he walks 1 every 6innings).  Lackey has faced Stl 3 times,  doing well,  but the Cubs have won only 1 of those games.   I continue to disbelieve how Lackey is having the best season of his life---by a lot---this year.   Lackey was 19-9 in 2007---and that's a good year----holding batters to a .254 average.   But this year?  Batters are hitting .219 off him.  How is he that good?   The Red Sox crushed today,  winning 16-2 while the the Red Nationals won 9-1.   I think you can play a Red team after that,  although Cincinnati lost today.(Win 6-4.............Game saving HR in the 8th by Stephen Piscotty.........Brandon Moss 2-4 HR............Greg Garcia 2-5)

DETROIT TIGERS(Fulmer) +127 over Texas Rangers(Griffin)-------Rangers recently got Beltran;  Tigers now appear to have McGehee(where's he been?).   But statistically,  these offenses are equal on the season.  Rangers are on a 6-2 run.   Griffin started the year ok,  but he has devolved starting in July.   So I see some serious value in this line.(Win 7-0.........Victor Martinez 3-5, HR.....JD Martinez 3-5, HR...........Ian Kinsler HR......James McCann 2-4..........CG 4-hitter by Fulmer)

LA DODGERS(McCarthy) -115 over Pittsburgh Pirates(Cole)----Cole did go to UCLA and is from the LA area but........5 RBI and an HR by Brandon Guyer yesterday........3-5 by Brandon Phillips yesterday.......Brandon Moss 2-5 w/HR the day before yesterday while Randal Grichuk had a PHHR for the Cardinals.......I gotta play Mccarthy in this situation.(Win 8-4.........Joc Pederson 3-5, HR.........Corey Seager 3-5...........McCarthy pitched 1inning and walked 5 so..........Julio Urias got this W)

ATLANTA BRAVES(Whalen) +154 over Washington Nationals(Lopez)----Atlanta is doing better now, with Kemp.  But they're still more than 20 games under .500 while the Nationals are 20 games over .500.   Lopez,  however,  has proved nothing yet while Whalen looks like he's hard to hit, having thrown a .220 average so far.   It was curious that Strasburg and the Nationals lost yesterday.........I'll take the dog here.(Lose 7-6........Nationals had a 7-1 lead at one point)

OAKLAND A's(Graveman) +122 over Seattle Mariners(Iwakuma)----Iwakuma is coming off 14 scoreless innings and the Mariners have scored 62 more runs than the A's.  But this is a Double Revenge game.  A's have the Team Revenge against Iwakuma and Graveman has the Pitcher Revenge against Seattle----times 2 in both cases.(Lose 4-3..........Oakland outhit them 11-9)

KANSAS CITY ROYALS(Gee) +128 over Minnesota Twins(Duffey)------At 3 games below .500,  it doesn't look like its gonna work out this year for the Royals(but they won the WS last year,  so who cares?).  Their slugging percentage at .394 has been too low----in fact, the Twins have scored 90 more runs than KC has.  Surprising.  Surprising because the Twins are 24 games below .500 and they are favored in this game with Duffey starting.   Wow.  Gee's bad,  but maybe he's not so bad.(Lose 5-3...........Gee is terrible:  he give up 11hits in 5innings in this one)

HOUSTON ASTROS(Musgrove) +116 over Toronto Blue Jays(Liriano)-----In 11 innings so far,  Musgrove is close to perfect.   The Astros crushed yesterday,  scoring 25 runs in 2 games.  Don't know where that came from but........they were on the road like they are here.  Blue Jays have scored 35 more runs than Houston this year but Liriano has walked 71 in 119 innings for the year.  That's just terrible.  And the Astros are actually 5th best in baseball at taking walks.(Win 5-3.........Evan Gattis 4-5...........Teoscar Hernandez 2-4 HR)

SEATTLE MARINERS(Wieland) +114 over Oakland A's(Manaea)-----Manaea can occasionally do well,  but he's usually mediocre.   But look at A's offense:  they've scored just above 2 runs per game over their last 7.   That's weak enough that,  I'll go with the wildcard Wieland if I also get a team on an 8-1 run.(Lose 6-3............Marcus Semien 4-4)

COLORADO ROCKIES(De La Rosa) +160 over Texas Rangers(Perez)----Rockies have been blowing games with their bullpen.........but they can hit.  And Perez...........is really not a -170 pitcher.(Lose 5-4..........Rockies did have the 4-3 lead in the 8th.  But then a bad Error by Mark Reynolds at first base,  then a HBP by Boone Logan,  then the game-losing hit given up by Adam Ottavino)

NEW YORK YANKEES(Eovaldi) +170 over Boston Red Sox(Pomeranz)----Pomeranz was good on the Padres;  he has not been very good in 20 innings so far for the Red Sox.   Looks like Yankees have the Team Revenge against Pomeranz.   Obviously,  Boston's offense is better than everybody.  NYY gave up Beltran.......but they still have Ellsbury,  and Gary Sanchez in there at DH.(Win 9-4...........Gary Sanchez 4-5 HR...........Didi Gregorius 3-5 HR.........Austin Romine 2-4.........Eovaldi only went 1inning.  Tyler Clippard got the W)

SAN DIEGO PADRES(Jackson) +168 over Pittsburgh Pirates(Vogelsong)-------Jackson's been pretty good for the Padres so far;  and the Pirates,  as just 2 games over .500,  have been a disappointment.(Win 4-0.........Very impressive 2Ks by Jackson to save the game in the 7th----between his 90 and 99th pitches)

DETROIT TIGERS(Fulmer) +108 over Seattle Mariners(Iwakuma)-----I'm surprised the Tigers have only scored 16 more runs than Seattle.  But I guess the Mariners have a respectable offense(they are hitting 12 points lower than Detroit).  Iwakuma walks 1 ever 4,  batters have hit .272 off him.  The Tigers did rock him on June 22nd and..........well,  I think we still remember Pearl Harbor today.(Lose 3-0..........Tigers shut down by Iwakuma)

TORONTO BLUE JAYS(Dickey) -136 over Tampa Bay(Odorizzi)---------TOR has scored 95 runs more than Tampa has but..............Odorizzi hasn't allowed an ER in his last 20 and 2/3 innings?!  It might be tough,  but we'll take Blue Jays at home.(Win 7-5............Devon Travis 4-5...........Edwin Encarnacion 3-5, HR)

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS(Bradley) -127 over Milwaukee Brewers(Nelson)-----Wow,  this line just moved a lot;  it was -114.  Bradley was utterly rocked last start and the Diamondbacks were destroyed in their last game.  Hmm.  Both pitchers walk about 1 every 2 innings.  Arizona's offense is a little better.......but Ryan Braun had 2HR last night,  maybe that was just Corbin.(Win 9-3........Jake Lamb 3-5 HR..........Chris Owings 2-3..........Rickie Weeks 2-3.........Phil Gosselin PHHR)

ATLANTA BRAVES(Hernandez) +237 over St Louis Cardinals(Martinez)------After Carlos Estevez blew the Rockies game last night,  I'm willing to go against Carlos Martinez.   Hey,  the Braves now have Matt Kemp!  Hernandez............hasn't pitched in MLB in about a year.  But he has experience.(Win 13-5.......wow:  Braves had not scored this many all season;  they scored 9 runs in 4 games and 11 runs on July 8th..........Freddie Freeman 3-3, HR.....Ender Inciarte 3-6, HR......Adonis Garcia 2-4, HR.........Nick Markakis 3-5.........Matt Kemp HR.......Chase d'Arnaud 2-2.   I'm pretty sure I've not won a bigger underdog than this this year.   So this is my best win of the year(and the power goes out in Atlanta,  forcing a global shutdown of Delta).....)

TEXAS RANGERS(Harrell) +137 over Houston Astros(Fister)-----Harrell's had some good starts;  he's good enough to bet on.(Win 3-2..........Harrell walked 5 and didn't last long but Jonathan Lucroy had 2HR----thought he was a Brewer..........Carlos Beltran 3-4........Choo 2-3.........Andrus 3-4)

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS(Shipley) -116 over Milwaukee Brewers(Anderson)----Arizona has the Team Revenge against Anderson and Shipley has the Pitcher Revenge vs Milwaukee.  Arizona has been a horrible team this year;  they are on a 2-10 run and have lost their last 4 in a row.   However,  they seem to have picked up Michael Bourn(with Jason Bourne now in theaters).   I thought I remembered Shipley.....but this is his first year in baseball I guess.  Anderson has pitched on average 5 innings per start this year.   He's not particularly good in any statistical category.(Win 3-2.......Yasmany Tomas 2HR.........Shipley walked 6 but they still won)

COLORADO ROCKIES(De La Rosa) +101 over Miami Marlins(Phelps)-----Miami has a good team batting average but.............they've scored fewer runs than the Reds.   Col has scored 100 more runs than Miami has and..........Col is the underdog at home.  Hmm.   Phelps has apparently been doing RP for Marlins;  no starts yet.   De La Rosa has gotten his ERA down from 8.81 in June to 5.51 now.(Lose 5-3.........wow:  Colorado has the 3-1 lead starting the 9th at home.  Carlos Estevez(nee 'Wild Thing' Charlie Sheen) comes in,  walks 2 while allowing 3 singles,  getting 1 batter out.........and the game is lost.........Brian Ellington gets the win)

DETROIT TIGERS(Fulmer) -127 over Chicago White Sox(Sale)(Win 2-1)
DETROIT TIGERS(Fulmer) -1.5(+160) over Chicago White Sox(Sale)-----I liked those 70s White Sox uniforms, didnt you?  The 1982 uniforms also; much better than the black and white--but mostly black-----ones they wear now.(Lose 2-1........PHGWHR JD Martinez)

MIAMI MARLINS(Conley) +162 over Chicago Cubs(Hendricks)(Lose 5-0.......Anthony Rizzo goes 3-3 against me.   Conley walks 6 in exactly 4 innings.   Hendricks a CG SHO)