Afternoon Baseball Part of 3 Winners For Tuesday

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Free Service Play For Tuesday

Minnesota Twins (Santana) at New York Yankees (Mussina) 1:06 pm EST

Minnesota - Santana +170 (2 Units)

Starters: Well, we know Mike Mussina has a 20-2 career record against Minnesota and that is very hard to overlook. He has gone downhill in each month of the season but 1 (August) and his ERA is nearly one run higher in the last 3 months than in the first 3 (3.83-2.95). The pressure will be on him to perform as well as he has in the past and that might get to him early. What we do have is a very hot pitcher going against him. Johan Santana joined the Twins rotation on July 11 and went 11-2 with a 2.10 ERA in 18 starts. Only Esteban Loaiza and Pedro Martinez topped his 88 strikeouts after the All-Star break. Minnesota is 6-2 in his 8 road starts while Santana has posted a 1.94 ERA away from home.

Bullpen: We figure the bullpens are about even. Rivera has the advantage over Guardado, but the Twins have the advantage in the rest of the pen. Hawkins and Romero can be nasty setup men. Eric Milton could be a key for the Twins. A one-time mainstay of the rotation, Milton missed most of the season with a knee injury. He'll give the Twins a lefty who can eat some innings in the bullpen if called upon. Nelson is not the same pitcher he was back in 2000 during his last playoff stint with the Yankees. Osuna and White have struggled the last 3 months, with Hammond being their best go to guy at the moment.

Offense: Against righties, the Twins are hitting .285 on the season while the Yankees are hitting .266 against lefties. New York is hitting .265 at home on the season, while the Twins are hitting .276 on the road.

Other: The Twins will be loose, relaxed, allowing their talent to come to the surface. The Twins know the Yankees will be playing on the edge from the first pitch, and will try to push them over. All the talk is about how Minnesota cannot beat the Yankees. They have lost 13 straight. This year, the Yankees dominated the Twins, winning all seven games by a cumulative score of 49-13. But that was in the first month of the season and times have changed. The Twins are the hottest team in the league since the All-Star break. "Well, you know, there are certain clubs that over time you end up having good numbers against," Mussina said. "And it just so happens that this team is one of them. But I don't really think it means anything in this situation. These are the playoffs. Having good numbers against a team we've played two years in a row now in April, I don't think this is at all the same team as it was in April." Minnesota presents a challenge much like Anaheim did last season, as the Twins' lineup boasts a group of contact hitters who won't go down easy. The four-game series against Anaheim came down to one thing for the Yankees, starting pitching. Actually, it was the lack of starting pitching that did them in. New York's starters went 0-1 with a 10.41 ERA in the four-game series. We will ride the hot Santana in game 1 at a very nice price.

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The Twins pull out the afternoon victory although Guardado made things very interesting in the end. Congrats to those who came along for the free ride and picked up some $$$$. We have 2 more winners for tonight – both are 3 unit plays and both can be had for either $14.95 with our One Day Pass or for $69.95 using our Baseball Playoff Package that includes every winner released through the World Series in all sports. Take your pick HERE.

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Wins by Houston and Chicago complete the sweep on Tuesday bringing home +9.8 units for all members. The Baseball Playoff Package is still avalailable so join the many others who started off the postseason on the plus side.

Houston Cougars at East Carolina Pirates 7:30 pm EST

Houston -1.5 (3 Units)

We’ll make this one pretty short. This game should have been strength against strength with the high-powered Houston offense going against the tough East Carolina defense. However, the defense has yet to show up for the Pirates as they come in ranked 106th in total defense, allowing over 454 ypg. Their numbers are skewed somewhat though as their passing defense is ranked 24th which is because teams have gotten such big leads, they are running the ball much more often. The opposition has thrown only 86 times against them which is the lowest in the country. Thus they are 117th in rushing defense, allowing 284.5 ypg and a huge 5.81 ypc, which is also last in the country. Houston will certainly tack on to that number. The Cougars come in ranked 60th in total offense and their spread formations should cause a lot of problems for East Carolina. True freshman Kevin Kolb is 16th in the country and second in C-USA in passing efficiency, and he is averaging 218 yards a game in total offense. Houston comes in a respectable 62nd in total defense, allowing 362 ypg. The Pirates are having a ton of problems on the offensive end as well at they are ranked 109th in total offense, gaining just 288 ypg. They are dead last in scoring offense, putting up only 7.25 ppg. Their highest output on the season is 16 points against Wake Forest. Turnovers have been a huge problem for the Pirates as they come in ranked 115th in margin at -2.75 per game. Houston is at an even 0, taking away 9and giving it up 9 times. As long as Houston doesn’t implode with the turnovers and if they cut down on their penalties, they should easily cruise here. Due in large part to the past two games, the Cougars are the most penalized team in the conference (97 yards per game). Houston drew 18 flags for 144 yards at Louisiana-Lafayette followed by 13 for 94 yards against Mississippi State. That's 238 yards in penalties on 31 mark-offs. "I sense that we have a really good chance to be a good team and to compete in the conference race," said Houston head coach Art Briles, fully aware that the next two games, the start of what he calls the second phase of the schedule, will be a major factor in that goal. Following East Carolina, they face Tulane. The public saw the Cougars get their butts handed to them in Michigan but they come into this game with a very solid 3-1 record. All of their wins have come against teams who are winless, but so is East Carolina. A win here should get the cover and bring home the cash.

Chicago Cubs (Wood) at Atlanta Braves (Ortiz) 8:18 pm EST

Chicago Cubs - Wood +115 (3 Units)

Starters: Kerry Wood has not faced the Braves since September of 2001. In 5 career starts against Atlanta, he is 2-0 with a 2.14 ERA. The current Braves starting lineup is a combined 11-57 (.193) lifetime against Wood. He has been lights out after finally getting over his back problems. In his last 6 starts, he is 3-1 with a 0.84 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP and a 58/17 K/BB ratio. At home, Russ Ortiz has been almost unbeatable with a 14-3 record but his 3.53 ERA isn’t as impressive. After a great start, his numbers have been getting worse as the season progresses. He has a 4.29 ERA after the break and his ERA has been over 4.19 in each of the last 3 months. Current Cubs starters are batting .294 (25-85) lifetime against Ortiz.

Bullpen: The Braves have a slight advantage here in ERA, 4.08 to 4.60 and the return of closer John Smoltz can only help things although Joe Borowski can had a very solid season. He has given up only 1 earned run in his last 19 appearances, picking up 14 saves. He has blown only 2 saves since May 15th. Smoltz looked very shaky in his last outing, allowing 2 runs in 1 IP in blowing the save against the Phillies. If the Braves do enter the 9th with a lead, it isn’t as safe as it was early in the season. Their bottom 3 setup men are very suspect with Hodges, Bong and Hernandez (4.68 combined ERA in 182.6 IP). For the Cubs, Alfonseca has been the downside of their pen. Take his 5.83 ERA in 66.1 IP out of the mix, their bullpen ERA comes down to 4.29. Don’t expect to see him.

Offense: As mentioned earlier, the Cubs are hitting Ortiz much better than the Braves are hitting Wood. However, they are hitting .256 against righties on the season compared to the .285 the Braves are hitting. We think those 2 stats balance each other out, which makes the offense a wash here.

Other: The Cubs are 18-7 their last 25 games while the Braves are 14-11 their last 25. While the Braves have been here before, for the first time in 14 years, the Cubs clinched a division title. They feel no pressure and will certainly be the looser of the two teams. From 1995, when Wild Card entrants became a part of the postseason, through 1999, the Braves were annual participants in the National League Championship Series. But in two of their past three years, they have been bounced from the Division Series. That is something they have hanging over their heads so they might be slow out of the gate. Wood has been unhittable of late and we will go with his strong arm in game 1 Tuesday.