Baseball Picks: April 17th 2012
Cleveland Indians vs. Seattle Mariners
Prediction: Seattle Mariners +117
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Cleveland is coming off a road sweep at Kansas City over the weekend as the offense erupted for 32 runs in the three-game series. It was an amazing display and it was the first time ever that Cleveland has scored eight or more runs in its first three road games to pen a season. Getting a day off on Monday was something the Indians did not want and the momentum from that production took a hit. The fact the Indians are favored here may be a bit of an overreaction.

Seattle has gotten off to a very solid start, at least from what we were expecting. The Mariners are 6-5 after taking two of three from Oakland over the weekend and it was Felix Hernandez that surprisingly took the lone defeat. That was the first home series for Seattle which started in Tokyo then went to Texas and Oakland so a day off Monday was a needed break from a tough early season schedule. The Mariners are 4-1 in their last five games as underdogs between +110 and +150.

The Mariners go with the ageless Kevin Millwood who is coming off a very solid season opener. He allowed just one run over six innings against a potent Texas offense on the road and now he starts his home opener. Safeco Field has not been one of his favorite places to pitch over the years but now that he is on the home team, we should see a difference. He has faced his former team twice since 2009, allowing only four runs in 14 innings, both games resulting in quality outings.

The Indians counter with Justin Masterson who is making his third start of the season. He pitched great in his season opener, allowing only one runs in eight innings against Toronto but followed that up with an uneven effort against Chicago, allowing five runs, three earned, over five innings. He has allowed four runs in 13 innings but in the five innings when the relievers took over, they allowed 13 runs so Cleveland is 2-0 in his games. Cleveland is 5-13 in his last 18 road starts against teams with a winning record. 3* (930) Seattle Mariners -Matt Fargo