MLB Baseball Picks: August 1st 2012
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Seattle Mariners
Pick: Toronto Blue Jays -110
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We have been on a little skid with our mlb sports picks but we look to bounce back with Wednesday’s card as there are a total of seven pitchers with ERA’s under 3.00 over their last three starts combined and a total of five pitchers with ERA’s over 6.00 ERA over their last three starts. Check out below our free pick among those seven pitchers and the most likely cold pitcher to win.

Blue Jays -110 (1.1** FREE PLAY)
The Blue Jays will take on the Mariners led by Carlos Villanueva who is 3-0 in his last three starts posting a 1.15 WHIP and a 2.60 ERA. He’s been great on the road posting a 2.85 ERA on the road. His raw stats are great with 9.49 K/9 with the only reason why his ERA is not better is the walks and the HR/9. Well the Mariners are a perfect opponent for that ranked 25th in HR and 19th in BB’s. The Mariners are 30th in OPS overall vs. RHP. I think Villanueva is primed to have another quality start against the Mariners who are 16-36 in their last 52 vs. the AL East and 3-8 in their last 11 vs. the Blue Jays.

They also go up against Blake Beavan who is only striking out 4.77 guys per 9. He’s gotten by with great control, but I’m not sold on him as he’s giving up 1.30 HR/9 and he does not produce many ground balls while posting a 4.83 ERA at home. Encarnacion, Lind and Rasmus are a combined 7-14 with 4 HR off Beavan as they certainly will not miss Jose Bautista in this one. Bevan will struggle and Villanueva will then go 7-0 in his last 7 as a favorite.

Notable Hot Starters:
Cliff Lee (1-2, 0.95 WHIP, 2.05 ERA)
Edwin Jackson (1-2, 1.26 WHIP, 2.37 ERA)
Ben Sheets (3-0, 1.00 WHIP, 0.50 ERA)
Jake Westbrook (2-1, 1.08 WHIP, 2.95 ERA)
Phil Hughes (2-1, 0.88 WHIP, 2.91 ERA)
Zach McAllister (2-1, 1.15 WHIP, 2.70 ERA)

Cold Starter Of The Day:
Though this is not going to be any sort of a sports pick that is backed by our sports monitor we still like to give out the cold pitcher with the best shot at winning because often times there is a lot of value. Today’s pitcher is Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish who goes up against the hot hitting Angels. I only select him because he’s been one of the rare pitchers that have pitched well in the Rangers ballpark posting a 3.88 ERA. In 69 AB he’s also held the Angels hitters to a .174 average and a .572 OPS.

Notable Cold Starters:
Jordan Lyles (0-3, 1.70 WHIP, 7.13 ERA)
Travis Wood (0-3, 1.91 WHIP, 12.64 ERA)
Drew Pomeranz (0-3, 1.80 WHIP, 10.12 ERA)
Garret Richards (2-1, 1.65 WHIP, 6.06 ERA)