Texas Rangers -1.5 (116) MLB Odds - Wed July 30 ‘08 8:05p
The Texas Rangers(55-52) and Seattle Mariners(40-66) prepare to play their 3rd tilt in a 4 games series this Wednesday night in Arlington. Last night the Rangers took out the Mariners, with a bottom of ninth, come from behind 11-10 win. The loss for the Mariners was their 14th in their L/19 overall. With the ace of the Texas pitching staff, Vicente Padilla (12-5, 4.56 ERA) going to the hill, the positive momentum of last nights victory should carry on into this battle. The hard throwing Nicaraguan right hander, has not looked particularly strong of late, but has been dominant against Seattle this season , going is 1-0 along with a stingy 2.00 ERA in 3 starts. All three games ended in a Rangers win. Meanwhile, his pitching opponent from the Mariners Miguel Batista (4-11, 6.67 ERA) has been very inconsistent this season, and has suffered through numerous bouts of fatigue, as was the case in his last outing, when he left the game , after throwing just 82 pitches. The veter an righty did not look bad in that effort, and put his team in a position for a win, but as has been the case all season, the Mariners bullpen , found a way to blow a lead. Batista is 0-2 in his career at Rangers Ball park, along with a ugly looking 7.64 ERA. The Rangers have the superior pitcher on the mound tonight, and the superior offense , and home field advantage. In this spot, against a downtrodden team, with absolutely no confidence, they very much look like the right side. Final notes & Key Trends:The Rangers are 6-0 when Padilla starts against AL teams like Seattle with a on base % of .320 or less this season, with the average margin of victory clicking in at 4.7 RPG. Mariners are 17-40 L/57 meetings in Texas. Play on the Texas Rangers runline Click Here for More Free Baseball Betting Picks

Kansas City Royals (120) - Wed July 30 ‘08 3:35p
The Oakland Athletics have lost five of six games to drop to the .500 mark at 53-53, and we would not lay any odds with this team right now, making the Kansas City Royals the play as underdogs. The Athletics have struggled offensively all season, but they have actually gotten worse lately, batting a pathetic .215 over their last 10 games. Now Sean Gallagher has allowed two earned runs or less in all three of his Oakland starts, but he does have a terrible 1.73 WHIP in an Athletics uniform, and that propensity for putting men on base led him to allow four unearned runs in a 14-6 loss to Texas in his last start. He needs all the support he could get, and Oakland is simply incapable of providing that right now. Granted, Brian Bannister has been terrible on the road this year for the Royals, going 2-5 with an 8.60 ERA. However, even he has appreciated facing the light-hitting Athletics, allowing exactly two runs in two of his three starts in Oakland over the last two years. Also the Royals are on a bit of a run having won three straight, as they won the last game of their series vs. the Tampa Bay Rays before traveling to Oakland. As bad as Bannister has been on the road, we actually trust the Kansas City offense to scratch out runs against Gallagher more that we trust Oakland to score runs vs. anyone right now, so we will gladly take these plus odds. MLB Free Pick: Royals +120

Chicago White Sox (-110) - Wed Jul 30 ‘08 8:10p
The Minnesota Twins have taken the first two games of this series, but we are looking for the Chicago White Sox to salvage a win tonight and avoid the sweep. The White Sox have seen their first place lead over the Twins trimmed to one game in the loss column, but their starter Gavin Floyd has been solid all season, and we look for him to enable them to open a little daylight. Floyd is 10-6 with a very good 3.57 ERA in 123.2 innings, and he is a perfect three for three in Quality Starts vs. Minnesota this year, allowing a total of five earned runs and only 12 hits in 21.1 innings. Should he need some relief, the White Sox are still ranked fourth in the majors with a 3.29 bullpen ERA. Now Livan Hernandez has a similar 10-7 record, but he has taken an entirely different route getting there, with a very high 5.21 ERA and 1.60 WHIP. He has benefitted from 5.77 runs per game of support, but he does not figure to get that much help here with Floyd as the opposing pitcher. Also, Hernandez was lit up the last time he faced the Sox, surrendering seven earned runs and nine baserunners while lasting just four innings. We will go with the better pitcher and what we feel is the better team in a game that is close to a pick here. MLB Free Pick: White Sox -110