Oakland Athletics (135)
Thu May 15 ‘08 12:05p
The Cleveland Indians have taken the first two games of this series, but we look for the Oakland Athletics to avoid the sweep in this battle of young southpaws.Now, we are aware that Cleveland’s Aaron Laffey has not allowed an earned run in his last two starts, covering 14 innings, and that the Indians starting pitchers have now tossed an unbelievable 43.1 consecutive scoreless innings. However, all of that is built in to this inflated line, and as great as Laffey has been, this line gives too much respect to someone that has made just three starts this season.

Besides, when Oakland’s Greg Smith allowed four runs at Texas in his last start, it snapped an impressive streak of six consecutive starts by Smith of allowing three earned runs or less to start the season. He is facing a Cleveland lineup here that is batting a pathetic .203 over the last 10 games, and Oakland has the far superior bullpen between these two teams, in fact leading the American League with a bullpen ERA of 2.95.

If the A’s could scratch out some runs vs. Laffey here, and that incredible scoreless streak by Cleveland starters has to end eventually, we like our chances with Smith and the Oakland pen at a nice price.

MLB Free Pick: Athletics +135