Well, the first pitcher caught “sticky-balling” – Mariners pitcher Héctor Santiago – has been suspended for 10 games, subject to appeal of course. Interestingly, assuming the suspension stands, the Mariners are not allowed to fill his roster spot during the ban. In essence this means MLB is making the whole team responsible, which I like. It’s not fair to punish only one, if the support structure around them encourages this type of behavior. I’d like to see the team fined as well, but this is a start.
On to the strikeout picks…
Marlins @ Phillies, 7:05 pm ET
The Phillies have Vince Velasquez out there tonight and it’s time he starts turning his season around. In his last 5 starts he only made it out of the 4th inning once, and in that start he only went 5 innings. And yet, we’re talking about facing the Marlins here. My K-Machine (patent pending) is predicting a 6-7 K outing tonight. I’m going to take the over 5.5 line and -113 I’m getting from the folks over at BetRivers.
Angels @ Yankees, 7:05 pm ET
Yankees fans are hoping that Jameson Taillon has finally turned the corner. In his last start, against a hot hitting Royals lineup, he managed to go 6+ innings, giving up only 1 run and striking out 6. The Yankees would take that again, and so will I. It’s tight, but it’s hard to resist taking the over 5.5 at +120 being offered by FanDuel.
Diamondbacks @ Cardinals, 8:15 pm ET
Caleb Smith of the Dbacks is my hot pick of the night. He’s been a bullpen guy most of the year but has really responded well to taking the SP slot 5 starts ago. My prediction is 7-8 strikeouts against St. Louis, so for me it was easy to take the over 5.5 and +108 being offered by FanDuel.
Come back again — same bat-channel — Batman out!