DETROIT TIGERS @ TAMPA BAY RAYS
Baseball : North America : MLB
Monday, August 22nd, 2011, 7:10PM US
(12:10AM GMT)

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PREVIEW

I went with Tampa Bay yesterday, who are now on a 7 game winning streak at home, and have won their last 5 overall. Tonight, I'm switching to the visitors.

Yesterday, Tampa were fortunate to get the win, coming back from 4-0 down to win thanks to a homer in the bottom of the 9th. That was against the Mariners, who had no business getting that many runs, and I feel Detroit are in a position to capitalise on that kind of play should it happen again.

The Detroit Tigers send out Justin Verlander, who is 18-5 with an amazing 2.31ERA. Verlander comes in having won all of his last 6 starts, over which he allowed just 12 earned runs. The right-handed ace has struck out 204 batters in just 202 innings of work this season, making him the best in the MLB. As an added incentive for us, he will come here with revenge on his mind.

Verlander last faced the Tampa Bay Rays about 3 months ago, and was tagged for 6 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings. He will want to atone for that performance and his 5-1 career record against the Rays is encouraging. In that time he has a 3.88ERA against the Florida outfit.

The Tampa Bay Rays send out Jeff Niemann to the hill to try and start this series off with a win. Niemann is 8-4 with a 3.29ERA and comes in off 7 straight wins. His last start saw him beat Boston, allowing 2 runs over 9 innings.

Niemann owns a 1-1 record against Detroit over his career, with a 3.04ERA. This might be encouraging to anyone backing Tampa but looking closer at the numbers one finds Niemann sports a worse record at home than he does away. He has a 2.64ERA away from home but when he returns to pitch in front of the fans this goes up to 3.91. In fact, Niemann has just a 4-4 record at home this season.

Niemann also tends to not do so well when going up against a superior pitcher. As an underdog, Tampa Bay have failed to win any of his last 5 starts.

TEAM STATS

Detroit Tigers
Overall 68-58, Streak W3

Tampa Bay Rays
Overall 69-56, Streak W5

BETTING VERDICT

Go with Detroit to beat Tampa Bay tonight

The Pick :

Detroit Tigers

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the Detroit Tigers to win @ 1.78 (Pinnacle)