MLB Baseball
2012-05-14 - Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 14 May 2012 - First Pitch 8:10pm ET
1:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
This is the third series of the season between these American League Central rivals as they begin a two game set at US Cellular Field. The Chicago White Sox (16-19) lost two of three games at against the Kansas City Royals in their last series as they were beaten 9-1 here yesterday.
The Detroit Tigers (17-17) have been largely disappointing so far this season, but they come into this series after splitting four games with the Oakland Athletics in their last series.
A big problem for the Tigers is a lack of consistency in their batting line up that has failed to score more than 4 runs in 7 of their last 9 games. That has been highlighted by Prince Fielder who has failed to find a hit in any of his last 22 at bats.
There is a real chance that the Detroit batting line up can find something from this game as they are facing John Danks who has really struggled in his starts at home. Danks is 2-4 with a 5.89 ERA, but he has struggled in this ballpark where he has allowed at least 7 runs in his last two starts here.
It hasn't been easier for Danks when facing the Tigers as he has allowed at least 8 runs in each of the last two times he has faced them.
Chicago will at least need to help Danks if he cannot get better command in this game, but they have scored just one run in their last two games after going through a hot streak at the plate. While they didn't score, they did leave 10 runners on base in their loss to the Royals last night so there is some positives to take from that game.
They won't find it easy to get going against Drew Smyly who is 1-0 this season with a 1.59 ERA and he has not allowed more than 2 runs in any of his six starts this season. Smyly's record would be so much better if he had been given any kind of run support as the Tigers have given him 2 runs in 5 of their 6 games he has started.
Smyly has faced the White Sox once already and allowed 2 runs in 6 innings pitched in a Detroit win, although he again did not factor in the decision.
Head to Head
The season series between the teams is currently tied at 3-3, but the Chicago White Sox took 2 of 3 games at home earlier this season.
While the season series is tied so far, the Tigers had actually won 6 in a row and 7 of the last 8 in the series between the teams.
Before losing 2 of their last 3 games at this ballpark earlier this season, Detroit had actually won 11 of their last 14 visits to the White Sox.
Chicago are 6-11 at home, Detroit is 8-8 on the road.
Prediction
I am going to take the Detroit Tigers to come alive a little bit here and win this game while covering the run line. There is a definite edge on the mound that favours the Tigers and I think Detroit can really take advantage of John Danks who has struggled mightily here and against the Tigers in his last couple of games.
It is a concern that the Tigers are not putting up the sort of batting numbers that were expected of them at the start of the season, but I do think it is a matter of time before they turn a corner.
There were signs against Oakland that the Detroit bats were waking up a little and I think the value is so much more on the run line than taking Detroit solely to win.
The Pick :
Chicago White Sox 4-8 Detroit Tigers
