I took yesterday off just to grab a break here as my prep work for football season (NCAA and NFL) picks up quite a bit with each passing day. I’ll have some season win totals for NFL and future bets posted up here at D Rock Sports soon enough, but for now it’s still all about baseball as it’s the only game in town.

Getaway day brought plenty of afternoon action today in the majors but there are still a couple of spots I really like tonight.

All lines taken from Pinnacle Sports with bet amounts ‘to win’ on favorites and flat on underdogs.

Play of the Day in Bold

MLB pre All Star Break: 101-107-13 (+$691)

MLB post All Ster Break: 12-9 (+$1313)

CFL YTD: 4-3 (+$588)

MLB Plays

Seattle/Cleveland Over 6.5 (+114) $300 to win $342

Seattle’s played eight straight games under the total sporting a 3-5 SU record in those contests. They’ve got their ace Felix Hernandez on the hill who’s gone ‘under’ the total in each of his last five starts and eight of his last nine. Hernandez has 13 straight starts of 7+ innings pitched with 2 earned runs or less allowed and only one team has scored more than two on him during that time (Boston got 3). We’ve got an umpire that’s gone under the total in seven of his last nine so what’s not to like about this total play….

Oh yeah, I said ‘over’ 6.5 tonight as we are in the business of predicting the future not reporting on the past. Yes, all those numbers are great for the King, but streaks are made to be broken and tonight could be that night for Hernandez. Seattle is just 1-4 SU in his last five starts here in Cleveland and Hernandez hasn’t gone more than 5 innings in his last two trips here. Both of those were blowout losses for the Mariners (6-0 and 9-3), but the fact that Cleveland was able to knock him around is what I’m focusing on here. The ‘over’ here in Cleveland between these two teams has gone 8-2-1 O/U the last 11 and although home plate ump Vic Carapazza has been on an ‘under’ run of late, he’s a guy that’s been right around the totals all year.

The early line movement on the side of this game has moved Cleveland into a favorite role as the odds makers believe history will repeat and Cleveland will get to King Felix. Seattle knows they’ve got to start scoring more for him because he’s not going to be able to dominate every time out on the hill and I think we finally see one of his starts go ‘over’ for the first time in awhile. 90%+ on the under (per usual for a Felix start) isn’t something I have a problem going against either.

 Minnesota ML (+144) $200 to win $288

I’m going against the inconsistent Royals and Danny Duffy tonight as KC simply can’t score for this guy. Duffy’s got a 2.47 ERA on the year but thanks to only 2.8/game in support from his teammates, KC is 5-10 SU in his 15 starts this season. Wasting quality pitching like that is something you can’t do often in this league and expect to be a playoff contender. KC has made significant strides in becoming a better team this season but they still struggle mightily with the bats and shouldn’t be laying this kind of chalk until they start helping Duffy out.

Meanwhile, the Twins are 6-1 SU in their last seven on the road and has a 9-0 SU run going with Phil Hughes on the hill facing a winning team. Hughes is also 8-2 SU in his last 10 road starts and 10-4 SU in his last 14 as an underdog. Too much value to pass up for me here with this play.