MLB Final Weekend - ChiSox battle the Twins

Better late than never. Just ask the Chicago White Sox. After losing five straight to nearly fall out of the playoff race, the ChiSox rallied for a 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians in the final game of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon.

The victory forced a makeup game for Monday afternoon against the Detroit Tigers, with the White Sox trailing the Minnesota Twins by a half game for first place in the AL Central. Should Chicago get by Detroit, it will host the Twins in a winner-take-all tiebreaker on Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Field.

BetJamaica.com has the White Sox as –220 home favorites for Monday’s game against the Tigers, with the total listed at 10. Gavin Floyd (16-8, 3.91 ERA) takes the ball for Chicago, while Detroit counters with Freddy Garcia (1-1, 4.50 ERA). The ChiSox are 13-3 against the moneyline when Danks starts at home this season, and are 8-1 when Danks digs in during the day in those outings. First pitch on Monday is slated for 2:05 PM ET.

Mark Buehrle allowed only one run over seven innings to get the win against the Tribe on Sunday, as the White Sox cashed as –191 home faves. Jermaine Dye was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in for Chicago, which got a homer from Paul Konerko in the win. Bryan Bullington was handed the loss after giving up two runs over five innings, while Jhonny Peralta went 3-for-4 with a big fly for Cleveland.

Indians double White Sox

Shin-Shoo Choo was 2-for-4 with a dinger and two RBIs in the Indians’ 12-6 drubbing of the White Sox on Saturday. Zach Jackson allowed two runs over seven innings to earn the win for the Tribe, who upset the ChiSox as +173 underdogs.

Dye smacked a two-run jack for the White Sox, while Konerko went 2-for-3 with two homers and three RBIs in the loss. Losing pitcher Javier Vazquez cemented his spot in Ozzie Guillen’s doghouse by getting tagged for seven runs over 4 1-3 innings for Chicago.

Garko, Tribe overpower ChiSox

Ryan Garko went 3-for-4 with two dingers and five RBIs to lead Cleveland past Chicago 11-8 in Friday night’s series opener. Scott Lewis gave up four runs over five innings to get the victory for the Indians, who cashed as +137 pups at BetJamaica.com.

John Danks was rocked for seven runs over four innings to take the loss for the ChiSox, while Dye, Konerko, and A.J. Pierzynski all went yard with two runs batted in.

Betting is Fun

The San Francisco 49ers vs. New Orleans Saints betting odds were all over the map heading into Friday morning. A middling opportunity was available as some books were still offering the Saints at -4 ½ while Sports Interaction had San Francisco at +6 (you would be the 49ers at Sports Interaction and the Saints at another online sports book hoping that New Orleans wins by exactly 5 points).

The line opened at -6 ½ so we have seen quite a drop in recent days, an obvious indication that books were trying hard to get action on the Saints.

70 percent of the early betting action was on the Saints, though we anticipated the action being more along the lines of 60/40 New Orleans closer to game time.

New Orleans has owned this series over the last three games since 2004. They have actually won 7 of their last 10 since 1999. The last two games were won by 21 and 24 points, respectively. The home team has won 7 of the last 10 as well, but keep in mind that the last time San Francisco was a -7 ½ point underdog in New Orleans, they ended up covering with a loss of just 3 points.

The Saints won their first home game against Tampa Bay but lost on their last two road trips.

A stat we like: The Saints are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a straight up loss. However, they are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games following a ATS win; 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games vs. a team with a winning road record (yeah, that would be San Francisco); and are 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games after allowing more than 30 points in their previous game.

The 49ers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games after allowing less than 250 total yards in their previous game but are also 5-14-3 ATS in their last 22 games following a SU win of more than 14 points, which is quite a telling stat we should point out. They are also 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games after scoring more than 30 points in their previous game.

In the end it may come down to a New Orleans line that should be more in the range of -8 coupled with San Francisco being 4-9 ATS in their last 13 vs. NFC and 2-6 ATS their last road games.

Gambling911.com will live dangerously here and make a cautious prediction of a New Orleans cover by -4 ½.

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