Sports Handicapper Scott Rickenbach's Picks & Predictions

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach Free Pick Sunday MLB Seattle Mariners Money Line (+) @ Tampa Bay Rays @ 1:10 ET - While I am certainly not a huge fan of Yovani Gallardo, the right-hander did allow just 1 earned run in 5 innings the last time he pitched at Tampa Bay. Also, he does come up with some occasional solid starts. Though he got rocked by Baltimore in his most recent start, Gallardo went into that outing having allowed 3 earned runs or less in 4 straight starts. The big key here is that he is facing a Tampa Bay team that has just been simply awful at the plate for weeks now. The Rays have lost 10 of their last 12 games and have averaged only 2 runs per game in their last 15 games. That's right, even with yesterday's 6-run outburst at the plate, TB has still totaled only 30 runs in their last 15 games. As for the Mariners, they've scored 7 runs in each of their last 3 games and should stay hot here against Blake Snell. When the Rays southpaw faced him last season (his only start versus the M's in his career) Snell got rocked for 8 hits plus he walked 3 in an outing that lasted only 3 and 1/3 innings. The Mariners have won 4 straight games and also are currently on a 15-6 run in games against teams with a losing record. The Rays are 6-11 in home games with a posted total of 9 or 9.5 runs the past 3 seasons combined. Road dog value here in going against struggling Tampa Bay. Free Pick SEATTLE on the money line goes EARLY Sunday. Best of luck, Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach

ESPN Game of the Year - Rickenbach Sunday MLB 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs St Louis Cardinals @ 7 ET - The Cardinals are on a 12-1 run to the over in their last 13 games after yesterday's 6-4 loss went over the total. Both of these teams continue to have bullpen issues and are swinging the bats quite well. The Cardinals have averaged scoring nearly 8 runs per game in their last 13 games! The Pirates have averaged scoring 7 runs per game in their last 4 games. Really the only question than for this one than comes down to the starting pitcher. The fact is that this is perhaps the strongest edge of all when it comes to this play! The Cardinals are starting Mike Leake and he has an 8.81 ERA in his last 3 starts and has given up 28 hits in the 15 and 1/3 innings spanning those 3 outings. He'll be opposed by Ivan Nova who is off of a solid outing at Milwaukee but had gone into that game having compiled a 6.67 ERA in his 5 starts since the All Star break. As you can see from these numbers, neither one of these pitchers has been getting the job done recently. Additionally, the Pirates lineup will be facing Leake for the 4th time already this season and they've had 20 hits in 17 and 1/3 innings against him thus far. Based on his current form, this could really be a breakout game for the Pittsburgh bats. As for the Cardinals, though they didn't fare well against Nova earlier this season at least that means they have seen him already and their lineup is truly one of the hottest in baseball right now. Couple that with Nova's recent struggles and St Louis should stay red hot at the plate in this one. Not only is the over 12-1 in the Cards last 13 games, STL is also 13-4 to the over in Sunday games this season. That means we're testing a combined 25-5 (83%) mark here! Count me in! 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach Sunday MLB 10* Top Play OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs Milwaukee Brewers @ 3:10 ET - Yesterday's 6-3 Brewers win stayed under the total but the teams did combine for 21 hits. Overall Milwaukee has now averaged 6.1 runs per game in their last 7 games. The Rockies, prior to the loss last night, had averaged 9.7 runs per game in their last 3 games. As you can see, both these teams have been swinging the bats quite well and that should result in plenty of runs on a warm and very dry afternoon in Denver. The ball will be carrying extremely well at Coors Field, even though the wind will not be blowing out, as a result of the weather conditions. Kyle Freeland gets the start for the Rockies and he has given up 4 homers in his last 17 and 1/3 innings on the mound. He has been hit quite hard in many of his starts since mid-June and I expect more of the same here. As for the Brewers, Chase Anderson is returning from the disabled list and he got rocked in his rehab start at the AAA level in the minors. Also, this will be the 3rd time in the past 12 months that the Rockies are seeing Anderson and it is the first time at Coors Field. Anderson had allowed 4 earned runs in 3 of his last 5 road starts before lasting just 1 inning at Cincinnati on June 28th and then landing on the DL. The over is 15-9 in Brewers games versus left-handed starters this season. Also, the over was 5-1 in Anderson's last 6 road starts before he lasted just 1 inning against the Reds and went on the shelf. His road struggles resume here but his teammates stay hot at the plate. The expected result is a slugfest! 10* OVER The total in Colorado Sunday afternoon

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach Sunday MLB 8* OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees @ 1:30 ET - The Yankees will have Sonny Gray on the mound and he got rocked for 7 earned runs in less than 4 innings of work in his most recent start in Boston. It will be a warm afternoon with the wind blowing out toward right field at a good clip for this one. Definitely a hitter-friendly afternoon and the Red Sox have averaged 6.1 runs per game in their last 9 games and will give Gray trouble again here. Boston has their own pitching "concern" here as Rick Porcello gets the ball for the Red Sox in this one. The right-hander has a 5.13 ERA and has been hit at .307 clip in his 14 starts at Fenway Park this season. Porcello also has given up 17 hits (including 3 homers) in the 12 and 1/3 innings spanning his last two starts versus the Yankees. The Yanks will be seeing the Red Sox right-hander for the 4th time already this season. Repetition leads to success for the hitters and they also feature buoyed confidence after getting the big upset win over Chris Sale yesterday in a 4-3 final. The Yankees are now 5-1 in their last 6 games and have averaged 5.2 runs per game during this stretch. As you can see, this game should easily get to double digits in runs scored. 8* OVER the total in Boston early Sunday afternoon.

Contrarian Crusher - Sunday NFLX 8* New Orleans Saints (+) @ Los Angeles Chargers @ 8 ET - Everyone is looking to the Chargers this week after they got blasted 48-14 at home versus Seattle last week. Los Angeles has moved from a 2.5 point favorite to a 3.5 point choice as of Saturday evening. I will gladly fade the line move here and grab the Saints. The Chargers had no reason to be flat last week against the Seahawks. That said, even though LA hung around early in that game all of the issues with the 2nd and 3rd stringers getting completely manhandled is a concern for this week's action. Even though starters play more in Week 2, these preseason games are often decided by the back-ups and, in this case, I certainly like much more from what I saw from the Saints win Week 1. While the Chargers were outscored 38-3 in the final 3 quarters versus the Hawks last week, New Orleans did hold a 14-7 fourth quarter lead at Cleveland before giving up the final 13 points at Cleveland. The fact that the Saints didn't "finish" last week versus the Browns is going to lead to a much stronger effort this week in the latter stages. Also New Orleans has the rest edge here as they have had 3 extra days (compared to the Chargers) coming into this one. The Saints have struggled in recent preseasons and I am well aware of that AS IS the football team. After losing against the beleaguered Browns (preseason or not!) the Saints will be ready to go here after a poor finish at Cleveland. The concern for the Chargers is they allowed well over 400 yards last week. The Saints QBs combined to complete 25 of 36 last week with no picks while the Chargers QBs combined for just 15 of 31 with two interceptions versus Seattle. A lot of line value here with the dog as the Chargers have only 2 wins by more than 3 points in their last 9 preseason games and Week 1 shows there is still a lot that this LA team has to work on! 8* NEW ORLEANS SAINTS