Seattle Mariners (31-30) AT Chicago White Sox (30-33)
June 8, 2011 at 8:05 PM EST
Opening Line: CWS -150, SEA +130
Current Line: CWS -144, SEA +125
Opening Total: 8
Current Total: 8
SP: SEA- J. Vargas; CWS- G. Floyd
The Mariners haven’t won in Chicago in a while, and with Gavin Floyd taking the mound, they may not find things getting any easier. Floyd is 3-4 with a 4.92 ERA in his 10 starts against the Seattle Mariners, but over his last 22 innings he has not allowed a run. He struck out 18 hitters over those 22 innings and only gave up 13 hits. In a quality start, he gave up only 3 hits in 8 innings of a shutout victory at Seattle on May 7th.
Seattle second baseman Adam Kennedy didn’t go in depth on Floyd’s pitching. “He pitched good. He didn’t get in a lot of trouble.”
What more is that Floyd has been pitching well of late against all teams. In his last three starts he has compiled a 2.61 ERA and he gave up only 4 runs last Wednesday in 6 2/3rds innings work. The four runs were all they scored though as the White Sox won 7-4.
Paul Konerko has come around lately, as well. He’s hit 4 home runs in the last 6 games and hit .536 with 10 RBIs over his last 8. He’s batting .413 with 9 HRs and 15 RBIs over his 14 game home hitting streak against the Mariners. Against Jason Vargas he is 3 of 5 with a homer.
Vargas just pitched his first complete game in six years and has done reasonably well this year, with a 4-3 record and a 3.96 ERA. He gave up 6 runs in 3 innings of a 7-1 loss to the Yankees on May 29th and he threw a four hitter in a 7-0 win against Tampa Bay on Friday.
Kennedy offered a little more insight as to his own pitcher’s strengths. “For some reason, the lefties that master that (changing speeds) seem to have a lot of success – and Jason is one of them.”
Last season against the White Sox Vargas was not able to do that. He recorded a 5.73 ERA with no decision in two starts.
Some betting trends:
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games and the Mariners are 14-6 SU in their last 20 games. The total has gone UNDER In 4 of Seattle’s last 5 games on the road and the total has also gone UNDER in 4 of the last 5 games against the White Sox. The Mariners are 1-8 SU in their last 9 against the White Sox and the Mariners are 0-5 SU in their last 5 road games against the White Sox. The total has gone OVER In 4 of the last 6 road games in Chicago.
The total has gone OVER In 7 of the White Sox’s last 10 games and they are 6-2 SU in their last 8 games. The total has gone OVER In 6 of their last 9 at home and they are 8-3 SU in their last 11 games at home. The total has gone UNDER in 4 of the White Sox’s last 5 games in Seattle and they are 8-1 SU in their last 9 games against the Mariners. The total has gone OVER in 4 of the White Sox’ last 6 games at home against the Mariners and the White Sox are 5-0 SU in their last 5 at home against Seattle.
The White Sox find themselves favored in this one with a relatively high total of 8 set for the game. Neither pitcher is awesome, but Floyd’s success against the Mariners is noteworthy and makes the White Sox the correct call here.
