Baseball Picks: Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks

Written April 27, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz

dbacks-cubs-preview-042709 The Cubs are 9-8 on the season which is nothing short of disappointing. The season is still very young and you can probably count on them being near the top of the division late, but if they don’t start hitting we may need to re-think that notion. As a team Chicago is hitting .260 from the plate with a total of 18 home runs and only 77 RBIs. Aramis Ramirez and Fukudome are the only two hitters with over 10 RBIs, and that is very scary to know as Aramis is an injury waiting to happen and Fuku is most likely second-half collapse in the making. Soriano has played okay, while last years rookie of the year, Geovany Soto has been horrific, hitting a poor .128 with not a single homer and just 2 RBIs. Now, this will improve. There are too many good hitters on this team for the power struggle to be long-term. For all you Cubbies fans, just hope it’s sooner rather then later. The man on the mound tonight is Ted Lilly, who has pitched extremely well this year. Through his first three starts he is 2-1 with a 2.41 ERA. Last year he burst onto the scene as one of the premier pitchers, going 17-9 with a 4.09 ERA. Against the D-Backs he went 2-0 in two starts with a 2.77 ERA last year. Good numbers, we’ll see if it results in a win tonight.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are 7-11 on the season and lucky to be that. They have been one of baseball’s more pathetic hitting teams with 20 home runs (not awful) and a lowly 61 RBIs, while hitting .225 from the plate. I know this has been a repetitive statement, but not re-signing Adam Dunn was a ludicrous decision as his power has begun to be something this team misses badly. Mark Reynolds is the team’s leader in both home runs and RBIs. Besides Reynolds the only other player with more than 2 homers is outfielder Eric Byrnes, who is not an every day player. Conor Jackson, Chad Tracy, Justin Upton and Chris Young have all been poor with Young being the most disappointing as he has all the skills in the world as a potential 30-30 guy. Stephen Drew is now on the DL as things just could not get worse for this lineup. With all that said, great pitching can neutralize weak hitting. That is exactly what tonight’s starter Dan Haren is, a great pitcher. Haren’s 1-3 record is meaningless as he has gotten no run support at all. He has a superb 1.38 ERA through his first four starts and has pitched into the 6th inning or later in all of them. Last season was more of the same for Haren verse the Cubbies. He lost his only start as he pitched seven innings of two run baseball as he held Chicago to .192 as a team. The D-Backs are in trouble. They must start hitting somewhat decently or their pitching won’t matter. Look below.

Haimo’s Hot Notes: The Cubs are 8-0 in Lilly’s last Monday starts. Arizona is 3-7 in their last ten games as a favorite. In the last 35 meetings between these two teams, The D-Backs are 27-8 against the Cubs in Arizona. So while these trends say take Arizona, I will continue to be a trend buster. The Cubs have many more stars and power options at the plate while when broken down, Ted Lilly is right there along side Haren in terms of production. So when analyzed, you see two pitchers that are similar giving Haren a slight edge on respect. However, The hitting is night and day. If the Cubs have been bad then the D-Backs have been worse. So tonight I am calling this my UNDERDOG SPECIAL. Looking at the MLB odds for Monday, the Cubs are currently +144 and the O/U is set at 8.5.

Jordan’s Picks: Chicago Cubs +144 (UNDERDOG SPECIAL) & OVER 8.5 Runs

And the winning keeps going as we make mince meat of last nights BEST BEST with the Angels as they blanked the Mariners 8-0. Weaver dominated as instructed and Hunter was a force from the plate. The Halos avoided the sweep and we cashed in heavy. I’ll keep this short and sweet. LET’S GO MAKE SOME MONEY!

Documented MLB Record:

32-11 Overall
13-3 with BEST BETS (Yesterdays Best Bet was Angels -122 vs Mariners, Final Score was Angels 8 Mariners 0)

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1 Comment

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One Response to “Baseball Picks: Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks”

Gary S. on April 27th, 2009 2:50 pm

I like this play, I don’t understand the line, must be too much respect for Haren. Lilly had good numbers against the snakes while Hren is o-2 with an era over 7 vs CHC. another thing is AZ hasn’t hit lefties well this year.Lets go Cubbies.

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