Cincinnati Reds at Houston Astros: Baseball Picks
Written April 20, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz
The Reds are 6-5 on the young season and have won two of their last three against Houston. They have got some good pitching from Johnny Cueto, Aaron Harang and today’s starter Bronson Arroyo. The Reds have a nice core of young hitters led by future perennial star Joey Votto who has started the year hitting .350 with 2 home runs and 10 RBIs. While Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce have started the year slow, tonight will give them a great chance to break out (Bruce may not play today due to injury). Willy Taveras, their little speed demon has already swiped three bags this year and is playing a good center field. Starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo is 2-0 winning his first two starts of the year. He has got good run support and has not been all that impressive despite his victories (Bronson has a lingering carpal tunnel injury). Arroyo doesn’t exactly smile when he sees the Astros on the schedule as last year he went 1-3 in four starts posting a 6.12 ERA as Houston hit .295 against him as a team. The Reds and Astros are two teams that play in sandbox stadiums. The key factor for the Reds tonight will be second baseman Brandon Phillips. With Bruce likely out they’ll need him to have a big game. Looking at the baseball lines for tonight’s game, the Astros are -130 against the Reds and the total is set at 8 runs.
The Astros have been an utter disappointment to start the year going 4-8 in their first 12 games. They look to salvage a split tonight in the final game of a four game set against the Reds. Houston has been poor at the plate this year with their all-star Lance Berkman struggling badly posting a .200 BA to date. Carlos Lee has been non existent hitting .238 and has had no big impact hits. Hunter Pence has played real well and has showed potential to be a star. Miguel Tejada has swung a nice bat hitting .383 and has reached base often to start the season. The pitching has been, well, not good to be polite.. Tonight’s starter Mike Hampton has been bitten by the injury bug on and off for the majority of his career. In his first start of the year he pitched well going 6 innings allowing no runs on 4 hits and struck out 8 batters. Last year Hampton started only 13 games due to injury and none of them came against Cincinnati. The key players for the Astros tonight will be Michael Bourn and Miguel Tejada as they must get on base to give Berkman and Carlos Lee chances to drive in runs. If not, they’ll continue to get out scored due to their lack of hitting production. Expect Houston to put runs on the board tonight as Arroyo is due for a clunker. Hampton will give a few up himself but will pitch well enough for his team to get a slight edge late, then it will be up to the bullpen.
Haimo’s Hot Notes: The Reds are 11-26 in Arroyo’s last 37 starts on the road. The Astros are 19-7 in their last 26 games when they are the favorite. The UNDER is 8-1 in the last nine meeting between these two teams. So the trends say Houston and the UNDER. I think the Astros take this game as they are due for an offensive out burst. However, Ill break the trend as I usually do on O/U. Arroyo’s lingering injury will catch up with him and Hampton will give up some himself as the OVER will come through. Picks below.
Jordan’s Picks: Houston Astros -130 & Reds/Astros OVER 8 Runs
Documented MLB Record:
21-7 OVERALL
8-3 BEST BET
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I hope you still like this game over 8 1/2, thats where I got it, U shoulf since they need 9 to win your wager there just isn’t a bail out if they score 8.
I m rolling with you obviously good luck to us, NO Yankee game Rained out.
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Gary,
I like it at 8.5 and still would if it were at 9. I saw the game was rained out, unfortunate. Strong plays tonight. Lets go get em
Jordan
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