TORONTO BLUE JAYS @ MINNESOTA TWINS
Baseball : North America : MLB
Friday, May 11th, 2012, 8:10PM US
(1:10AM GMT)

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PREVIEW

Toronto are on a 10 game roadtrip which has now moved to their 4 game series against Minnesota, who own MLBs worst record, 8-23. The Twins have dropped 17 of their last 22 games, including last night's opener, 6-2. Toronto come into this having bounced back from recent losses to win us our bets 2 days running. No reason to change strategies today.

It's hard to bet on Minnesota these days as it is, but more so against a Toronto Blue Jays line-up that could well hammer their starting pitcher. But let's look at the Jays hurler first. Kyle Drabek goes for the Jays, and he is 2-3 with a 3.34ERA. He will come here knowing he has a great chance to make up for his last start, where he gave up 5 earned runs against the Angels on Saturday. The problem there was the number of walks he issued, 5 in just 5 innings. So far he has walked 20 batters in 35 innings of work. That needs to change and he should have success today if he can manage that against a Minnesota side that is bound to give up a bunch of runs themselves. He has actually faced Minnesota before, last year, and gave up just 1 earned run on 1 hit in 7 innings of work as Toronto won 6-1. Sounds about right for today too.

Minnesota own the worst ERA in MLB, 5.52, and it rises to 5.87 at home. Cover your eyes, 'cause here comes Nick Blackburn with a 0-4 mark and a 6.84ERA. He allowed 5 runs on 7 hits in his last start, against the Seattle Mariners, and batters are averaging .312 against him as he has given up 34 hits in just 26 innings of work.

At home, he has been terrible, going 0-2 with a 7.53ERA in 3 starts. His career is now 5 years old, and he has never posted a winning season. His wins, when they come, are due to his team scoring runs, not from him keeping batters in check. I'm not sure how he continues to pitch at this level. Probably blowing somebody.

BETTING VERDICT

Short and sweet, because there isn't much to waffle on about here. Minnesota suck donkey balls at the moment and so I have to take the always dangerous Toronto Blue Jays to score a few and notch another win to improve on their 18-14 mark.

The Pick :

Toronto Blue Jays

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take the Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 @ 2.15 (Pinnacle)