Baseball Betting Picks For July 15, 2010

With the World Cup behind us we’ll turn to a more traditional summer option—join us daily for baseball betting free picks courtesy of the handicapping team at Oddsbay!
LOS ANGELES DODGERS (KERSHAW) AT ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (CARPENTER) 5:15 PM PACIFIC
7 games on the board to start the second half of the season, and we’ll take a position on a National League game between the Cards and Dodgers. St. Louis sends their ace, Chris Carpenter tonight while the Dodgers counter with their talented young lefthander Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw actually has the better overall ERA of the two (2.96 to Carpenter’s 3.29) as well as the better situational ERA (Kershaw is 2.61 on the road, Carpenter 3.49 at home). Of particular note is the divergent recent form of the two pitchers—Kershaw has allowed 4 ER in his last 3 starts for a 1.74 ERA while Carpenter has been touched up for 14 earned runs in his last three outings (7.87 ERA). The Cards are a solid home team at 27-15 but that translates to a mere +0.8 units of profit. St. Louis has lost money against left handers while the Dodgers have brutalized RHP (37-25 +8.6 units). At a short underdog price we’ll go with the road team.
PLAY LOS ANGELES (KERSHAW) +110 OVER ST. LOUIS (CARPENTER)
CHICAGO WHITE SOX (DANKS) AT MINNESOTA TWINS (SLOWEY) 5:10 PM PACIFIC
Pretty simple premise in this game—we’re going to take the Chicago White Sox due to the fact that they’ve been the hottest team in baseball during the month of July. The Sox stumbled out of the gate this season but have climbed back into contention with their recent form. Chicago has won 8 straight, 9 of 10 and 16 of their last 20. That’s good enough for a ½ game lead over second place Detroit heading into the second half of the season. Minnesota has been very good at home this year with a 26-17 record, but since that equates to a mere 0.6 units of profit we’re thinking they may be overvalued. Twins limped into the break losing 7 of their last 10. At a ‘pick’em’ price we’ll back the White Sox and look for their strong play of late to continue.
PLAY CHICAGO WHITE SOX (DANKS) -110 OVER MINNESOTA (SLOWEY)