Cashing In

Your "Bad Beat" for Sunday is on:

Indians (plus 190) at Detroit.

It was 5-0 Cleveland before Justin Verlander's Tigers even came to the plate. The score was 7-1 in the 6th inning and 8-6 in the 9th.

But closer Chris Perez wet himself allowing two hits, three walks and a game losing wild pitch as Jim Leyland's squad came all the way back with three runs in the 9th inning for a 9-8 victory.



Your winners for Monday are on:

3* Hawks (plus one) at Milwaukee.

2* Rangers (pk) at Cleveland.

A 2-0 Sunday sweep for 5* of profit after the Yankees and Bulls both won going away!



The Hawks need to keep playing hard in order to wrap up the three seed in the East ahead of the Celtics. Atlanta is one game up with two to play but Mike Woodson's team loses the tiebreaker because Boston is a division champion which trumps the season series 4-0 victory for the Hawks.

Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford and Jamal Crawford form a team that is fun to watch and dangerous as heck. They already have 51 victories and getting this three seed is fairly important as they would avoide LeBron and the Cavaliers in the second round.

A few weeks back the Bucks beat the Hawks in Milwaukee but now with Andrew Bogut hurt the pendulum has swung in terms of the advantage and in revenge the visitors are going to come through. Milwaukee's Australian big man was playing great ball and is and will be severely missed and I mean severely.



Fausto Carmona could be alright as he was great a few years back with that sinker but Rich Harden at a pick is too good to pass up. Harden has a world of upside as we have seen in the past, his problem has always been injuries ala a Kerry Wood or Mark Prior. This kid can blow it past anybody when on. Throw in a lineup that boasts a ton of talent now led by a blossoming star in Nelson Cruz along with Michael Young and Josh Hamilton and a few others and the Rangers certainly can hit the ball.

Ron Washington's squad has not exactly been smashing it around the park like they are capable of but it's not like Cleveland is a team with superstars up and down the lineup.

The Indians are not terrible as Travis Hafner appears to have picked things up and Grady Sizemore along with Shin Soo Choo are quality ballplayers but even at home they are not as good as the Rangers. Plus Sizemore may not be able to play and that's fine with me.

Texas had a team win total of 84 in Vegas before the season and Cleveland was about 74. With both team's aces on the hill, even at the Jake, a pick is a total steal for us.