Art Aronson – AAA Sports NBA Picks & Plays

This is a 10* GAME OF THE WEEK on the Boston Red Sox.

We feel that David Price and the hard-hitting visiting side are well worth the price of admission in this spot. Price (8-4, 3.76 ERA) gave up one run off five hits and no walks while striking out seven over seven innings in a victory over the Mariners on Thursday (we were on Boston in that one, our official MLB “GAME OF THE MONTH.”) Price has only given up one dinger over his last five starts and he’s allowed only nine earned runs over his last 30 innings of work, to go along with 33 strikeouts. Note that Price is 5-2 with a 3.59 ERA on the road thus far. The Twins counter with the erratic Lance Lynn (4-5, 4.98) who comes in off a decent showing against the Tigers on Thursday, giving up three runs over 6.2 innings in what turned out to be a setback in the end. Lynn has admittedly looked much better of late after a shaky start to the 2018 campaign, but note that he still owns a poor 4.78 ERA in all “night” contests this year. We like Price to continue his strong run on the road and for the RED SOX to take full advantage of this favorable matchup. Play on Boston.

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This is an 8* ASSASSIN on the Toronto Blue Jays.

We feel that this line could in fact be a lot larger considering the massive talent gap between the starting pitchers. The visitors hand the ball to Anibal Sanchez (3-0, 1.93 ERA) who receives another start in the rotation after a strong debut for his team, with a 1.93 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over six starts. So are these early numbers sustainable? We absolutely do not believe that will be the case. Note that Sanchez finished 3-7 with a 6.41 ERA last year with the Tigers, including 2-4 with a 7.24 ERA on the road and only 1-4 with an 8.10 ERA in all day games. The home side goes with ace JA Happ (8-3, 3.48) who received a no-decision against the Rays on Wednesday despite giving up one hit and three walks with four strikeouts over five scoreless. Over 14 starts Happ owns a strong 10.2 K/9 and note that he was very strong in all “day” contests last year with a 6-4, 3.47 ERA. We think Sanchez finally has a meltdown here and we expect Happ to continue his steady progression. Lay the price with confidence, play on TORONTO.

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This is an 8* SITUATIONAL DESTRUCTION on Portugal -163 on the 3-Way Line (lose if draw) offered at Bet365.

This will be each team’s second “Group B Fixture,” and if any major injuries occur after their first, we’ll slightly adjust the analysis here. But barring Christiano Ronaldo breaking his leg, not matter what happens we’re going to like the Euro heavyweights in this matchup. Morocco won’t be going down without a fight, but the team simply lacks the talent and skill to compete with Portugal in any seriousness. Portugal opened its qualifying with a surprising loss to Switzerland, but then rattled off nine straight victories, including a convincing 2-0 win over the Swiss in their finale. Ronaldo had 15 goals himself. Morocco finished the top of its group in the final round of qualifying, starting slowly as well and then finishing with a 2-0 win over Ivory Coast to lock in its spot. As we outlined above, unless Ronaldo gets injured in the first game, we believe that PORTUGAL is absolutely the correct call/best value in this spot. 

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