The Wiesguy is a newcomer to the handicapping scene. Hailing from Toronto, Canada he is always sweet on the underdogs and you can often find his thoughts, musings and picks at moneydogs.blogspot.com.
The Indians had won 9 of 10 before getting cooled off by Kansas City the last couple of games. They are in amazingly tight race in the AL Central where all the teams are within a couple of wins of each other with Detroit on top because they have the fewest losses.
After their long losing streak came to an end the Red Sox rattled off 7 wins in a row but since then have been up and down.
This pick was written before this AM’s news, it just wasn’t published. NOTE: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Mariners Hisashi Iwakuma won’t take place Tuesday at Safeco Field after the Yankees switched up their rotation following a Monday rainout in Kansas City. Iwakuma will face Vidal Nuno, with Tanaka going Wednesday against Chris Young.
Game two was close but ultimately a loss for the Spurs who had no answer for LeBron James down the stretch.
The Nationals have been playing some good ball going 7-3 in their last 10. That has pulled them even with Atlanta for first place in the NL East as they continue their road trip against the best in the Majors Giants.
Given the political history of the USSR Russia is a relative newbie on the international soccer scene. They have only qualified twice before in the USA (1994) and in Korea/Japan (2002).
Nigeria has qualified for the World Cup 4 times before and twice advanced past the group stage. Amazingly in three of the four times they have found themselves in the same group as Argentina.
Game one was pretty close until the Heat just couldn’t keep up in the fourth quarter. Certainly depth is a factor when that happens and we all knew that Miami was the team for whom that might be a real problem in this series.
Qualifying out of Asia is not as tough as some other regions but Iran has only made three previous World Cup appearances.
This is a relatively new nation and this will be their first trip to the World Cup. They are the only nation making their debut at this level in this event and nobody thinks they are going to embarrass themselves based on what we have seen during qualifying.
The Mariners are on a roll having won 5 in a row to push over .500 and within a half game of the Angels in the AL West. Those 5 are all against teams with winning records and it looks like this Seattle team might be in the playoff hunt, taking advantage of the fact that Texas is unlikely to be a sustained competitor.
The Diamondbacks surprisingly good fortunes on the road have continued with a couple of victories over Colorado to start this series.
They have won it twice which is two more times than a lot of nations that think they are futbol powers. There is usually an advantage for those nations that are on the continent of the host nation, which could especially be the case if Brazil stumbles.
The Jays continued their winning ways on the road with a wildon one to start their series in Detroit. A game that was scoreless through 8 finished 5-3 with the Jays on top, pushing their winning streak to 3.
Its a Finals rematch but given the teams involved and how last season played out that is hardly the worst thing in the world. Miami has taken care of business series by series and really never been in much danger throughout these playoffs.
The San Francisco Giants continue to hum along. They are 8-2 in their last 10 after winning their series in St. Louis over the weekend and they have the best record in baseball.
