The Sharp Report – July 3, 2014

Justin Verlander took the mound on Wednesday night for the Tigers, looking for his third consecutive quality start against the always tough Oakland A’s.

Justin Verlander, who was a shadow of his old self for a stretch this season has been coming on strong of late. On Wednesday night, he led the Detroit Tigers into a big match-up against the Oakland Athletics. The sharps had a pretty good angle on this game, as the tired and slumping Athletics in all probability came in just wanting to end their long road trip and get home. Unfortunately they found themselves having to play one last road game where they were up against the threat of a series sweep and a starting pitcher in Justin Verlander who is beginning to show his true form.  This game had great value up until first pitch when it closed at -124.

Please refer to my first post in this series for a list of recommended sites to aid you in your handicapping.

7/3 Early Moves:

Here are some lines that were hit by sharp groups early enough this morning to make this report. I have not had time to research games myself, so I am not recommending that you try to find these numbers and tail the plays at this time. These are listed to show you what has happened so far this morning, always do your own research on these before following along.

St. Louis Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants (Under 7)
Key Line Move @ 8:00 am EST

7/2 Recap:

Early Moves:

Oakland A’s vs Detroit Tigers (DET ML) – Win
Key Line Move @ 11:15 am EST

The angle here was easy to spot, the Athletics just looked tired from their nine game road trip, and are running into a Tigers team and pitcher in Justin Verlander who are hitting on all cylinders right now. Verlander struck out eight – a season high – for the second start in a row his last time out, and is beginning to hit his mid-season stride. The cheap -120 price tag may have people thinking “trap”, but consider me and a lot of others suckers because we will be all over this situational play.

Late Moves:

Chicago Cubs vs Boston Red Sox (Over 8.5) – Win
Key Line Move @ 4:20 pm EST

This was another situational move, which is why there were sharp groups on both sides. The situation was that Cubs’ starter, Travis Wood, has been having control issues all of this season and it was bound to catch up with him sooner or later. The Red Sox have been struggling offensively, and all they need is a little help from an opposing pitcher to get men on base to knock in and get out of this slump. On top of this, you had starter Brandon Workman, who has been on the cusp of finding himself out of the starting rotation for the past few weeks. Workman had trouble with the long ball in his last outing, and in Fenway Park that is not something you can allow to happen. In the game that has so many question marks on both sides, you have to lean over in my opinion.

Chris Sharp is a professional sports handicapper and daily contributor to BettingSports.com. He can be found on Twitter @CSharp_Picks and on his web site IvyLeaguePicks.com.