The Sharp Report – July 9, 2014

Justin Verlander has been coming back to form lately after a sluggish stretch. On Tuesday night he and the Tigers faced off against Hyun-Jin Ryu in the most anticipated pitching match-up of the night.

Tuesday night’s marquee pitching match-up featured Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers and Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers. I along with most others were expecting a tight pitching duel, but that is far from what we got. The sharps made a move which will be discussed later in the article and it definitely needed a little help to get the win.

It has been a tough stretch for the sharp groups of late, but that is baseball. Things will settle down and be more predictable after the all star break, and we should see a nice turn of fortune.

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

7/9 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.

Toronto Blue Jays vs Los Angeles Angels (Under 8.5)
Key Line Move @ 9:08 am EST

New York Yankees vs Cleveland Indians (Under 8.5)
Key Line Move @ 9:15 am EST

7/8 Recap:

Early Moves:

Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds – Game 2 (Under 8.5) – Loss
Key Line Move @ 9:22 am EST

This was an interesting move, but one that I was on board with, it was a match-up of two pitchers with a combined one major league start between them.Your initial thought would be to take the over, but here is why we liked the under.

The Cubs’ starter, Tsuyoshi Wada, is no stranger to professional baseball, a veteran of the Japanese leagues where he averaged nearly a strikeout per inning in nine pro seasons and has shown the same type of stuff in the minors. The Reds’ starter, David Holmberg, makes his second big-league start after and first of the season. After a couple of terrible outings early in the season, he has given up only three runs in 22 1/3 innings over his last four starts.

The second half of a double header was a good spot for these two to make their first starts of the season, and 8.5 seemed a bit too high of a number.

Miami Marlins vs Arizona Diamondbacks (Under 9.5) – Win
Key Line Move @ 10:15 am EST

This move may seem counter-intuitive as well, since the Diamondbacks put up nine runs on Monday night, and to be honest I stayed clear of it myself. The groups that moved on this saw something here though that I missed, this looked like an over to me.

The Marlin’s starter, Brad Hand, gave up three runs in five innings of a no-decision against Philadelphia on Thursday, limiting the Phillies to one walk. Hand has made one career start against Arizona and was tagged with the loss after walking five and giving up four runs (three earned) in five frames. The Diamondbacks’ starter, Vidal Nuno, ended his days with the Yankees with five innings of four-run ball against Tampa Bay at home on Wednesday. He lasted as long as six frames just once in his final six starts with his formal team.

Late Moves:

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Detroit Tigers (DET ML) – Win
Key Line Move @ 4:00 pm EST

This move came in a little later than expected, I think it goes to show how Justin Verlander has some more to prove to get the respect of bettors back. This was easily the match-up of the night, the teams have always played each other tight and with two aces on the mound the under was expected to come in easily as well with 70% of the money on the under.

The Dodgers’ starter, Hyun-Jin Ryu, is 6-1 with a 1.62 ERA in eight road starts and has lasted at least six innings in his last seven appearances away from home. He has produced a quality start in eight of his last nine outings to boot.

Since giving up seven runs in back-to-back starts in the middle of June, the Tigers’ starter, Justin Verlander has gone 1-0 with a 3.32 ERA over a span of three starts. Verlander limited Oakland to two runs in six innings of a 9-3 victory in Detroit last Wednesday.

There was too much inconsistency around Verlander for me to make a move on this personally, I need to see more before betting on Verlander again.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals (Under 8) – Loss
Key Line Move @ 7:45 pm EST

This move came down in no small part to the Pirates’ inability to get men home, their struggles continued on Monday night when they left 12 men stranded on base and lost 2-0.

The Pirates’ starter, Vance Worley, suffered his first loss in four starts with Pittsburgh on Thursday, and it was a tough one to swallow. Worley let up three runs on four hits in seven innings against Arizona but received little run support, it was his fourth quality start in as many outings since being called up to the majors in June. The Cardinals’ starter, Carlos Martinez, has been amazing in his first four starts this season. Last time out at San Francisco on Thursday, he allowed one run and struck out a career-high six in five innings. Martinez has a 2.45 ERA and has not allowed a home run in 18 1/3 innings as a starter.

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.