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My favourite time of the week for betting is the Sunday baseball and, to be frank, the card tonight does not look too appealing from a pitching quality perspective.

Do not let this put you off as there is still plenty of good punting opportunity.

Once you've settled down after a nice Sunday roast and thought about started to think about what you are likely to have a punt on, I'd like to draw your attention to my selections. My attentions are geared towards two matches; Seattle Mariners @ Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs @ Los Angeles Dodgers.

SEATTLE MARINERS (Bedard 4-4, 4.47) @ BOSTON RED SOX (Masterson 2-0, 2.95) 18:35 PM UK Time

Rookie pitcher Justin Masterson has had a tremendous start to this season where required and will feel confident bearing in mind that the Boston batting line up is really firing. Manny Ramirez for one has gone from 499 homers to his current tally of 504 homers in the blink of an eye. Rumours of in-fighting in the Boston dugoutare circulating but this certainly hasn't been evident on the field and is probably fuelled by Youkillis and Ramirez having their little incident during the ill tempered clash with Tampa Bay on Thursday night in which the benches of both sides were cleared in a good old fashioned bout of fisty cuffs..

Seattle by contrast is a team that is in terrible form. Undoubtedly they must be viewed as one of the biggest disappointments of the season and despite Bedard being relatively solid so far, they can expect nothing from tonight's clash.

MY MEN TO WATCH OUT FOR:

Manny Ramirez (.303 14 HR 47 RBI) Boston Red Sox

Yuniesky Betancourt (.293 3HR 20 RBI) Seattle Mariners

SEATTLE MARINERS 22-40 (8-21 Road)

BOSTON RED SOX39-26 (25-6 Home)

RECOMMENDATION - 4 Points stake on Boston Red Sox @ 100/119 Bet365

CHICAGO CUBS (Marquis 3-3, 5.02) @ LA DODGERS (Penny 5-7, 5.45)

The Dodgers head into tonight's clash looking to sweep the series against a Cubs side that is having an excellent season.

In terms of a pitching duel, this isa clash of pitchers a little out of form. Penny has been pounded at times, and bailed out at others and tonight will be a lot about how he holds up when placed under pressure.

To be frank, I am a little surprised that the Dodgers are potentially going to sweep a series against one of the National League champion candidates as they do not really stand out in any department for me compared with a cubs unit that appears to have plenty of runs it and a solid, if unspectacular pitching staff.

Time for the Cubs to stop this two match losing run and avoid the embarrassment of the whitewash.

MY MEN TO WATCH OUT FOR:

Geovany Soto (.284 10 HR 39 RBI) Chicago Cubs

James Loney (.280 5 HR 32 RBI) LA Dodgers

CHICAGO CUBS 39-24 (13-16 Road)

LA DODGERS 30-32 (18-14 Home)

RECOMMENDATION - 3 Points stake on Chicago Cubs @ 111/100 Bet365

Happy Punting.

CRAFTY STAN 8th June 2008