TORONTO BLUE JAYS (Burnett 16-10, 4.47) @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX (Vazquez 11-12, 4.34)
9th September 19:05 GMT (GAME 1)

Last night's rain put paid to the series opener between the under pressure hosts, the White Sox, and their resurgent guests, the Blue Jays. Tonight we will have a double header, and the one I am previewing is Game 1.

Having won eight on the spin it is fair to say that the Blue Jays are well and truly the in form team in baseball right now. The rotation is working well which is not surprising when you consider that they have 'Doc' Halladay and AJ Burnett, two of the very best pitchers around. With the offensive side of things working well too it is great to see the Blue Jays back in business. The problem is, as always, that they are in easily the toughest division in the Majors.

The White Sox have really lost form in recent times, and with the possibility that their main slugger this year Carlos Quentin could well be out for the rest of the season, things do not bode well for them. One sobering thought for White Sox fans is that their main rivals in AL Central, the Minnesota Twins, have also fell into a bit of a slump, but one worse than that of the Sox. Troubling times at the South Side of Chicago potentially because even if they make it to post season, they are likely to be big outsiders.

If we look at the two pitchers taking to the mound tonight we will see two players having pretty similar seasons in terms of pitching standard to date. AJ Burnett has improved greatly his season in recent times to drive his E.R.A to below four and a half, whereas Vazquez has hovered around that mark throughout a lot of his career. At a lot of other clubs, AJ would be a genuine 'Ace' pitcher and he is finally starting to show that kind of form now and this really could be a bad time for the White Sox to host the Jays. However, with great respect to Vazquez, I do think he is a terrific pitcher on his day and is always capable of cutting off the flow of runs so long as he is in good rhythm.

This could be a bit of a pitching duel in prospect. In tight contests, it is the little couple of percent issues which could sway the contest one way or the other. The offensive side of things has been very definitely in favour of the White Sox this season but when you take out their biggest hitter of the year, you kind of negate that point. In terms of runs conceded, the Blue Jays have been considerably better than the Sox.
Over the last ten matches of each team, the Blue Jays are 8-2, which includes the present streak of eight wins in a row. The White Sox by contrast are 4-6.

In my estimation it is a pretty high likelihood that the momentum gathered by the Jays in recent times, the loss of Carlos Quentin from the Sox line up and the quality of AJ Burnett will see a Toronto Blue Jays victory. It could also be a relatively low scoring affair.

MEN TO WATCH
Vernon Wells (.297, 16 HR, 66 RBI, 4 SB) Toronto Blue Jays
Jim Thome (.248, 30 HR, 80 RBI, 1 SB) Chicago White Sox

RECOMMENDATIONS - 3..5 Point Stake on Toronto Blue Jays @ 2.08 (Bet365)
3 Points Liability Lay of Over 9.5 Total Runs @ 1.98 (WBX) (i.e if there are nine runs or less scored, we win)

Good luck all and lets hope there isn't rain again!