MLB SUPER SUNDAY

With just a couple of weeks of regular season baseball left, it is pretty good going that only one of the six divisions is sewn up. I wouldn't say that this has been a vintage season by any stretch of the imagination, and it is going to be extremely odd to see a post-season without the Yankees!
Anyhow, on to today's card. The matches that I am interested in this Sunday are Tampa Bay Rays @ New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets and Chicago Cubs @ Houston Astros.

TAMPA BAY RAYS (Jackson 11-10, 4.06) @ NEW YORK YANKEES (Pavano 2-1, 5.31)
14th September - 18:05 GMT

The Rays have been a sharper outfit all season long than the Yankees and that has been plain to be seen all year. With far more at stake for the Rays, it is difficult to see how they won't be right at the very top of their game today.
Edwin Jackson has had a good pitching season this year and will want to keep momentum going through into post-season. His counterpart tonight Carl Pavano has got back into life in the Majors reasonably smoothly but did get pounded by the Angels in his last outing and still needs time to get fully back into the swing of things.
The prices for this match are, in my opinion, ridiculously out of line. To have the Rays as long as 2.29 is an insult. Pick up on this.

MEN TO WATCH
Carlos Pena (.247, 28 HR, 88 RBI, 1 SB) TB Rays
Robinson Cano (.260, 13 HR, 61 RBI, 1 SB) NY Yankees

RECOMMENDATION - 3.5 Points on Tampa Bay Rays @ 2.29 (Bet365)

ATLANTA BRAVES (Campillo 7-7, 3.70) @ NEW YORK METS (Perez 10-7, 4.15)
14th September - 18:10 GMT

Jorge Campillo does have minorly better earned run average statistics than his counterpart for this evening, but then you should consider that the Mets have a considerably more impressive offensive line up. Throw in the home quite considerable home advantage that the Mets enjoy here as they have a 45-28 home record compared with the 25-49 away record of the Braves, which is the second worst in the majors behind San Diego Padres.
When you consider the already major advantages mentioned, you must then consider what the desire for victory within the respective camps is; Atlanta has absolutely nothing but pride to play for in this one and the Mets have to battle hard to protect their 2.5 game advantage over the Phillies in the NL East division.
For me there is little doubt over who should win this contest, but at 1..57, there is little motivation for an outright play on the Mets. Look instead to the Asian Handicap and Total Runs Markets. The minus 1.5 market offers a much better value pick on the Mets and I think that there will be quite a few runs to be scored tonight as one team needs a win and the other can just play freely.
Carlos Delgado is enjoy a rich vein of hitting success, it will be interesting to see if he goes deep tonight.

MEN TO WATCH
Chipper Jones (.362, 21 HR, 71 RBI, 4 SB) Atlanta Braves
Carlos Delgado (.264, 35 HR, 104 RBI, 1 SB) NY Mets

RECOMMENDATIONS - 3 Points on New York Mets -1.5 Asian Hc @ 2.16 (Coral)
3 Points on Over 8.5 Total Runs @ 1.8 (Ladbrokes)

CHICAGO CUBS (Zambrano 13-5, 3.58) @ HOUSTON ASTROS (Wolf 10-11, 4.45)
15th September - 01:05 GMT

The bookmakers make the Astros minor favourites for this encounter and you can just about see why in that the Cubs have just about sealed the NL Central title, and the Astros are only 2.5 games back in the Wildcard race and have won six on the spin..
However, if this match up were about a month ago, A Cubs side with ace pitcher Carlos Zambrano taking to the mound may well have been sub 1.7 and well and truly considered a banker selection because although Randy Wolf is a solid pitcher and the Astros have a decent hitting line up, it hardly compares with the names and numbers offered up by the present second favourites for the World Series.
Carlos Zambrano is a man that is always obsessed with his statistics, so he will be just as determined as ever to stop the Astros from scoring freely against him. I am not sure that Randy Wolf is even worthy of mention next to a Zambrano that is on his game.
The Cubs will hardly want to go into post-season with no momentum, so the last couple of days rest at the hands of Hurricane Ike should have given them ample time to rest and recuperate.
If the Cubs offense clicks tonight then Randy Wolf could have a very short night. With the Astros less than trustworthy bullpen in action too early, it could be extremely costly for them.

MEN TO WATCH
Geovany Soto (.288, 21 HR, 80 RBI) Chicago Cubs
Lance Berkman (.328, 28 HR, 100 RBI, 16 SB) Houston Astros

RECOMMENDATION - 3 Points Stake on Chicago Cubs @ 1.97 (Coral)