MLB - Tampa Bay Rays v Cleveland Indians

Cleveland (49-62) at Tampa Bay (66-45)

Tuesday, 8/5/2008 7:10 PM FAUSTO CARMONA (R) vs. EDWIN JACKSON (R)

There are some things really hard to explain and certainly the fact that the Rays can't beat the Indians is one of them. Cleveland is 19-3 in their last 3 seasons against the Rays and even with really different teams this season, this dominance continues.

The Indians take every chance to send a left hander pitcher versus the Rays, as Tampa Bay struggles vs LHP. They are 48-29 with 4.8 runs/game vs RHP, but just 17-15 with 3.6 runs/game vs LHP. If we add the fact that Cliff Lee was looking for a bounce back yesterday, we understand why the Indians won yesterday. It's curious the reaction of the Rays manager:

"We're seeing a lot of lefties," Maddon said. "We saw them up there - three out of the four starts were lefties; two out of three are going to be lefties here. The kid Rafael Perez out of the bullpen, they've used him a lot against us. Their pitching matches up well with our offense, and we don't match up well with their pitching."

But today the Rays won't face a LHP, as Cleveland will send Fausto Carmona, who will make his 3rd outing today, after an injury lay-off. Carmona had two really different performances in his previous two outings. He allowed 9 runs in just 2.3 innings, while in the following game he allowed just 4 runs in 6.3 innings. Still Carmona showed some problems in closing out the innings and he is still far from his best.



On the other side, the Rays will send Edwin Jackson (7-7, 4.20 ERA), who is coming from two great outings against the Royals and the Blue Jays (both on the road). Jackson has only allowed 4 runs and 9 hits in 10 innings, besides his P/IP numbers were also really good in those games: 18.8 and 14.8. Jackson has conditions to continue his good moment today. The Rays are a very strong team at home and they react very well to defeats, as they are 5-1 in their last 6 games following a loss and 14-3 against the money line in home games after a loss this season. Cleveland is being exactly the opposite, as they are 0-5 in their last 5 games coming off a win.

The fact they are facing a RHP today favors the Rays. I remember they are 4-0 on their last 4 games vs RHP and they will try to make it 5-0 today. Take the Rays in here.

Pick : ML Tampa Bay
Odds : 1.85
Stake : 8 / 10
Bookmaker : 5dimes
Match Result : 8-4
Tipster Personal Link/Sponsor: http://andregomes.apostaganha.pt

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