Some people might find this bet a bit strange but it has it's chances with the Tampa Bay Rays sending Sheids to the mound to face up against the A's behind Blanton.

Sheids 4-3 with an era of 3.05 is up for the Rays today and he has been very good of late,his last start was another solid outing in which he went 8 strong innings against the Yankees in which the Rays lost 2-1,he gave up 2 earned runs and 2 walks,his last 3 starts have been average,recording numbers of 1-2 with an era of 4.05,he has thrown 20 innings worth of work and lost to the Angels 2-0 in 9 innings of work,the start before that he had his worst outing of the season taking the loss in a 12-4 beating by the Red Sox,Career wise against the A's and Sheilds is 2-1 with an era of 4.05,he has pitched 20 innings against the A's giving up 20 hits and 9 earned runs with 6 walks.

Blanton is up for the A's today,Blanton 2-6 with an era of 3.69 has been going well although hsi numbers might not say it,in his last start he went 7 innings while giving up 2 runs and 2 walks,his last 3 starts and he has numbers of 0-2 with an era of 2.75,he has gone 19 innings in those games and has pitched well only registering an era of 2.75,but his team have recorded only one win in those starts against Baltimore 6-5 whielthe other two starts have both been losses,his most recent against Cleveland 2-0 and two games before that start against the Rangers which was a 3-4 loss,Career wise and Blanton is 2-3 with an era of 6.06,he has pitched 35 innings of work for 51 hits,24 earned runs and 14 walks.

Tampa went 6-4 against the A;'s last season including winning two of 3 in Oakland,In fact Tampa has won 6 of their last 10 against the A's.

The scores between these two sides are simalar,both sides average 4 runs per game,both side allow 3.5 runs per game,both sides pitching staff have an average of 3.50 on the season and both sides average 8 hits per game on the season and both sides have winning records against Right handed starters of which both these starters today are.

So why do i think this total will end up going over today? Well it's because Sheilds has 3 ntarts against the A';s winning two and losing one,the scores in those games were 12-2,4-1 and 8-6....Blanton in his last 5 starts against Tampa the final scores have been 14-3,5-3,6-3,3-1 and 5-4,so all in all the total set on this match have been over 8 runs in 5 of the last 7 games these two starters have pitched against each others Teams.

It's a hard one as it could easily go under,but nothing else really appeals to me today and i'll take another small shot on this total going 8 runs or more at genrous odds...Good Luck.



Pick : 8 Runs or more
Odds : 2.05
Stake : 8 / 10
Bookmaker : TAB(NZ)
Match Result : 6-7
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