The First Five Innings
As Major League Baseball seems to be hurting for good middle relief pitching as well as good closing, an opportunistic way to get around this problem is to bet more “Fire Five Innings” plays.
Simply, you are counting on the starting pitcher on your team to do the job you expected of him and to hold the opposition down while your team builds an early lead. There is no worrying about blowing another late-inning lead or facing another blown save.
On June 19th, there were at least three games where playing the starting pitcher for the first five innings would have brought you a win rather than the loss all three teams suffered. First, Cliff Lee of Cleveland was sailing along with a 7-0 lead through 6 innings, but the Indians’ horrible bullpen imploded once again and they lost, 8-7, to the Cubs. Next Chad Billingsly of the Dodgers was cruising along with a nice 4-1 lead after 5 innings but the Angels scored 4 runs between the 6th and 8th innings and the Dodgers lost the game, 5-4. Finally Jose Contreras carried a 2-1 lead through 5 innings but the White Sox lost the game, 4-3, because of poor relief pitching.
While this type of play eliminates any opportunities for late-inning heroics-that’s NOT what you’re hoping for or why you made the selection you did. Most bettors bet the starting pitchers so why not play the ones you especially like in a way where they become even more important to your chance of winning your play?
A “First Five Innings” play gets that done for you more times than not.
Adam Meyer
http://www.Adamwins.com