Wednesday, July 2

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NATIONAL LEAGUE

Milwaukee (45-38) at Arizona (42-42)

Yusmeiro Petit (0-1, 4.70 ERA) makes his first start of 2008 when he takes the mound for the Diamondbacks in the rubber match of this series against the Brewers and Seth McClung (5-3, 4.25) at Chase Field. Arizona earned a 6-3 win Monday, but came back on Tuesday and fell 8-6. The DBacks are mired in funks of 3-8 overall, 8-21 against winning teams, 6-8 at home, 2-6 against right-handed starters and 3-9 versus the N.L. Central.

Milwaukee has followed an 8-1 hot streak by losing four of its last six, and the team has lost 14 of its last 20 road games against right-handed starters. Still, the Brewers are on positive runs of 11-5 against the N.L. West, 11-3 against winning teams and 5-1 on Wednesdays. Finally, Milwaukee is now 10-3 in the last 13 head-to-head meetings between these squads, including sweeping a three-game home series in early June. The Brew Crew has outscored the DBacks 55-16 in its last seven victories against Arizona.

Petit got the call up from Triple-A to start this game for Arizona in place of regularly scheduled starter Micah Owings. Petit has made six relief appearances, but none since April 26 when he gave up a run on a solo homer in 2 1/3 innings of work in an 8-7 loss at San Diego. The right-hander, who was 3-4 with a 4.58 ERA in 14 appearances (10 starts) last year, has pitched in three games at home this year, allowing three runs on five hits in three innings of work.

McClung, who is making his eighth start of the season for the Brewers, got roughed up his last time out on Friday at Minnesota, yielding five runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings and failing to get a decision in his team's 7-6 loss. Prior to that, the right-hander had recorded four straight quality starts, going 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA. That included a 7-1 home win over Arizona on June 3.

McClung is 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA in 10 appearances on the road (three starts). Meanwhile, Petit has faced the Brewers twice (one start), going 0-1 while giving up three total runs (two earned) on eight hits and three walks in six innings of work.

The under is 6-1 in McClung's seven starts this year, the lone "over" coming in Friday's game at Minnesota. Additionally, the under is on runs of 6-2 for Milwaukee overall (3-1 last four), 8-3 for Milwaukee as an underdog, 7-1-2 for Arizona overall, 11-5-1 for Arizona as a favorite and 7-4-1 in this rivalry.

ATS ADVANTAGE: MILWAUKEE and UNDER

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Boston (50-36) at Tampa Bay (51-32)

Scott Kazmir (7-3, 2.28) toes the rubber as the first-place Rays go for a three-game sweep against the Red Sox. Tampa Bay held off Boston 5-4 on Monday and 3-1 on Tuesday and now leads the division by 2 games. The Rays, who also sport baseball's best record, have won 11 of their last 14 games overall, going 7-1 in the last eight. They're also on an incredible 28-6 roll at Tropicana Field, and they're 42-18 in their last 60 games as a favorite.

The Red Sox, who hand the ball to Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-1, 3.21) tonight, have lost four in a row (all on the road), and they're now 17-37 in their last 54 contests on an artificial surface and 3-9 in their last 12 as an underdog.

The host is on a 12-0 run in this rivalry, with the home team winning all 11 meetings this year. Boston still owns an astounding 98-45 record in the last 143 clashes against the Rays, but it has lost six straight at Tampa dating to 2007.

Kazmir picked up a victory in Pittsburgh on Friday despite lasting just five innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits in Tampa's 10-5 rout. Although the southpaw hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in any of his 11 starts this season, he has a 4.11 ERA in his last three trips to the mound, failing to get out of the sixth inning in any of those contests.

Kazmir has shined at home this year, going 4-1 with a 1.24 ERA in six starts, holding five of those six foes to one or no runs. In 18 career starts against the Red Sox, he's 6-6 with a 2.82 ERA, but going back to last year, the Rays are 2-5 when Kazmir goes against Boston, including a 7-3 loss in Beantown in his season debut on May 4.

Matsuzaka bounced back from his first loss of the season an ugly 9-3 home setback to the Cardinals in which he gave up seven runs in one-plus innings with a dominating effort Friday at Houston. He gave up two hits and three walks over five scoreless innings en route to a 6-1 win over the Astros. With that effort, the right-hander improved to 4-0 with a 2.20 ERA in six road starts this year.

Matsuzaka faced Tampa Bay five times in his rookie season last year, going 1-3 with a 4.09 ERA, including 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA in three outings at Tropicana Field.

The under is 4-1-1 in Matsuzaka's six road starts this year, 5-1 in Kazmir's six home outings and 6-2 in Kazmir's last eight efforts versus Boston. Also, the under is 6-2-1 in Boston's last nine games overall, 8-4-2 in Boston's last 14 against winning teams and 23-9-1 in Tampa's last 33 home games. Finally, in this rivalry, the under has cashed in five of the last six meetings at Tropicana Field, the lone "over" coming when Monday's 5-4 contest barely topped the posted total.

ATS ADVANTAGE: TAMPA BAY and UNDER

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