Baltimore Orioles vs. Seattle Mariners
MLB Pick: Seattle Mariners -133 (May 31st 2011)

I won with the Mariners yesterday. While I don’t feel quite as strongly as I did yesterday, I feel that they’ve got a strong shot at another victory this evening. With yesterday’s victory, the M’s are now 4-1 their last five and 10-2 their last 12. That’s the best mark in the entire American League, during that period. On the other hand, the Orioles have now dropped four straight. Admittedly, Guthrie has pitched much better than his 2-6 record suggests. He’s also pitched fairly well recently. That said, he’s had trouble with Seattle (0-2 and 6.06 ERA L3 starts vs. M’s!) and he’s up against an opposing starter who is even in better current form than him.

Indeed, Bedard has been outstanding of late. He’s 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA his last three starts! During that stretch, he has 22 K’s (and only five walks) in 19 innings. He allowed only two runs and just one of them was earned. Only 14 hits and none of them left the park. Going back further finds Bedard at 3-0 with a fantastic 1.09 ERA in his last five starts. Also, note that Bedard is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA and 0.968 WHIP in two starts vs. Baltimore, his former team. Today, he’ll be up against an Oriole lineup which is batting a mere .129 (4 for 31) with runners in scoring position, over the past four games. Also, note that the O’s are a money-burning 48-80 (-15.7) against southpaw starters, the past few seasons.

The M’s are now 20-9 (+11.6) the past 29 times that they played a game with an O/U line of seven or less and 7-2 the last nine times that they were a host in this series. All things considered, I feel the current price is fair. Consider Seattle. -Ben Burns (Touthouse.com)