Chicago (86-70) and Minnesota (85-72) have been battling for 1st place in the AL Central all season long and this three game series could determine the division champion.  Minnesota, seeking its fifth division title in seven years, is coming home after a 10 game road trip in which they finished 4-6.

Mark Buehrle (14-11, 3.87 ERA) will get the start tonight for the Sox.  In his last 9 starts, Buehrle is 6-1 with a 3.36 ERA. In his last outing against the Royals, he gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and got his 14th victory of the year.  Buehrle is 21-12 with a 3.85 ERA in 36 career games against the Twins.

Nick Blackburn (10-10, 4.15 ERA) will get the nod for the Twins.  The right-hander is coming off two terrible outings posting a 20.25 ERA in his last two starts. In his last start against the Rays he was ripped for 6 runs on 6 hits in 1 and a third innings.  The Twins eventually lost to Tampa Bay in that outing 11-1.

So does the ‘over’ or the ‘under’ cash in tonight’s game?  It’s real easy to get the answer.  At www.fivestarpick.com you can monitor our daily plays on our homepage and see for yourself if our talent for picking MLB winners exceeds your expectations.  MLB picks are not easy, but FiveStarPick.com’s proprietary sports handicapping software program coupled with two of the top sports handicappers in the business have proven a winning combination at nearly 65% against the spread.  You owe it to yourself to become a member of our family.  Join today and start winning tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com is hot on another run total as we preview tonight’s matchup between the streaking Toronto Blue Jays and the weary Chicago White Sox.  Chicago will face Toronto hurler Roy Halladay (18-5, 2.69 ERA) as they continue a 4-game series tonight at 8:10PM.  Halladay, a right-hander, has a 2.25 ERA in his last five starts. He pitched 7 innings against Tampa Bay last Friday, allowing only 3 runs.

The White Sox (80-64) lead in the AL Central was cut to one game over Minnesota when they were swept in Tuesday’s double header against the Blue Jays (78-66).  The 2 wins capped off 10 straight for Toronto which equals an all-time high and they are now only 7 games behind the Red Sox for a spot as the AL wild card. The Blue Jays haven’t lost a game against the White Sox this season and have outscored them 23-8.

Chicago has dropped three straight and to add insult to serious injury, they lost of Paul Konerko Tuesday night with a sprained MCL in his right knee.  Konerko’s leg failed when he tried to throw hard toward home plate in the 5th inning.  Konerko is quoted as saying the injury is not serious and feels he should return to play soon.

The White Sox will start Mark Buehrle (12-11, 3.98 ERA) tonight.  Buehrle has won 4 of his last 5 and pitched 6 scoreless innings Friday against the Angels.  He is 9-3 with a 2.85 ERA in 15 home starts.

So does the ‘over’ or the ‘under’ cash in tonight’s game?  It’s real easy to get the answer.  At www.fivestarpick.com you can monitor our daily plays on our homepage and see for yourself if our talent for picking MLB winners exceeds your expectations.  MLB picks are not easy, but FiveStarPick.com’s proprietary sports handicapping software program coupled with two of the top sports handicappers in the business have proven a winning combination at nearly 70% against the spread.  You owe it to yourself to become a member of our family.  Join today and start winning tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com is hot on another ‘run total’ in today’s matchup between the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox.  STATS, LLC at ESPN.com is providing today’s preview.

Considering how successful second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been at the plate lately, it’s no surprise the Boston Red Sox continue to roll through opponents.  Pedroia looks to build on his latest offensive outburst on Sunday when the Red Sox — winners of eight of their last 11 — try to complete a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park.  Boston (79-56) has been outstanding in August, and its 18-8 mark is the second-best among AL teams during the month. The club clinched its fourth straight series on Saturday, pounding out 15 hits for the second night in a row in an 8-2 win over Chicago (76-59).

Mark Kotsay had three RBIs, while Jed Lowrie and Jason Bay each drove in two runs, but it was Pedroia that keyed Boston’s offensive attack with his second straight four-hit performance.  Pedroia, who leads the AL with a .327 average, has batted .423 (30-for-71) with five homers, 15 RBIs and 25 runs scored over his last 16 contests.  “You go through times in the year where you’re not very good and then you go through times when you are good,” Pedroia said. “The last couple of days I got on base every time, so it’s just one of those things.”  On Saturday, he batted cleanup for the first time in his professional career as usual No.4 hitter Kevin Youkilis missed the game due to an illness.

Adjusting the order, though, didn’t affect Pedroia’s success versus the White Sox. He has hit .382 (21-for-55) with a homer and nine RBIs in 13 career games against them, though he is just 1-for-5 versus scheduled starter Gavin Floyd.

Meanwhile, Boston — the AL’s wild-card leader — won for the eighth time in 10 games at Fenway Park, and picked up its 11th victory in its last 13 games against Chicago, which dropped its third straight and fell to 2-4 on its nine-game road trip.  “Right now, I think we’re struggling as a club,” manager Ozzie Guillen told the White Sox’s official Web site. “In my mind, we thought we’d be better the last couple of days. We weren’t.”

Still, Guillen’s club maintained its half-game AL Central lead over second-place Minnesota, which also lost Saturday.  Chicago hasn’t lost more than three consecutive games since its season-high seven-game slide from April 28-May 5.

To avoid moving closer to that mark, the White Sox turn to Floyd (14-6, 3.70 ERA), who has gone 4-0 with a 4.22 ERA in his last seven starts.  The right-hander was efficient Tuesday, holding Baltimore to two runs and four hits over eight innings — throwing 98 pitches — of an 8-3 road win. It was his team-leading 14th triumph this year after totaling eight over his first professional four seasons.  Floyd has never pitched in Boston, but beat the Red Sox on Aug. 10 in Chicago despite giving up five runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings of a 6-5 win.

He’ll be opposed by knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (8-8, 3.73), who will be making his second start since coming off of the disabled list due to right shoulder tightness.  On Tuesday, the right-hander lasted just five innings, but held the New York Yankees to three runs and eight hits in a 7-3 road victory.

Wakefield hasn’t pitched versus the White Sox yet this season and is 7-10 with a 5.14 ERA in 27 career appearances against them, but he has won his last three versus Chicago.  He tossed seven scoreless innings, fanning six and scattering three hits in a 14-2 rout in Chicago on Aug. 25, 2007.

So does the ‘over’ or the ‘under’ cash in today’s game?  It is real easy to get the answer.  At www.fivestarpick.com you can monitor our daily plays on our homepage and see for yourself if our talent for picking MLB winners exceeds your expectations.  MLB picks are not easy, but FiveStarPick.com’s proprietary sports handicapping software program coupled with two of the top sports handicappers in the business have proven a winning combination at nearly 70% against the spread.  You owe it to yourself to become a member of our family.  Join today and start winning tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com looks to make it 6 wins in a row tonight with its two five star picks of the day.  The first of today’s double header focuses on the ‘run totals’ in the Marlins/Cardinals game and the second looks at the ‘run totals’ in tonight’s Red Sox/White Sox matchup  FiveStarPick.com will diagnose the latter.

The Chicago White Sox’s pitching staff is hurting.  The staff recently lost a key piece of their rotation in Jose Contreras after he ruptured his left Achilles’ tendon in Saturday’s loss to Boston.  Not good.  In addition, Chicago’s (65-51) staff has been sluggish in August posting a team ERA of 6.41.  The only thing keeping them in games right now is their bats and if they want a realistic chance of going deep in the postseason, their offense must remain solid.

The White Sox have not won a season series over the Red Sox since 2004, but a win tonight would end their drought.  Not to mention, Sunday’s win gave the White Sox a 1/2 game lead over Minnesota in the AL Central and Boston (67-51) is 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota in the wild card hunt.

John Danks (9-4, 3.21 ERA) will get the start tonight against the Red Sox.  The White Sox are 9-4 in Danks’ last 13 starts with Danks winning 6 in a row at one point.  In his last outing Danks held the Detroit Tigers to 1 run in 6 2/3 innings of work to seal a 5-1 victory.  Danks lost both of his starts against the Red Sox last season.

The Red Sox will start Josh Beckett (10-8, 4.08).  Beckett’s stuff has been somewhat suspect this year and at one point he had lost 3 in a row.  However, if Beckett can rekindle some of his old mastery, he win his fourth straight start versus the White Sox tonight.

So does the ‘over’ or the ‘under’ cash in today’s game?  It is real easy to get the answer.  At www.fivestarpick.com you can monitor our daily plays on our homepage and see for yourself if our talent for picking MLB winners exceeds your expectations.  MLB picks are not easy, but FiveStarPick.com’s proprietary sports handicapping software program coupled with two of the top sports handicappers in the business have proven a winning combination at nearly 70% against the spread.  You owe it to yourself to become a member of our family.  Join today and start winning tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com is hot on the ‘run totals’ in 3 MLB games today.  It is unusual that we have this many games on the docket, but our state-of-the-art sports handicapping software program shows 3 ‘run total’ lines that are way off in Las Vegas.  So as not to bore you with the details of all these games, let’s take a look at the matchup between the Red Sox and White Sox.

Starting Pitcher Clay Buchholz (2-7, 5.94 ERA) has had a rough year, but the Red Sox feel confident he can turn it around today. As a matter of fact,  Boston has gone 1-8 in Buchholz’s last nine road starts.  FiveStarPick.com, however, has enjoyed success focusing on the totals so look at this trend…in Chicago’s last 22 games, the ‘over’ has gone 16-5-1 and is 7-1 in the last eight games between these two teams.  In addition, the ‘over’ has gone 6-3-1 in Gavin Floyd’s (11-6, 3.66) last 10 starts.

So which way is FiveStarPick.com going in today’s games?  You will have to join to find out.  We are nearly 70% against the spread in 2008 and look forward to another win tonight.  Joining our family is easy.  Just click here www.fivestarpick.com and select a membership option.  Soon you we realize that no one gives more MLB winners than FiveStarPick.com.  Betting on baseball is not easy; it requires research, patience and the ability to understand stats and trends.  Let us make a believer out of you.  Join us today and start your winning streak tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com