Baseball Betting Notes 5/18

Very few hitters have the opportunity to visitthe “zone” as hitters like to refer to a period whenthe baseball looks like a big beach ball and your bat has theultimate sweet spot going for it.

Case in point is the Cubs Derrek Lee who as ofthis moment is hitting an eye-popping, .372 with 12 homeruns and37 RBI’s, as well as 8 stolen bases for the Wrigley Fieldtenants.

With an on base percentage of .457 and a unheardof slugging percentage of .730 the 29-year old first basemen fromSacramental, California is keeping the Cubs chances alive singlehandily.

With the Pirates Jose Mesa on the mound the Pirateslooked like a lock as Mesa was 13-13 in save opportunities thisyear and had a streak dating back to last season and the Pirateshad won 40 games in a row, when leading going into the 9th inning.

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Pirates manager Lloyd McLendon has the opportunityto walk Lee and face Jeremy Burnitz, but declined to put the winningrun on base. Not a wise move by the Pittsburgh skipper as Leewas already 3-3 on the day and had driven in all the Pirates runs.

Had this been Barry Bonds, McLendon would nothave hesitated to call for a free pass from Mesa, yet why ignorethe groove that Lee is in.

While the Cubs struggle to remain in contention,their crosstown rivals the White Sox and specifically John Garlandis sizzling. You would have to back 70 year to locate a WhiteSox pitcher as hot as Garland, as he became the first eight-gamewinner in the major leagues Tuesday night, leading the White Soxpast Texas 5-2. He is the first White Sox pitcher to win his firsteight starts since John Whitehead in 1935.

Don’t look now but the new named Los AngelesAngels formally Anaheim, are 21-16 which is amazing consideringthat they rank third in the AL in team ERA but their .243 averageis near the bottom of the league. You just know that with DarinErstad, Vladamir Guererro and Garrett Anderson they are boundto score some runs.

The Oakland A’s are imploding as they havelost eight straight games and haven’t recovered from their back-to-back,walk-off losses in Boston. They’ve suffered from injuries (BobbyCrosby, Nick Swisher and now Rich Harden) and a lack of productionfrom Jason Kendall, Eric Chavez and Erubiel Durazo. The A’s aretaking their lumps in a rebuilding year, and it could be hardfor them to come out of this funk.