I like Memphis once again for all the reasons I mentioned on Saturday. This team has been playing its best basketball and should be in this game. They got off to a terrible start in game 1 and were never able to recover. At one point they pulled within 4 points even late in the 3rd quarter. They did this despite shooting 36% from the field 2-11 from the field and an awful 18-31 from the FT line. They also were out rebounded by 10. I don't expect the most versatile front court to have another poor night as Gasol and Randolph were a combined 14-40. Mike Conley also struggled going 0-6 from three and 6-16 from the field. Expect them to bounce back and give the Thunder fits.
Yu Darvish is the reason the Oakland A's are under dogs here at home and the Rangers better hope he goes like 8 innings because their bullpen has been just terrible posting an ERA over 7 on the road compared to the A's 2.25 ERA at home. Oakland is also scoring 1.53 more runs per 9 vs. RHP overall and are 69-31 in their last 100 home games vs. a RH starter! Yu Darvish is 1-6 vs. the A's and in his two road starts he has an ERA over 9 and a WHIP over 2 vs. the A's who are swinging some hot bats nearly 7 runs per 9 vs. RHP over their last 5. I don't see Darvish being able to go deep into this game considering he's on his 3rd start in a row on 4 days rest after throwing over 100 pitches in his last two. Meanwhile...
Dan Straily is on 5 days rest and is 8-2 in his last 10 on 5 days rest. He had two starts a year ago against the Rangers on 5 days rest and allowed only 2 ER in both road games over 12.1 IP. Overall he's held them to a .195 average and a .529 OPS and on 5 days rest a year ago he had 12 of his 13 starts where he allowed no more than 3 ER and overall carried a 2.76 ERA. Straily numbers wise is off to a tough start but I still like his potential as he's striking out nearly 4 more batters than he's walking which will produce good results over the long term. I like the price and I'll take the A's here tonight.
