[University of Sportsbooks]

University of Sportsbooks Picks April 2nd

San Francisco Giants +146

The Giants are getting their best value of this series with the Dodgers tonight. Tim Lincecum may be the best starter on the Giants’ roster, although he has been pegged their No. 3 starter due to his youth. Lincecum allowed just 1 earned run and a measly 2 hits in 6 innings with his only career start against the Dodgers last season. Chad Billingsley got knocked out early against the Giants the last time these teams met up. Billingsley allowed 4 earned runs and 6 hits in just 1.3 innings against the Giants. San Francisco is 37-35 (+17.0 Units) against the money line as an underdog of +125 to +175 over the last 3 seasons

Chicago Cubs (-155) (Large PLay)

The durable Jeff Suppan gets the starting nod for the Brewers in the second game of the Brewers three game set with the Cubs. Jeff went 12-12 with a 4.62 ERA last season, and was one of the Brewers main inning eaters throwing a shade under 207 total. He lost three of his final five road starts last season, and only managed one win in three starts against the Chicago Cubs. Chicago’s hitters are very familiar with Suppan since he’s been in the NL Central the last six or so years, so look for them to awaken today against his junk.
Ted Lilly made a very nice transition to the National League last season after coming over from Toronto as a free agent. He went 15-8 overall last season with a 3.83 ERA. He churned out a K/BB ratio of 175/55 and only surrendered 181 hits in 207 innings of work. The Cubs won four of his last five home starts, but he went 1-1 with a 5.29 ERA against Milwaukee last year. That said, he took care of business against the Brew Crew at home, and I expect more of the same today.

The Cubs had the upper hand over Milwaukee last season winning nine of their 15 overall meetings, but they only posted a 5-4 SU mark against the Brewers in Wrigley. After dropping yet another in heart wrenching fashion to open up the year, look for the Cubbies to rebound and even up the season series at a game apiece.

Chicago White Sox @ Cleveland Indians over 9
The Tribe came out swinging in game one of this series scoring 10 runs, but unfortunately their pitching was not much better as they allowed eight runners to cross the plate. Five home runs were hit in that contest and now the teams get their chance to swing against the No. 2 starters. Expect another how scoring contest and we will not worry if Cleveland can collect on this big number and just cash in with the total.

San Diego Padres -135 (Listing Maddux and Rodriguez)

Houston is 2-13 against the money line in road games revenging a loss where it scored 1 run or less over the last 2 seasons and 14-32 against the money line in road games after a loss over the last 2 seasons period. The Padres are 55-31 against the money line against NL Central opponents over the last 3 seasons. San Diego has taken it to Houston in each of the first two games of this series and I don't see things shaping up any differently here tonight. Rodriguez really struggled away from home last season. Don't be surprised if he gets knocked out early in this one.

[QuickNick]

U. of Sportsbook, Billingsley nor Lincecum Started the game tonight. Both got into the game around the 4th or 5th innings.

San Francisco
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
M. Valdez	2.0	0	0	0	0	4	0	3.00
J. Taschner	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
T. Lincecum	1.0	1	1	1	2	1	0	9.00
LA Dodgers
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
H. Kuo	3.0	1	0	0	3	3	0	0.00
R. Troncoso	1.0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
C. Billingsley	0.1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00