The extra long All-Star break of 2013 is over and we get back to playing baseball Friday in what should be a pretty riveting second half in Major League Baseball.
The Marlins and Brewers won’t really play into that picture. But it’s where we start off our second half plays with Kyle Lohse hosting young Jacob Turner and the Fish.
Free Pick
So Jacob Turner has been a pretty big prospect for about the last four years. He was also really young when he was that great prospect. He’s 22 now and
he’s just about that stud people made him about to be since he go drafted ninth overall in 2009.
Turner has broken onto the scene this year, going 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP and will start the second half rested and going up against the lowly Milwaukee Brewers. Turner has spun 13 innings and allowed just six earned runs in his last two starts. The impressive part is that they came against the lineups of the Braves and Cardinals. Turner will face a Milwaukee team just two games better than Miami overall and struggling to be relevant in the least bit in the top-heavy NL Central.
Kyle Lohse tries to pitch his team to a home win to begin the Brewers’ unofficial second half of the season. Lohse has been one of the few bright spots for Milwaukee this season. And even he has been slightly and somewhat dim. The free-agent acquisition from Saint Louis has posted a 1.16 WHIP in over 115 first half innings. He gets the ball against a Miami team he has had very so-so career numbers against.
Career numbers only mean so much and I really expect a pitcher as savvy as Lohse to dominate the young Marlins here. The free-swinging Fish will really struggle to hit the ever-changing Lohse and his many speeds and ball paths. Lohse will go out and pitch into the sixth or seventh inning and hand the ball over to a Milwaukee relief man in what should be a very close and low-scoring game.
The sides don’t show much value in my opinion here as the home field and spot right after the All-Star break should favor the less inferior home team here but quite a bit. The total is something attackable, though. Eight is a half a run too high here in a game that also doesn’t have much potential to get very high-scoring. I prefer to play a first five innings if you get a 4. Can’t say that’s definitively out there so take the 8 and rest easy knowing that there’s very little to none chance of this game going over nine. I know 7 or under cashes but I like the potential return on investment here as a whole.
Free Pick: Miami/Milwaukee Under 8 (-110)
miami marlins • milwaukee brewers