I'm playing on TORONTO. This is a very reasonable price for a highly motivated Jays team which should have a solid edge on the mound. The Jays always get fired up when the Yankees come to town and have won three of the last four series meetings which were played here at Toronto. Burnett also tends to get fired up when he faces the Yankees. Indeed, he's gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in his last four starts against them! He last faced them here last month and allowed just one run through 8 1/3 innings. While his recent numbers aren't particularly great, Burnett has still managed to keep winning and those recent struggles came largely on the road. He's 9-2 with a 3.73 ERA over his last 11 starts overall and has won a career-high seven straight home starts, recording a 2.89 ERA during that stretch. On the other hand, Rasner is 1-5 with a terrible 6.80 ERA in his last nine games. Burnett is already making plenty of money and has another couple of years on his contract. However, he's also well aware that he can choose to opt out of his contract at the end of the year and test the free agent market, something most assume he will do. That being said, what better way to drive up his value than by going out and defeating the big spending (and pitching-hungry) Yankees? Look for Burnett to continue his fine run and strong results against the Yankees as the Jays grab the opener.

I'm playing on Detroit and Texas to finish UNDER the total. With Rogers and Feldman on the mound, the 'over' was a popular pick for yesterday's opener. It didn't look good for the first seven innings or so, until both teams put up big numbers in the final few frames. The final score was 8-7 though which has helped to keep tonight's number at generously high 11. Yes, the Rangers have been hitting very well against right-handers, particularly in this park, all year. However, prior to scoring those runs in the late innings last night, they hadn't been hitting anyone lately. In fact, they entered yesterday's game having scored just 11 runs in their previous five games. Even with yesterday's game finishing above the number, they've still seen the UNDER go 7-5 their last dozen games. Tonight, they'll have to contend with Galarraga - and he's been the Tigers' best pitcher. Galarraga comes off a gem vs. Toronto, which saw him allow just one run through eight complete innings. That gives him a 1.74 ERA his last three starts. The 5-1 win over Toronto came at home. The Tigers' rookie has also been superb on the road all season. In fact, he's 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA and 1.045 WHIP on the road for the season. He'll have the advantage of facing Texas for the first time. Note that he should be a little extra 'pumped' as he's from the Fort Worth Area and used to be part of the Texas organization. Making matters worse for the struggling Texas offense is the fact that they are now without All Star Ian Kinsler, who was hitting .319 with 18 homers and 71 RBIs. He entered the week with a major league-leading 165 hits and 102 runs scored. It's true that making a case for Padilla is a bit tougher. He's usually very consistent at home though. In fact, he's allowed four earned runs or less in 13 of his past 14 starts here. The veteran right-hander was hit hard at Detroit back in the spring. Yesterday's late inning rally notwithstanding, the Tigers haven't hit particularly well on the road all season though. They entered the series hitting just .254 away from home, averaging 4.5 runs per game. Note that in Padilla's previous four starts against the Tigers he allowed just six earned runs in 26 innings. That's a 2.08 ERA. Only one of those games was played at Texas. It was vs. Rogers (04/09/06) and had an over/under line of 10. Padilla pitched well and the Rangers won by a score of 5-3. I feel that tonight's higher total gives us excellent value here. Look for the final score to be lower than most are expecting. *Blue Chip

I'm playing on DETROIT. Although they jumped off to an early lead, the Rangers couldn't beat the veteran Kenny Rogers yesterday. Now they'll face a red hot rookie instead. Galarraga comes off a gem vs. Toronto, which saw him allow just one run through eight complete innings. That gives him a 1.74 ERA his last three starts. The 5-1 win over Toronto came at home. The Tigers' young star has also been superb on the road all season. In fact, he's 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA and 1.045 WHIP on the road for the season. He'll have the advantage of facing Texas for the first time and he should be a little extra 'pumped' as he's from the Fort Worth Area and used to be part of the Texas organization. Making matters worse for the struggling Texas offense, which entered the series having scored just 11 runs in its previous five games, is that leading hitter Ian Kinsler may be done for the season. Kinsler, who was hitting .319 with 18 homers and 71 RBIs, entered the week with a major league-leading 165 hits and 102 runs scored. While I respect Padilla, his numbers simply aren't nearly as good as what Galarraga brings to the table. Detroit manager Jim Leyland was pleased with his team's ability to comeback yesterday, stating: "Two good things came out of it. The fact that we came back after being down with their guy pitching a good game. And it looked like we could have given it up. We could have come in (to the clubhouse) a real sad bunch, but we didn't. To come on the road and win against a team that can really hit I thought was pretty good." Look for the Tigers to build momentum from that victory and for Galarraga to shine against the team that traded him.