MLB Thursday 8* LA Dodgers Run Line -1.5 -155 @ Colorado Rockies @ 3:10 ET - Dodgers lost yesterday's game. Now ace Scherzer takes the mound. Freeland got rocked in most recent home start for Rockies. The Dodgers Scherzer has been incredible in display of his top form. Also he is 10-2 with a 2.23 ERA in road starts this season. Scherzer has allowed 0 runs on 9 hits while striking out 29 in this last 23 innings on the mound spanning his last 3 starts. LA had won 9 of 10 before yesterday's loss. Rockies have been playing well of late but had lost back to back games before yesterday's win. Also, Colorado is 14 games below .500 when facing a team with a winning record this season. The Dodgers are 35 games over .500 when facing a team with a losing record this season. Look for a big bounce back for the road team. I am not crazy about the price here but is reasonable given the likelihood of a blowout road rout in this one. Lay it! 8* LA DODGERS -1.5 -155

MLB 10* Thursday Top Play Milwaukee Brewers Money Line -117 vs St Louis Cardinals @ 2:10 ET - The Cardinals have won 11 straight games. The Brewers are favored here. Big mistake by odds makers, right? No. Long-time followers know how I feel about that and I am expecting a huge home win here. Wainwright certainly has been solid for the Cardinals this season including when facing the Brewers. However, Houser has been dominant against St Louis this season with 0 earned runs allowed in 14 innings. Regardless of the pitching match-up here, I do not see the Brewers getting swept at home in a 4-game series. Milwaukee bounce backs here no matter who is on the mound. The Brewers have had a great season because they have avoided long losing streaks and have only had 2 go past 4 games. Odds are this losing streak ends this afternoon! 10* MILWAUKEE -117

MLB Thursday 10* Top Play OVER 7 runs in Cleveland (Gm 1 of DH) - Wind blowing out at a strong clip for this one. Civale rocked for 7 earned runs in 3 innings in most recent home start. Lopez rocked for 6 earned runs in 4 innings in his most recent start. The over is 6-3 in Civale home starts this season. 3 of 4 meetings between these teams at Cleveland this season have gone over the total. White Sox game on Tuesday had just 8 runs scored on 28 hits in a ridiculous under. Look for this one to make up for that as the pitching match-up is ideal. Plus, no matter the pitchers here, even though the temperature will be cool, the winds will help us in this one. The ball will carry well and Lopez gave up 2 homers in most recent start and Civale gave up 3 homers in last home start. 10* OVER 7 runs in Cleveland (Gm 1 of DH)

NFL Thursday 10* Top Play Houston Texans +8 vs Carolina Panthers @ 8:20 ET - This is a typical contrarian play for me. Everyone will be high on the Panthers because they demolished the Saints last week. Everyone will be down on the Texans because they lost by double digits at Cleveland last week plus they lost their starting QB to injury. Give me Houston here! For one thing they are at home and they played very well in their first game of the season here. For another thing Carolina is on the road for the first time this season. Yes they have impressed so far this season but the Panthers faced a bad Jets team in week one and then caught the Saints off a big win over Green Bay. Lets not forget the Panthers lost 9 of last 11 games last season. Carolina also went 0-2 last season when off a win in which they allowed 13 points or less. Now here the Panthers are laying 8 points in that exact situation! Houston went only 2-4 in final 6 home games last season but 3 of the 4 losses were by 6 or less points. This means if you would have had Houston plus 8 in each of their last 7 regular season home games you would have gone 6-1 ATS. We have a lot of value here with the home dog and, keep in mind, their #2 QB played his college ball in the Pac-12. It is not as if this rookie QB, Davis Mills, has not faced some tough competition in his career. He'll be ready for the big stage here especially after getting some playing time last week and now this week he is at home for this start. Texans make this one helluva game and should cover the spread along the way. I look for this game to be decided by a one-score margin. 10* HOUSTON +8

CFB 10* Top Play Appalachian State Mountaineers -7 vs Marshall Thundering Herd @ 7:30 ET - Revenge game from last season as the Mountaineers lost 17-7 at Marshall despite having an edge in first downs in the game. Look for payback to be delivered here as Appalachian State has played the tougher early season schedule and also has been the stronger defense early this season. When the Mountaineers played East Carolina they dominated and the final score could have been even more dominant as the Pirates simply got some late meaningless scoring. That same East Carolina team just faced Marshall and the late scores were far from meaningless as the Pirates got the 42-38 upset win by rallying in the 4th quarter. The way each of these teams fared against East Carolina says a lot and I like the fact that Marshall just gave up 42 while the Mountaineers are allowing an average of only 19 points per game this season. Home team rolls here and wins this one by double digits. 10* APPALACHIAN STATE -7