Free MLB Predictions for August 1st 2009 from Steve Merril Sports

By Matt Josephs for Steve Merril Sports
Below are 2 free MLB predictions for Saturday night. If you are looking for more winning baseball picks from Steve Merril Sports, be sure to Visit Touthouse.com

TEXAS +1½ -150 (Hunter/Hernandez) - 8:05 pm ET
The Texas Rangers have lost just twice since July 19th and will continue their series with the Seattle Mariners on Saturday. Tommy Hunter takes the mound for Texas where he’s 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA and six Unders in six starts. Hunter is 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA and three Unders in his last three outings giving up two runs in 19 innings. Hunter faced Seattle earlier this month getting the no decision in a 3-1 loss to King Felix. In that game Hunter gave up four hits in six innings of work. Seattle is just 4 of 20 against the righthander. The Mariners haven’t cracked the 5 run mark since July 21st and Seattle is 0-5 in Texas so far this season.

Felix Hernandez gets the Rangers for the fourth time this season. King Felix is 11-4 with a 2.79 ERA and 12 Unders in 21 starts. On the road Hernandez is 7-1 with a 1.91 ERA and eight Unders in 12 starts. All time against Texas Felix is 5-9 with a 4.13 and 12 Unders in 19 starts. He’s given up just one run in 15 innings the last two times out against them. Despite that Hernandez has a career ERA of 4.85 in Arlington. Michael Young (17-48), David Murphy (7-25), Brandon Boggs (4-11) and Taylor Teagarden have done the best versus Hernandez.

UNDER 9 -120 (Blue Jays/Athletics) (Cecil/Cahill) -9:20 pm ET
The Oakland Athletics have won three of their last four games and they look to continue their homestand with another win when they host the Blue Jays on Saturday. Going for Oakland is Trevor Cahill who is 6-9 with a 4.77 ERA. Cahill faced Toronto in April and gave up 2 runs in five hits in 5.3 innings pitched. In that game he held Aaron Hill (0-3), Jose Bautista (0-2), Rod Barajas (0-1) and Marco Scutaro (0-1) hitless. Right now the Jays offense hasn’t been producing lately and will be without the recently dealt Scott Rolen.

Brett Cecil has been pretty good in his last three starts going 2-0 with a 0.45 ERA giving up just one earned run in 20 innings of work. Cecil faced the Athletics in May giving up just five hits in eight innings of work in a 5-0 victory. Jason Giambi (0-4), Orlando Cabrera (0-4) and Ryan Sweeney (0-2) all went hitless against him in that game. Oakland averages just 4.3 runs per game against lefties with a .240 batting average. This season they have gone under the total in 8 of the 10 home games with a total of 9 to 9.5.

Matt Josephs is a MLB expert and the chief baseball handicapper for Steve Merril Sports.