Kansas City at Minnesota

The Royals keep getting treated, well... like the Royals by the oddsmakers. This is a team that has been buried at the bottom of the AL Central for years. But the 2007 version isn't the same team. The Royals have been shutout 33 times over the last three years. This year - just six times. They were never good enough to bounce back, as they were 11-22 the game following a shutout. This season they are 4-2 after being shutout, having rewarded their backers when they have been an underdog to the tune of +10 units. The Twins missed their annual second-half run this season, mainly because they just aren't the same team either. The Twins have coughed up -11.3 units to teams in their division, a true indication of how these teams have changed. Carlos Silva is your basic mediocre big-league pitcher. He goes up, he goes down. He pitches well for a few games, followed by pitching poorly for a few games. He is off a recent good run, and has turned down now. The Twins are a putrid 27-36 in his starts over the last two years, not exactly the type of numbers to justify these odds. Brandon Duckworth comes off the DL with his 2.94 ERA and solid numbers to hold the Royals in the game. We look for the Royals to strike again as a live dog.