Philadelphia at Pittsburgh

Sometimes late in the season, the lines get quite chalky. Sometimes they are justified, other times not. This one is too chalky as overall, the Pirates are a team that is 20 games under .500, but a completely different team at home where they are five games over .500 and not deserving to be in such a huge dog role, especially playing as well as they have been winning six of their last eight, and four of those wins as a dog! To put in perspective how out of line this is, no disrespect to JA Happ who has had a good season. The Pirates have lined up at home vs. Cain at +105, Lincecum at +131, Grienke at +145, Santana at +130 and Wellemeyer at +100, so now they are +175 against Happ while they are playing well? Another thing to remember is that the Pirates have beaten eight of the last 11 teams that have come to Pittsburgh with a winning percentage of over .600. We have a live dog in this one, so I’m going to back Pittsburgh here. Oh and by the way, those five top pitchers mentioned above? The Pirates beat three of them!