James McDonald (6-4, 4.15 ERA), Pittsburgh Pirates
Baseball bettors are like yard sale shoppers. They’re always looking for a good bargain. This Pirate hurler is the equivalent of an original Atari system with 50 games for $2.50 – a sweet deal any way you slice it.
The Pirates are 6-1 in McDonald’s last seven outings, and they were underdogs in five of those games.
Mark Buehrle (7-5, 3.38 ERA), Chicago White Sox
The White Sox are just 6-9 in their last 15 games, but three of those wins came on days Buehrle took the bump. Chicago would actually be in great shape if Buehrle started all its games. The club is 5-0 in his last five appearances and 13-6 in his 19 starts this season.
The veteran southpaw has been especially effective this month. He carries a 2.05 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP (walks + hits per inning) into Monday’s contest.
SLUMPING
Jason Vargas (6-8, 3.94 ERA), Seattle Mariners
Seattle can’t sweep bad starting pitching performances under the rug like the Red Sox or Rangers. The squad's lack of offense doesn't allow bailouts for starting hurlers.
Vargas has given up four or more runs in four of his last seven outings. Not surprisingly, the Mariners are 2-5 in his last seven starts and the under is 5-1 in his last six trips the hill.
RETURNING
Jon Lester (10-4, 3.31 ERA), Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox haven’t exactly been reeling since Lester went down with a strained lat muscle but they’ll be happy to see their big left-hander take the mound on Monday for the first time since July 5.
“We’re just trying to ramp [Lester] up and let him get strong, " Red Sox manager Terry Francona told reporters. "He feels nothing in that lat, which is great. That’s what we wanted. Now it’s just the idea of getting him back to where he can go out there and start a game and not be so limited to where he can only throw 50 pitches.”
Lester was pitching extremely well before going down with the injury. He went 3-2 with a 2.31 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP in the month of June.
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