taiwan

  • Saturday, April 11, 2020

Las Vegas - OPENING DAY BAABBEEE! FINALLY!!! It's what we've all been waiting for. Sadly, it's opening day for the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan. But hey, it's STILL an opening day, and of course, we have lines if you're interested in dropping a few New Taiwan Dollars. You gotta check the time change before opening the wallet, because Taiwan is like 15 hours ahead of us here in Vegas.

The CPBL consists of four teams. It was five but the Wei Chuan Dragons made a decision to disband the club at the end of the 1999 season. Too bad because the Dragons won the CPBL championship four times in 1990, 1997, 1998, and 1999, and became the team with the most titles. Why did they fold? Naturally, dove a little deeper and found out that there were two issues. Threats from local criminal gangs and the financial loss brought about by CPBL's game-fixing scandals.

The other four teams are the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. If you have not seen their logo, Google it, and you might buy a hat like I just did. The Chinatrust Brothers with a mean looking elephant on the hat. Then there's the Rakuten Monkeys, who used to be the Lamigo Monkeys, and had a Godzilla-looking logo on their cap. And finally, the Fubon Guardians who used to be the EDA Rhinos, with none other than the great/infamous Manny Ramirez among the former players. If you're wondering, and I know you are, Manny's numbers for the Rhinos were close to amazing. In 49 games, Ramirez batted .352 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs, placing him in the top three in all categories. And if you wanna hear one of the most PHENOMENAL home runs calls ever, check out this link on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsPoEaxP7T8

Now that you have three graphs of mostly useless information, something you'll never ever use again, kinda like algebra, how about some lines. The Monkeys are -$125 over the Brothers with an over/under total of 12.5 runs. On Sunday, the Monkeys play again, against the Guardians, and are -$150 with a total of 11.5. And the other Sunday game is the Brothers at home, -$145 over the Lions with a total of 11.5. Waiting to see the listed pitchers before opening up my phone app. I'll keep you posted.

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Also got another winer from my horse guy, Martin Calia...Tell 'em Marty....

Lets take a look at the 7th race today at Oaklawn Park. It's a maiden special weight for three year olds going a mile and a sixteenth on the dirt. The obvious favorite will be the Steve Assmussen charge Earner. He is the 5/2 morning line favorite who is stretching out from six furlongs to a mile an a sixteenth. He ran a very fast 86 Beyer at the Fair Grounds first time out as the even money favorite , but was beaten by two and a half lengths. It should also be noted that the third place finisher in that race came back to win a six furlong race on February 15th. Since his speed didn't hold up at six furlongs I don't think it will going a mile an a sixteenth. The other horse that could be tough is first time starter Pit Boss. He is owned by the same connections , Gary and Mary West, that won the Kentucky Derby last year but was disqualified with Maximum Security. Although he is working lights out, I don't really like the rail for first time starters and the fact that his trainer, Wayne Catalano is 0-42, with first time starters, 0-10, with horses debuting at a mile or longer, and is a measly five percent with maiden special weights. Plus his go to rider, Channing Hill, rides the eight horse Pine Knoll.
The horse that I like is Absolute Unit. He is the second choice at 4-1 and has shipped in from Santa Anita. Although his last two races were on the turf, he really didn't run that bad on the dirt. His first race he was beaten by the Bob Baffert trained Authentic who is on the Kentucky Derby trail. Actually his only two dirt races he was beaten by Baffert trainees. I also like that his trainer, Peter Eurton is a 17% trainer overall , 17% on dirt/ maiden special weights races, and 19% turf/dirt. He also picks up one of the hottest riders at the meet Martin Garcia, who is second in the rider standings at Oaklawn. I think Garcia will sit a stalking trip and take them down the road at the top of the stretch .

Therefore Im betting $25 across the board on # 6 Absolute Unit and a $5 exacta wheel 6 all.

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