NBA Playoff Pick-a-thon: And on the 28th Day God said,

"Vinny! Marco! Take a freakin' morning off, dudes."

Seriously. Coin flips, names in a hat, darts at a board, and glory holes would all get us happier endings than the ones we've been having this week. Another 0-2 ATS night, 1-7 ATS in our last eight after beginning the conference semi's at a staggering 11-2 ATS, and its only by the grace of an impossibly hot start to the playoffs that our numbers still look like this:

POST-SEASON RECORD TO DATE: 42-23 ATS 

CONFIDENCE EFFICIENCY RATING (CER): 83/126 or .66

TOP CONFIDENCE PICKS THROUGH DAY 27: 17-9 ATS

Two things are saving our asses right now. First and foremost is the wonderfully dichotomous nature of gamblers. When winning, they are gregarious, generous, grateful addicts who love to share in their victories because it adds a certain virtue to their disease. "Gambling's not so bad. He's buying us all drinks," or "And then she gave me this watch, telling me it was my hideous orange blazer that made her decide to take Baltimore in the Divisional round at Mile High. And I thought she hated that blazer." 



When they're losing, however, they blame no one - outwardly - because they know it will only fuel the fire of contempt and judgement that grows in their concerned friends and families. Instead, they temper their defeats with "I'll get 'em next time," or (hypothetically) "I was right - I just didn't know about the George Hill concussion." Inwardly, they might hold others accountable including us here at TSZ, but more often than not The Spread Zone has become a place where gamblers can come to share their successes and find comfort in their...let's just call them "growth edges." 

So thank you gamblers of the world for your wonderfully dis-eased nature. Even when we're not helping you win, we're here for you with understanding, compassion, and most of all a little levity. 

The other thing we have going for us can be summed up in two words, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

KYLE'S CORNER

I swear, whenever I have free time my girlfriend always finds a way to ruin it with stupid, asinine stuff to do. No one with a penis ever needs to be 'out' for the sake of being 'out.' Ugh.

"Let's just go out and enjoy the sun!" or "Why would you want be inside today watching sports?" said no man ever.  They should only let women be parole officers cause it's a natural instinct to have to know where their men are 24/7 and force them to check in with them.

Anyways...as for the recap, another solid day. The 2 teams won but the props were off. I hope most people put 2 units on the game and 1 on the prop but that's generally common betting sense.

NHL: 2-2

Overall: 33-20

MLB: 4-2-2  (We had 2 no actions on the SEA@NYY due to the last second pitching change, it voided all bets)

Overall: 74-50-6

NHL:  Only one game today and it's the biggest mis-match of this round. Imagine Bill Belichick vs your cat at Madden 2013 with Wilfred Brimley in the background heckling your cat.

Ottawa @ Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh to win, by (-1.5), Team over 3 goals (If it's 3.5 no action).

MLB: A person in our comment section asked for a little clarification on Baseball, so here goes:

1. The pitcher ride system, is simply to bet on the team for the pitcher highlighted below the "Pitcher ride section", so if the pitcher in question is R.A. DIckey of Toronto you bet on Toronto to win.

2. The overs are simply the game total runs which encapsulates both teams total runs scored, so Team A: 4 runs and Team B: 7 runs = total 11 and if the over is 8.5 then it's a winner.

Also to respond to Mysterio, I'm a variance better, I usually always hit 60%-ish or higher (Currently 60 in MLB and 63 in NHL) and  career/season wise , so I make at least 10 bets per day generally just to have an appropriate sample size. 

Also, I feel it's irresponsible to say or give the word lock to anything in sports, they are games and anything can happen, spread out your bets evenly and grow your portfolio like you would trading stocks, I look at it from that perspective.

I love the feedback and I'm always happy to answer any questions if you guys have any, anyways on to the Baseball picks.

Pitcher ride/follow:

BAL:   Hammel (5-1, 4.93 ERA)
NYM:   Harvey (4-0, 1.44 ERA)
PIT:   Gomez (2-0, 2.28 ERA)
BOS:   Buchholz (6-0, 1.69 ERA)
STL:   Garcia (4-2, 2.88 ERA)
CHW:   Sale (4-2, 2.88 ERA)
KC:   Shields (2-3, 2.48 ERA)

Overs!:

KC:   Shields (2-3, 2.48 ERA) @ OAK:   Parker (2-5, 6.86 ERA)

WSH:   Gonzalez (3-2, 4.20 ERA) @ SD:   Smith (0-0, 54.00 ERA)

LAD:   Ryu (4-2, 3.40 ERA) @ ATL:   Maholm (4-4, 3.94 ERA)
Boston Red Sox team over 5

DET:   Porcello (1-2, 6.68 ERA) @ TEX:   Tepesch (3-3, 4.03 ERA)

TOR:   Buehrle (1-2, 6.19 ERA) @ NYY:   Kuroda (5-2, 2.31 ERA)

SEA:   Maurer (2-5, 5.97 ERA) @ CLE:   Jimenez (3-2, 5.55 ERA)

TB:   Hellickson (1-2, 5.25 ERA) @ BAL:   Hammel (5-1, 4.93 ERA)
New York Mets team over 4.5

Good luck everyone!

-Kyle's corner