Bryan Power

10* Detroit (7:00 ET): Both of these teams have first year head coaches and both dropped their respective preseason opener. In the case of the Giants, now led by Pat Shurmur, they lost 20-10 at home to the Cleveland Browns (a team Shurmur formerly coached). Matt Patricia's Detroit Lions lost their opener 16-10 at Oakland. Can you believe its only been two years since BOTH of these teams were in playoffs? Me either. The Giants fell harder last year as an injury-riddled team basically quit on Ben McAdoo and finished 3-13 SU. The Lions were 9-7 SU and actually finished w/ a better point differential (+34) than they did in their 2017 season playoff season. But it still wasn't enough to save Jim Caldwell's job. Bottom line here is I expect Patricia and his coaching staff to be highly motivated to win the first time in front of the fanbase. 

The lone highlight for the Giants in that first preseason game may have been the performance of #2 overall draft choice, RB Saquon Barkley. He went for 39 yards on his first carry. Sadly though, it's highly unlikely he'll be seeing any time in this game. Barkley suffered what is being termed a "minor hamstring injury" and did not participate in the joint practices w/ the Lions this week. At QB, Eli Manning is at the point in his career where the preseason is fairly useless. That leaves an underwhelming trio of signal-callers for Shurmer to rely on here. Last week saw Davis Webb, Alex Tanney and Kyle Lauletta combine for 167 passing yards on 38 attempts. Hardly inspiring. The G-Men were 4 of 17 on third down last week as well.

Detroit was hardly impressive in Patricia's debut. They too scored 10 pts and gained just 227 total yards (3.5 yards per play). They were 3 of 14 on third downs and neither QB - Jake Rudock or Matt Cassel - attempted to throw the ball downfield much. Like I said earlier though, the determining factor here should be the homefield advantage as Patricia looks to win over the fanbase. One interesting stat is that the Lions are 11-1 SU their last 12 preseason home games, covering the spread nine times. I fully expect them to "play to win the game" Friday night. 10* Detroit

10* Houston (10:05 ET): The Astros snapped an UGLY nine-game home losing skid on Wednesday, routing the Rockies 12-1. That's the kind of performance we've been accustomed to seeing from the reigning World Series Champs this season as they've now outscored the opposition by 202 runs. Tonight, they begin a very important series w/ the second place team in the AL West, that being Oakland. The gap is just two games in the standings, but Houston's run differential is vastly superior. Also, homefield may actually be a DISadvantage when these teams meet as they are 1-2 in all of MLB in runs scored on the ROAD. Houston is just 33-29 at home, but an incredible 41-18 on the road where they are an amazing +2.6 rpg over their opponents. Meanwhile, Oakland's offense declines from 5.5 rpg on the road all the way down to 3.8 rpg at home! Take the road team!

True to form, the Astros a perfect 6-0 in Oakland this season, outscoring them 50-16! Now all six wins came before the A's caught fire. Over the last two months, Oakland is 32-11 overall and they took three of four games in Houston right before the All-Star Break. However, what has greatly aided the A's is the fact they've generally been a far luckier team than the Astros. Specifically, they have gone 25-10 in one-run games. They are far less fraudulent than, say Seattle, but not on the level of the "Big Four" in the American League (those four teams being the Astros, Red Sox, Yankees and Indians). Note that before losing in extra innings to Seattle (2-0) on Wednesday, the A's previous three wins all came by exactly one run. 

We have a matchup of two veteran pitchers for Friday's opener, both of whom are having "turn back the clock" type seasons. Houston's Charlie Morton is 12-3 in his 23 starts this year w/ a 2.88 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. Of the 22 parks he has wins at in his 10-year career, this one is not yet among them. So this should be a "special" game for Morton. Last time out saw him toss another quality effort, his 17th of 2018. He's allowed more than 3 ER just three times all year. As for Oakland, they go w/ Edwin Jackson, who shockingly has not allowed a single earned run in any of his last three starts. But how long can that streak last? My guess is "not much longer" as here he faces a team that can certainly score in bunches (George Springer expected back as well). Another thing to consider is that Jackson has faced a fairly weak slate of opponents since coming into the rotation. This will be his toughest test to date and one I do not expect him to pass. 10* Houston 

8* Philadelphia (6:05 ET): The Phillies were able to exact a little bit of revenge on the Mets last night by taking Game 2 of the doubleheader, 9-6. But that doesn't even begin to atone for what happened to them in the first game of the twinbill where they lost in absolutely humiliating fashion, 24-4. The Mets are not a good team (obviously!), so look for them to still be highly motivated entering Friday evening's contest in the City of Brotherly Love. Yesterday's events leave the Phils 1.5 games back of the Braves (who lost yday) in the National League East w/ a quarter of the season still to play. The Wild Card is also obviously still in play. Do I think the Phillies are as good as some of the other contenders? No. But are they SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Mets? Absolutely.

As you might expect to find, it was a real "comedy of errors" in Game 1 of the doubleheader yday. Four errors from the defense and three position players were used to pitch. The Mets had a 10-run inning. Look for none of that to be repeated moving forward. Instead, tonight we should get a strong start from Aaron Nola, who checks in w/ a 2.28 ERA and 1.00 WHIP on the season. He's 13-3 in 24 starts (17-7 TSR) and has allowed 1 ER or less 13 times. In addition to ranking third in the National League in both ERA and WHIP, Nola is 5th in innings pitched (154) and 7th in strikeouts (149). Last time out, he tossed six shutout innings against the hapless Padres, a team on that's pretty much "on par" w/ the Mets offensively. That was on the road. At home, Nola is unbeaten (8-0) in 11 starts and the team has gone a perfect 11-0.

This game does set up to be a bit of a "pitchers duel" w/ Noah Syndergaard toeing the rubber for the Mets. But Nola has beaten Syndergaard before, doing so last season. It's Syndergaard's only career loss to the Phillies, but Nola is 4-1 all-time against the Mets. Furthermore, while the Mets have generally been successful since Syndergaard returned to the rotation (won 4 of his 5 starts), but he has a 4.43 ERA in his L3 outings. These "pitcher duel" type matchups seem to suit Philly well as they're a perfect 4-0 this season at home when the total is 7 or less. Led by Nola's 11-0 TSR, they are 40-20 overall at Citizens Bank Park. The Mets have shockingly scored 46 runs the L3 games and are obviously due to cool WAY off. 8* Philadelphia