[Joel Tyson]

The Mets decide to show no heart yesterday as the Phillies continue to have their number both on the road and at home.

I have still hit 3 ouf of my 4 complimentary picks this week, including the Cardinals on Saturday, the Twins on Sunday and the under in the Raiders/Vikings match up on Monday.

For your complimentary selection today, take the Detroit Tigers on the road at Boston.

I am well aware Boston comes off a tough loss at home but it is hard to ignore the pitching match up going today with young gun Justin Verlander versus veteran David Wells.

Verlander has been relatively hard for his standards in his last 2 outings, giving up 21 hits and 7 earned runs.

However, Detroit thumped Tampa Bay in one of those outings 10-4 in what was a show of offensive fireworks overall in that game and Verlander's last outing comes against the WhiteSox who continue to have success against him given that they hit fastballs exceedingly well. In fact, 3 out of Verlander's 5 losses this year, have come to the White Sox.

However, this does not deny the fact the Verlander is still 14-5 this year with an ERA below 3.

The Red Sox send David Wells to the mound to stop the bleeding as they are slowly fading from the playoff race as this is a big game leading up to the showdown with the Yankees soon.

The bottom line is that Verlander has been consistent throughout this year and Boston sees him for the first time whereas the Tigers have seen Wells twice this year and the fact that "boomer" has tendencies of busting badly from time to time, pushes me to lean on the Tigers in this tilt.

Keep in mind that Wells has given up 17 hits in his last 2 starts and is far from unhittable and I expect the Tiger bats to take advantage of the aging veteran while the young gun keeps the Red Sox at bay.

2♦ Detroit Tigers

On a Scale from 1♦ to 5♦