Streaking Pitchers

If you've been making money betting on baseball lately, you've probably been riding some nice streaks by a few solid starters around the majors. Everyone knows good pitching beats good hitting and the following four starters have been proving that old cliché by dominating hitters recently.

Brandon Webb - If you haven't already heard of Webb's recent shutout streak then you need to do your betting homework a lot better. Webb has not allowed a run in 42 innings, which puts him 18 innings back of Orel Hershiser's record. During his amazing streak, Webb is 5-0 with three complete games in his last three starts.

Shaun Marcum - If the Blue Jays only knew the gem they had in Marcum maybe they wouldn't have wasted money on Tomo Ohka and Victor Zambrano last offseason with Marcum wasting away in the bullpen. In his last five starts Marcum is 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA. Marcum doesn't blow guys away, but he hits his spots and doesn't make many mistakes to big hitters.

Erik Bedard - Even with the lousy Orioles' hitters behind him, Bedard hasn't taken a loss since June 10. Since then he is 8-0 in 12 starts with a 2.20 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 82 innings. The Baltimore lefty leads the majors in strikeouts and is worth a bet no matter which team he's facing the rest of the season.

Scott Kazmir - Last year's version of Kazmir has returned in August. In three August starts, Kazmir is 2-0 and would be a perfect 3-0 with a little run support. In those three games Kazmir has allowed only one run combined, giving him a 0.47 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 19 innings. Making those numbers even more amazing is that both starts in which he allowed zero runs came against the powerful lineup of the Tigers and the Red Sox.