On July 4 Eve, baseball betting is set for some early pitching fireworks.
The aces of countless big-league rotations go Tuesday in what is always a challenge for baseball handicappers.

Cubs @ Nationals
Carlos Zambrano has been almost unhittable in his past five starts. He faces Tim Redding in Washington today. Redding hasn’t started since July 2005, but in his two starts that month, opponents scored 26 runs.
The Cubs opened at -185 at BetUS.com, while total opened at 8 and moved quickly to 8.5.

D-Rays @ Red Sox
Scott Kazmir has been getting wins, but he has not been dominant of late. He faces Japanese sensation Daisuke Matsuzaka at Fenway today as a +185 underdog at Bodog.com. D-Mat’s past five starts have played UNDER the total, which opened at 9.

D-Backs @ Cardinals
Randy Johnson is far from his old self, but he continues to get favored status just about every start. He opened at -135 today at St. Louis. He faces Todd Wellemeyer, who is no stud, but the Cards give him great run support and they have won all six of 2007 starts. Nice underdog value at SportsBook.com

Marlins @ Padres
Huge contrast in styles here as young fireballing lefty Scott Olsen goes against wily, corner-picking Greg Maddux. The line here opened at -150 and has remained fairly constant throughout the day. Maddux comes off a super outing, while Olsen has been average of late (although the Marlins are 4-1 in his past 5 starts).

Phillies @ Astros
Is this the best underdog value of the night? The Phillies have struggled a bit with pitching, but Eaton is due to stabilize the staff here today against Roy Oswalt.
The Astros opened as -165 favorites, but they were bet down to -151 at Sportsbook.com by early afternoon.
The OVER is 13-6 in the past 19 Philly road games, while the OVER is 12-3 past 15 Houston home games. The past three Eaton starts were also OVERs.

Check the latest odds updates at PointSpread.com’s preferred sportsbooks