Baseball Betting: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com
San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco 4 1/2 games back of Dodgers in the NL West and in a fight with Pirates for a wild-card spot have a tough road ahead. Giants swept in San Diego over the weekend extending the current slide to 2-6 need to get back into the win column. Hanging their hat on Jake Peavy (7-13, 3.82 ERA) in the opener of this three game set gives them a shot. The right-hander on a 4-0 streak, 6-1 stretch his last seven owns a 7-1 record, 2.85 ERA in 13 starts at Dodger Stadium (8-5 TSR) and hits the mound 14-3 life-time vs Dodgers with his teams 17-9 over 26 starts. Peavy trades pitches with Dodgers' Dan Haren (13-11, 4.14 ERA) looking to bouncing back from one of his worst performances charged with 5 runs over 5 innings in a loss vs Colorado. Haren faces SF for the first time this season bringing a 6-6 mark, 3.05 ERA in 16 starts against Giants (6-10 TSR). Backing struggling Giants has it's challenge but with Peavy's success vs L.A. and basically in a MUST-WIN situation roll the dice with the visitor as they've won 8-of-10 in this park.
MLB Betting Cheat Sheet
By Covers.com
Padres Bucking Over Trend
The San Diego Padres (-113, O 7) continued their late-season Over trend Sunday with an 8-2 home drubbing of the San Francisco Giants. The Padres (59-91-5 O/U) still have the fewest Overs in the majors, but are a stunning 7-3 O/U in their last 10 games.
What’s Happ-ening?
Toronto Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ is one of the strongest Under plays of late heading into Monday’s showdown with the visiting Seattle Mariners (-115, 8). Happ has recorded six consecutive Unders and is 1-8-1 O/U in his last 10 starts.
Marlins Showing Brotherly Love
The Miami Marlins have enjoyed their visits from the Philadelphia Phillies this season as the National League East rivals do battle Tuesday night. Miami is 4-2 SU and 4-1-1 O/U in six home meetings with the Phillies so far in 2014.
Pitching Notes
Bet against Adam Wainwright at your peril. The St. Louis Cardinals ace is 10-6 with a 1.82 ERA in 17 road starts going into Monday’s tilt with host Chicago (+171, 7); the Cubs did, however, torch him for six runs over five innings in a home win May 2.
Miami right-hander Henderson Alvarez looks to secure a top-five spot in pitcher values this season as the Marlins tangle with the visiting Phillies on Tuesday. Alvarez ranks fourth among starters at $1,148, with Miami going 19-9 in his starts.
Hitting Notes
A pair of Los Angeles Dodgers have caught fire at the right time. Matt Kemp is hitting .333 with three home runs and 10 RBIs over the past seven days, while first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is batting .333 with two homers and nine RBIs over the same span.
All eyes will be on Chicago lefty Chris Sale and Detroit slugger Victor Martinez as the White Sox visit the Tigers. Martinez is hitting a scorching 15-for-28 lifetime versus Sale, with three home runs, six walks and eight RBIs.
Totals Streak
Minnesota Twins (7-1 O/U): The Twins are a strong bet to finish with the most Overs in the American League following their latest stretch in which they’ve surrendered four or more runs in eight of their last nine games. The Twins are 84-66-5 O/U for the year.
Prop of the Day
Bettors may want to consider taking the Seattle Mariners to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by exactly one run (+550). Six of Happ’s last 10 starts have been decided by a run, with the Blue Jays going 2-4 in those games.
Injury Notes
The Tampa Bay Rays have announced that outfielder Desmond Jennings will miss the remainder of the season with a left knee injury. Jennings hasn’t played since Aug. 28 - a stretch during which the Rays have gone 10-12 SU, 10-10-2 O/U and -511 units.
Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila is expected to rejoin the club shortly as he makes his way back from a concussion. Avila has missed 17 games this season, with the Tigers going 11-6 SU, 9-8 O/U and +373 units in those contests.
Weather Watch
Wind at Turner Field will blow in from center field at 7 mph for Monday’s tilt between the host Braves (+129, 6.5) and Pittsburgh. teams combined to hit .229 with 1.38 home runs in eight games under similar conditions in 2013 - well below stadium averages.
MLB Odds and Picks
By: Micah Roberts
Sportingnews.com
It's been a tale of two seasons in the Giants-Dodgers rivalry as they meet in Los Angeles tonight for the beginning of their final three-game series against each other. In the first half, the Giants took seven of 10 from the Dodgers and maintained first place in the NL West. In the second half, it's been all Dodgers as they won five of six and took over first place during a late-July sweep.
The Giants are 4.5 back and unless they sweep this series, the division will be wrapped up by the Dodgers, leaving the Giants to play in a one-game wild card situation with Pittsburgh for the chance to move on to the next round. The problem is that the Giants have lost three straight and six of eight to allow Pittsburgh to pull into a tie for the top wild card position which carries home field.
The Dodgers are big favorites (-200) to win the series because Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw are slated to start the next two nights, but tonight is a very winnable game for San Francisco as Jake Peavy goes against Dan Haren. The Dodgers are -120 favorites tonight, but that doesn't really add up based on the way Peavy is pitching.
The Giants will be without Angel Pagan and Michael Morse tonight which accounts for a few cents, the Dodgers are at home which accounts for about 20 cents, and the Dodgers are rated a few cents higher than the Giants without pitching added into the equation. Current form also has the Dodgers playing better, but Peavy's current form should close the gap much more than it is.
Not only has Peavy (6-4, 2.16 ERA) gone 6-1 with a 1.13 ERA over his past seven starts, but he's also 14-3 with a 2.28 ERA over 26 lifetime starts against the Dodgers. The Giants have also won eight of their last 10 games at Los Angeles.
We'll take each game day-by-day, but tonight presents great value for the Giants, and based on the history between these two clubs, it wouldn't be a surprise to see them win all three somehow. This rivalry is about as intense as we have in baseball today where the uniforms and history truly matter to each player on both sides.
Hot Rockies
Colorado has a six-game win streak going and when they faced the Padres two weeks ago, it was a Rockies sweep. However, all those wins were at Coors Field. They've lost seven straight on the road, but they have their best pitcher, Tyler Matzek, going today. Matzek has given up two runs or fewer in his last five starts. He'll love Petco Park tonight and should keep it a low-scoring game.
Monday selections:
Giants (Peavy) +110 at Dodgers
Rockies (Matzek) +104 at Padres
Rockies/Padres UNDER 6.5 (-110)
Mariners (Paxton) -115 at Blue Jays
Indians (Carrasco) -111 vs. Royals
Angels (Wilson) +131 at A's