New York (Leiter) @ Houston (Oswalt)
Well I am going to be taking the under in this matchup and I will give you a few reasons.
The Mets send Al Leiter to the mound who has been absolutely dominating this year he has 3-1 record with a very impressive ERA of 0.92 and a WHIP of 0.82. He doesn't have the best of records against the Astros but he hasn't faced them since the 2000 season and he seems to be a much improved pitcher this year. In his last 3 starts the under is 1-2 and his ERA is 1.12.
Houston counters with one of their best pitchers in Roy Oswalt he has been very solid this year with a 3-1 record and an ERA of 2.70 with a WHIP of 1.27. This is his first start against the Mets and I think that it may take 4-5 innings for them to get used to him.
The Mets bullpen has been very solid with an ERA of 2.49 while the Astros pen has been shaky but showed signs of improvement last night in a very close win, I think if we get 6 good solid innings out of Oswalt the under is a good bet.
The Mets have been hitting the ball well but cooled off a little last night and now have to face a very dominating pitcher in Oswalt. The Astros are still having trouble scoring only batting .242 as a team against lefties.
Our ace in the hole is the home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez he has a big strike zone with a strike out to walk ratio of 2.68 in 5 games behind the plate the under is 5-0 with an average of 6.40 runs.
With two dominating pitchers and an umpire with a big zone I think the under in this game is a very good bet!
Playing Under 8.5 -122