Play on Washington at 10:05 ET.  The 12-4 Nats are more than living up the hype and pitching has been the major reason why.  Offensively, Washington is not that much better than San Diego, but we do have a huge pitching mismatch in play here.  Gio Gonzalez has been outstanding addition to this Nationals' rotation w/ a 2.04 ERA in three starts thus far.  He hasn't allowed a single run in his last two outings, going 14 innings while allowing just four hits total w/ a 15-2 KW ratio.   Going back to his days in Oakland, Gonzalez has a 29-9 TSR when favored.  San Diego is off back to back surprising wins over Philadelphia, but the Phillies offense might actually be worse than the Padres at this point.  And the Padres offense is bad, hitting a collective .188 at home this season.  They are 1-6 vs. lefties this season (also a .188 team BA), and going back to last year are 20-37 vs. southpaws, so good luck against Gonzalez.  San Diego is stuck starting Clayton Richard here as opponents have crossed the plate eight times in each of his two previous outings.  Against Houston last time out, he didn't make it out of the sixth inning and all eight runs (off 10 hits) were earned.  He also allowed a pair of home runs.  Richard has a 2-13 TSR in night games L2 seasons.  Gonzalez hasn't allowed any homers this season.  Richard has allowed four total, at least one in every start.  Despite what happened in the series w/ the Phillies, San Diego remains a lousy home dog at 13-30 L43.  Washington is our MLB **LATE NIGHT BAILOUT**

04/24/2012 8:39 AM