Thursday afternoon baseball and I will have a Free Pick in the game between the LA Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants, which will be played at AT&T Park in San Francisco. First pitch is scheduled for an 3:45 PM (Eastern) start time and the game will be televised locally.
Betting Odds
Dodgers -126
Giants +116
Over/ Under: 6 U -120
This is game 3 of a 3 game series between these NL West foes. The Dodgers will be looking to avoid the sweep here as the Giants have taken the first 2 in the series. The Dodgers would just love to score a run in the series as they have been shutout in the first 2 games. The Dodgers are 24-15 on the year and lead the NL West by 2,5 games over the Giants, who are 22-18 on the year.
The Dodgers rank 4th in scoring (4.77 rpg), 7th in hitting (.261) and 2nd in homers (54), while on the mound they are 4th in ERA (3.26) and 3rd in WHIP (1.16). The Dodgers are 40-13 in Kershaw's last 53 starts after scoring 2 runs or less in their previous game and 18-6 in his last 24 starts during game 3 of a series, but just 2-5 in their last 7 road games vs. a left-handed starter.
San Francisco ranks 26 in scoring (3.78 rpg), 4th in hitting (.268) and 26th in homers (29), while on the mound they are 7th in ERA (3.42) and 11th in WHIP (1.25). The Giants have gone 13-3 in their last 16 home games vs. a left-handed starter, 22-6 in their last 28 home games vs. a team with a losing road record and 12-2 in Bumgarner's last 14 starts vs. a team with a winning record.
Getting the ball for the Dodgers today will be Clayton Kershaw, who has struggled out the gate, going 2-2 with a 4.24 ERA in 8 starts this year so far, while on the road he has gone 0-1 with a 5.33 ERA through 4 starts. Clayton has gone 14-6 with a 1.51 ERA in 27 career starts vs the Giants, while at AT&T Park he has gone 8-2 with an 0.97 ERA in 12 starts. This is a team he dominates.
Getting the ball for the Giants today will be Madison Bumgarner, who is 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in 8 starts at home, while in 4 home starts this year he is 1-1 with a 3.16 ERA. Mad Bum is 12-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) vs the Dodgers in his career. He is also 28-18 with a 3.15 ERA in 57 career day starts.
Pick: We are going to take a shot at the Over here. This is one of those just don't make sense plays. Allot of times you will see a couple of pitchers go at it with very high ERA's and yet those games end up being low scoring. Mad Bum usually pitches well at home and Clayton has been outstanding in his career in this park. Stas say low scoring game, but I will say the opposite. The Dodgers have been shutout in their last 2 games and you can bet they won't let that happen here, especially since they faced a couple of starter that had not been pitching well this year. I see LA breaking out of their funk here. Clayton has struggled this season on the road with a 5.33 ERA and the Giants offense is not all that bad, especially with Hunter pence back in the lineup. I can see both teams getting at least 3 runs each in this one.
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Sell the Chicago Cubs--At Least Sell Their Awful Bullpen
Pro bettor Steve Fezzik isn't saying the 2015 MLB Chicago Cubs team is hopeless, but he is pretty sure their pitching staff is. They may have some batting power in newcomer Kris Bryant, but the bullpen is looking mediocre when they should look abysmal thanks to the weather conditions at Wrigley Field, with cold wins blowing infield making home runs nearly impossible. Fezzik predicts once the wind warms up and starts blowing the opposite direction, the Chicago mound will be exposed as a bunch of pretenders, so look to bet on overs on totals once Chi-town starts to warm up.