An NL West battle finally gets underway on Friday night as two clubs open the season. The San Fransisco Giants travel to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a National League tilt. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Currently the odds have the Diamondbacks as a small favorite at -105 with the total sitting at 7 runs for the game.
Free Analysis: The NL West games always have pretty low totals, especially when a guy like Timmy Lincecum on the mound. He's always seeming to have inflated prices and low totals, so this is nothing new to Giants backers or bettors in general. Ian Kennedy, 21-4 with a 2.88 ERA in a breakout season last year for Arizona, will oppose the two-time Cy Young award winner for the Giants. Lincecum is coming off the first losing season of his Major League career at 13-14, but he had a better ERA than Kennedy at 2.74. However, in his career against the Diamondbacks, Lincecum has been owned. In four starts against Arizona, he was 0-3 with a 4.32 ERA. On the other hand, Kennedy has a 3-0 record against the Giants with an ERA of 1.22 in his five career starts. Kennedy, on the other hand, was 3-0 with a 1.22 ERA in five starts against San Francisco in his career. If Kennedy has been this dominant, why is the price so low? The Giants opened as a plus-money option, but they've jumped to being a bet that has juice attached to it. Giants catcher Buster Posey, who was drilled at a home plate collision last season, is back in the lineup as the everyday backstop and is reported to be fully healthy again. He's a big bat in the middle of that order and he has bashed Kennedy around in his career, connecting for six hits in 14 at bats. Arizona was the surprise team in the Major Leagues last season, making a worst-to-first run that had everyone in baseball surprised. They did it by getting great pitching, timely hitting and playing defense. They were a gritty team that did all the little things right in order to win games. And when they fell behind early, it didn't matter. Arizona led baseball last year with 48 come-from-behind wins. It's going to be a quality game between two good pitchers. The difference, obviously, will be which team hits the ball. Current Diamondback hitters are just .210 against Lincecum in their careers, and it isn't a short at bat list. Arizona hitters have 243 plate appearances against Timmy and only 21 of the hits went for extra bases. Kennedy has given up 33 hits to Giant hitters, and only six of them have gone for extra bases in 133 plate appearances. Pitching should be at a premium tonight.
Free Pick: I like the Giants at plus money, but I doubt you can get that anywhere at this time. If you can't get them at a good price, it might be better to take the under, which is just 7 runs. That doesn't seem like a lot for a baseball game but with these pitchers and their careers against the other team, it's tough to imagine too many runs crossing the plate. It should be a good game and a fun one to watch.
Betting Strategies - MLB American League League Projections
Host Scott Spreitzer and Pregame Pro Bryan Leonard discuss American League team previews and Futures best bet from both Scott and Bryan.