Monday night baseball and we will see the Arizona Diamondbacks travel to the West Coast to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in game 1 of their 3 game series. The game is scheduled for a 10:10 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live locally. Currently the odds have the Dodgers favored at -132, while Arizona is dogs of +124. The total for the game sits at 7.5 runs.
Free Analysis: Arizona has been playing well over the past few weeks but the question is whether it's too late to turn their season around. The numbers say the Snakes are right in the mix of he National League West race. Despite the Diamondbacks 5-1 loss to the Mets Sunday, Arizona has still won seven of ten and might be flying under the radar with San Francisco and Los Angeles grabbing most of the head lines. The Diamondbacks begin a 10-game road trip Monday after settling for a split of four games at home with the New York Mets. Arizona's offense has been inconsistent recently, scoring two or fewer runs in three of the last five games. In the other two, it scored 11 and six, respectively. The Diamondbacks will need more consistency to emerge successful on this road trip, which also includes visits to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Diamondbacks expect to have Chris Johnson available after picking him up in a trade with Houston on Sunday. He was hitting .279 with eight home runs and 41 RBIs in 92 games for the Astros this season. Trevor Cahill is 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA in his last two road starts, and he continues to struggle early in games. He has a 7.65 ERA in the first inning while allowing a first-inning run in 11 starts, including seven straight. Cahill gave up four runs in 6 2/3 innings Wednesday against the Rockies, falling to 2-3 with a 4.45 ERA through five starts in July. The Dodgers are riding a wave of momentum as they begin a nine-game homestand tonight. The Dodgers outscored San Francisco 19-3 over the weekend, and the team has received an instant spark from Hanley Ramirez, who is 7-for-20 with seven RBIs in five games since being acquired from Miami. Shortstop Luis Cruz has also provided a boost, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs on Sunday to extend his career-high hitting streak to 12 games. While Ramirez is enjoying a change of scenery, Kemp has been solid since coming off the disabled list. He went 2 for 5 on Sunday after recording four hits Saturday and is batting .324 since returning from the DL. Aaron Harang (7-5, 3.39 ERA) will look to close out a solid month tonight. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.39 ERA in July. He gave up two runs and two hits in 7 1-3 innings of a 3-2, 12-inning victory over St. Louis on Wednesday. Overall, Harang is 3-6 with a 2.42 ERA versus the Diamondbacks. He's had trouble with several Arizona players, including Chris Young, who is 6 for 19 with three homers, and Lyle Overbay, who is 11 for 24 with five doubles.
Free Pick: After thinking about this game overnight and with some more digging and help from the Pregame community I will be going with LA in this one. Trevor Cahill has some nice road numbers overall and is 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA vs LA, but 2 of those games were earlier in the year when he was hot and the Dodgers were floundering a bit. Now Trevor comes in at 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA in his last 2 road starts and his 7.65 ERA in the first inning could be a problem, cause if they allow an already confident LA Squad to get the early lead then that will just feed their confidence the rest of the game. Hanley Ramirez has really given this team a spark and playing in his first home game for LA will really have the place rocking. Aaron Harang has been pitching very well of late as he is 2-0 with a 2.39 ERA in July and he is 2-2 with a 2.94 ERA at home. He did get rocked in a start at Arizona earlier in the year, but he had allowed no more than 2 ER's in his prior 9 starts vs them. LA has the momentum and a great deal of emotion will be in the park tonight with Hanley's first home game here, plus LA Know they can't afford to lose too many of these, especially with SF at home vs the Mets. LA Continues to roll here.
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Betting Strategies: Handicapping Theories
Host Marco D'Angelo and Pregame Pro Dave Essler discuss there handicapping theories and what they look at when they are handicapping games.