Nationals, Padres face off in this week's Series of Losers
Nationals, Padres face off at Petco Park in this week's Series of Losers
Leonard Pinth-Garnell here with another installment of Bad Baseball. This week we travel to San Diego's Petco Park where we find the Padres hosting the Nationals.
If you're out and about the next few days and happen to catch a rather rancid odor wafting about you, do not fret. It's not your underarm deodorant failing, nor has someone in your general vicinity cut the cheese. It's just the Padres, Nationals series out west in San Diego.
Seriously, the only way this series could involve a worse matchup would be if you chucked San Diego from the mix and replaced the Friars with either the Pirates, Orioles or Royals. That's not to say these games won't be exciting or that there won't be some good baseball on display Monday-Wednesday at Petco Park. But we're talking about two teams that have combined for a 102-161 (.387) record and sit a grand total of 53 games out of their respective division leads.
San Diego travels cross-country from Florida after a 4-2 roadie through Atlanta and Miami. The Pads took two of three from both the Braves and Marlins, and would love nothing more than to escape the NL West cellar while also playing the role of spoiler these last five weeks of the regular season.
The Nationals continue their nine-game road trip that started in Chicago against the Cubs last week where they won two of three and continued in St. Louis over the weekend where they were swept by the high-flying Cardinals. The Nats have a very capable offense that ranks sixth in the NL in scoring and fifth with a team .760 OPS. As for their mound, did I mention that Washington has a very capable offense?
Game 1 features a veteran in Livan Hernandez making his second start with the Nationals in his second tour of duty with the club. ‘Quarter Pounder,’ as I’ve come to call him, will face the very tough-luck who has pitched at least a little better than his team 2-7 mark with him on the mound might indicate. SD and Stauffer are drawing the -135 to -140 chalk in this one with a total of 8.
Though I’m a big Livan fan, I won’t back him in this one and may not the rest of the way this season unless he shows he is going to build on his first start with the Nats which saw him go six frames while allowing two runs at the Cubs, coming away with a no-decision in a 9-4 Washington loss. At the same time, though I’m going to make a regular one-unit wager on the Padres to win the series (-150), I can’t bring myself to back Stauffer in this opener. Instead, I’m going to try my luck on the Over 8 this evening along with my series wager, checking back the next couple of days to see what prices might draw me into backing one team or the other.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1, Mon, 10:05 p.m. (ET): Livan Hernandez (9-15, 5.36) vs. Tim Stauffer (2-7, 4.11)
Game 2, Tue, 10:05 p.m.: J.D. Martin (5-3, 4.85) vs. Clayton Richard (4-2, 5.22)
Game 3, Wed, 3:35 p.m.: John Lannan (11-16, 3.95) vs. Kevin Correia (15-12, 4.50)
WEATHER
Hey, it's San Diego. Do you really expect a problem with the weather? The forecasts are calling for a 20% chance of rain on Monday and dropping that to 10% on Tuesday and Wednesday so it might not the most perfect weather in what I consider to be the world's capital of perfect weather. But nothing really to postpone a game. Look for temps in the mid-to-upper 70s at the start of the night games on Mon-Tue, and the low-80s during Wednesday's afternoon matinee.
Leonard Pinth-Garnell here with another installment of Bad Baseball. This week we travel to San Diego's Petco Park where we find the Padres hosting the Nationals.
If you're out and about the next few days and happen to catch a rather rancid odor wafting about you, do not fret. It's not your underarm deodorant failing, nor has someone in your general vicinity cut the cheese. It's just the Padres, Nationals series out west in San Diego.
Seriously, the only way this series could involve a worse matchup would be if you chucked San Diego from the mix and replaced the Friars with either the Pirates, Orioles or Royals. That's not to say these games won't be exciting or that there won't be some good baseball on display Monday-Wednesday at Petco Park. But we're talking about two teams that have combined for a 102-161 (.387) record and sit a grand total of 53 games out of their respective division leads.
San Diego travels cross-country from Florida after a 4-2 roadie through Atlanta and Miami. The Pads took two of three from both the Braves and Marlins, and would love nothing more than to escape the NL West cellar while also playing the role of spoiler these last five weeks of the regular season.
The Nationals continue their nine-game road trip that started in Chicago against the Cubs last week where they won two of three and continued in St. Louis over the weekend where they were swept by the high-flying Cardinals. The Nats have a very capable offense that ranks sixth in the NL in scoring and fifth with a team .760 OPS. As for their mound, did I mention that Washington has a very capable offense?
Game 1 features a veteran in Livan Hernandez making his second start with the Nationals in his second tour of duty with the club. ‘Quarter Pounder,’ as I’ve come to call him, will face the very tough-luck who has pitched at least a little better than his team 2-7 mark with him on the mound might indicate. SD and Stauffer are drawing the -135 to -140 chalk in this one with a total of 8.
Though I’m a big Livan fan, I won’t back him in this one and may not the rest of the way this season unless he shows he is going to build on his first start with the Nats which saw him go six frames while allowing two runs at the Cubs, coming away with a no-decision in a 9-4 Washington loss. At the same time, though I’m going to make a regular one-unit wager on the Padres to win the series (-150), I can’t bring myself to back Stauffer in this opener. Instead, I’m going to try my luck on the Over 8 this evening along with my series wager, checking back the next couple of days to see what prices might draw me into backing one team or the other.
PITCHING MATCHUPS
Game 1, Mon, 10:05 p.m. (ET): Livan Hernandez (9-15, 5.36) vs. Tim Stauffer (2-7, 4.11)
Game 2, Tue, 10:05 p.m.: J.D. Martin (5-3, 4.85) vs. Clayton Richard (4-2, 5.22)
Game 3, Wed, 3:35 p.m.: John Lannan (11-16, 3.95) vs. Kevin Correia (15-12, 4.50)
WEATHER
Hey, it's San Diego. Do you really expect a problem with the weather? The forecasts are calling for a 20% chance of rain on Monday and dropping that to 10% on Tuesday and Wednesday so it might not the most perfect weather in what I consider to be the world's capital of perfect weather. But nothing really to postpone a game. Look for temps in the mid-to-upper 70s at the start of the night games on Mon-Tue, and the low-80s during Wednesday's afternoon matinee.
