MLB Betting Preview: Dodgers Send Kershaw to Mound Versus Padres
Los Angeles saw its nine-game win streak snapped last night. The Dodgers will attempt to start a new string if dubya's Thursday when they close the series with San Diego.
Their nine-game win streak stopped, the Los Angeles Dodgers looks to begin a new string of victories tonight at home behind young left-hander Clayton Kershaw.
Right-hander Kevin Correia is slated to start for the division-leading San Diego Padres. Early betting lines established the Dodgers as the 160-170 favorites with the total opening on seven.
Adrian Gonzalez drove in six runs with a homer and two singles on Wednesday to help San Diego to a 10-5 win. Jon Garland, who spent part of '09 in the Dodgers rotation, improved to 5-2 for the Padres who have now won six of the right-hander's last six starts.
San Diego closed as plus 105 underdogs on Wednesday and enter tonight's short series finale with a 24-16 record and up nearly 10 units. Los Angeles now sits 22-18 and third in the NL West, two games behind the Pads. The Dodgers are down about 1.6 units overall on the season.
Los Angeles is already without slugger Andre Ethier who is on the DL with a broken pinky. They were also without Manny Ramirez last night after the overpaid flake stubbed his little toe before the game. Yep, just Manny being Manny, I guess.
Correia (4-3, 4.35) is no doubt still dealing with the recent death of his younger brother, but he didn't use that as an excuse for his loss last Saturday to the Dodgers. The Padres right-hander worked into the sixth, allowing all four runs in the loss.
The defeat broke a string of four consecutive starts against LA that resulted in wins for his team. That string dated to 2008 when he was with the Giants.
His two most recent starting assignments at Chavez Ravine – one in 2008 and one in 2009 – resulted in him pitching 11 1/3 innings with five earned runs coming plateward.
Kershaw (5-3, 3.55) got off to a horrible start to May when the Brewers bombed him for seven runs in under two innings at Dodger Stadium. Milwaukee went on to an 11-6 victory.
The southpaw from Dallas has since bounced back in a big way with wins over the Rockies and at San Diego when he dueled Correia last weekend. Kershaw has surrendered just one earned run and five hits in his last 15 frames, striking out 16 along the way.
Last Saturday's win at Petco broke Kershaw's two-game losing streak to the Pads. Los Angeles won just one of his four starts versus the Friars in 2009.
Jerry Crawford, who just celebrated his 34-year anniversary of his MLB debut as an umpire, is behind the mask tonight. The visitors have won five of his six home plate assignments in 2010, with totals splitting 3-3.
Short of a California ground-shaker, Mother Nature won't interfere with this one. Skies are going to be clear and it should be in the upper-60s for the first pitch.
The Dodgers will host an interleague series this weekend against the Detroit Tigers before heading out on the road next week to visit the Cubs and Rockies. San Diego continues its road trip with an interleague date at Seattle before coming home to open a nine-game homestand next Monday versus the Cardinals.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
Los Angeles saw its nine-game win streak snapped last night. The Dodgers will attempt to start a new string if dubya's Thursday when they close the series with San Diego.
Their nine-game win streak stopped, the Los Angeles Dodgers looks to begin a new string of victories tonight at home behind young left-hander Clayton Kershaw.
Right-hander Kevin Correia is slated to start for the division-leading San Diego Padres. Early betting lines established the Dodgers as the 160-170 favorites with the total opening on seven.
Adrian Gonzalez drove in six runs with a homer and two singles on Wednesday to help San Diego to a 10-5 win. Jon Garland, who spent part of '09 in the Dodgers rotation, improved to 5-2 for the Padres who have now won six of the right-hander's last six starts.
San Diego closed as plus 105 underdogs on Wednesday and enter tonight's short series finale with a 24-16 record and up nearly 10 units. Los Angeles now sits 22-18 and third in the NL West, two games behind the Pads. The Dodgers are down about 1.6 units overall on the season.
Los Angeles is already without slugger Andre Ethier who is on the DL with a broken pinky. They were also without Manny Ramirez last night after the overpaid flake stubbed his little toe before the game. Yep, just Manny being Manny, I guess.
Correia (4-3, 4.35) is no doubt still dealing with the recent death of his younger brother, but he didn't use that as an excuse for his loss last Saturday to the Dodgers. The Padres right-hander worked into the sixth, allowing all four runs in the loss.
The defeat broke a string of four consecutive starts against LA that resulted in wins for his team. That string dated to 2008 when he was with the Giants.
His two most recent starting assignments at Chavez Ravine – one in 2008 and one in 2009 – resulted in him pitching 11 1/3 innings with five earned runs coming plateward.
Kershaw (5-3, 3.55) got off to a horrible start to May when the Brewers bombed him for seven runs in under two innings at Dodger Stadium. Milwaukee went on to an 11-6 victory.
The southpaw from Dallas has since bounced back in a big way with wins over the Rockies and at San Diego when he dueled Correia last weekend. Kershaw has surrendered just one earned run and five hits in his last 15 frames, striking out 16 along the way.
Last Saturday's win at Petco broke Kershaw's two-game losing streak to the Pads. Los Angeles won just one of his four starts versus the Friars in 2009.
Jerry Crawford, who just celebrated his 34-year anniversary of his MLB debut as an umpire, is behind the mask tonight. The visitors have won five of his six home plate assignments in 2010, with totals splitting 3-3.
Short of a California ground-shaker, Mother Nature won't interfere with this one. Skies are going to be clear and it should be in the upper-60s for the first pitch.
The Dodgers will host an interleague series this weekend against the Detroit Tigers before heading out on the road next week to visit the Cubs and Rockies. San Diego continues its road trip with an interleague date at Seattle before coming home to open a nine-game homestand next Monday versus the Cardinals.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
