MLB Betting: Hudson and Braves Battle Marlins in Rubber Game
The Braves and Marlins have split the first two games of their three-game set in Miami. Tim Hudson will get the call for Atlanta tonight against Florida's Ricky Nolasco.
The baseball race in the NL East hasn't changed much since Opening Day. When play begins today, all five teams will be within three games of each other. The Phillies lead the pack with a 26-19 mark and each team is playing over .500.
Stating that all games are important when a race is this close comes straight from the Department of the Very Obvious. But it makes the interdivision matches such as tonight's Braves, Marlins contest doubly crucial. This contest will serve as the rubber game of the series and mean the difference between sitting in second place going into the weekend or possibly ranking last in the division.
Carrying the load for their respective teams on the mound in this one will be Atlanta's Tim Hudson (5-4, 2.09) and Florida's Ricky Nolasco (5-4, 4.50). Each will be making his 10th start of 2010.
Thursday's series finale saw the odds open as a virtual pick 'em , with a couple of shops handing the Fish a little bit of chalk. The total is listed at eight with the 'over' the more expensive side.
Martin Prado's sac fly in the top of the seventh ignited a six-run from for the Braves on Wednesday to even the series at a game apiece with a 7-3 victory. Atlanta was 145 chalk behind starting pitcher Tommy Hanson who went six innings and allowed two of the three Marlins runs. The 'over' 8½ cashed to mark the fourth consecutive 'over' between the two clubs dating back to Sept. 2009.
Atlanta and Hudson have each added wins to their ledger in the right-hander's last three starts. He's coming off eight shutout innings at Pittsburgh last Friday in the Braves' 7-0 win, and has allowed just two runs during the three-game stretch that covers 22 innings.
One might think of the pitcher Hudson used to be and assume he is blowing away hitters during his string of wins. Not so. Hudson has walked 11 and struck out only 10 in the stretch, and has a very level 26/23 strikeout-to-walk ratio on the season.
Atlanta is 3-2 in Hudson's five road start to date with the Georgian owning a 2.27 ERA away from Turner Field. The Braves are 2-1 in his last three start at Sun Life Stadium.
Nolasco's season has been up-and-down. He's coming off his worst start of the campaign, allowing eight runs in 5 1/3 innings on Chicago's South Side last Friday in an 8-0 loss to the White Sox.
Florida is 1-3 in his home starts, with Nolasco's ERA a bloated 6.14 in Miami. Chipper Jones and Brian McCann might skip BP before this game since they've basically taken part in that exercise when facing Nolasco in the past. The pair is a combined 21-for-57 (.368) with four dingers each. However, a lot of that damage came before the 2009 season.
Veteran umpire Dana DeMuth will be making his 11th appearance behind the plate this season, with the visitors owning a 6-4 mark in the previous 10. The 'under' is also 6-4, and 2-1 when the total is eight or less.
There is a 30 percent chance of rain in the Miami area for Thursday, something that goes with the territory this time of year. The thermometer should still be scratching 80ºF at game time with southwest winds at 5-10 mph (1B line out to LF).
Florida continues its 10-game homestand when the Phillies come to Miami for three this weekend. Atlanta will head home after this contest to start a six-game homestand beginning with the Pirates.
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!
The Braves and Marlins have split the first two games of their three-game set in Miami. Tim Hudson will get the call for Atlanta tonight against Florida's Ricky Nolasco.
The baseball race in the NL East hasn't changed much since Opening Day. When play begins today, all five teams will be within three games of each other. The Phillies lead the pack with a 26-19 mark and each team is playing over .500.
Stating that all games are important when a race is this close comes straight from the Department of the Very Obvious. But it makes the interdivision matches such as tonight's Braves, Marlins contest doubly crucial. This contest will serve as the rubber game of the series and mean the difference between sitting in second place going into the weekend or possibly ranking last in the division.
Carrying the load for their respective teams on the mound in this one will be Atlanta's Tim Hudson (5-4, 2.09) and Florida's Ricky Nolasco (5-4, 4.50). Each will be making his 10th start of 2010.
Thursday's series finale saw the odds open as a virtual pick 'em , with a couple of shops handing the Fish a little bit of chalk. The total is listed at eight with the 'over' the more expensive side.
Martin Prado's sac fly in the top of the seventh ignited a six-run from for the Braves on Wednesday to even the series at a game apiece with a 7-3 victory. Atlanta was 145 chalk behind starting pitcher Tommy Hanson who went six innings and allowed two of the three Marlins runs. The 'over' 8½ cashed to mark the fourth consecutive 'over' between the two clubs dating back to Sept. 2009.
Atlanta and Hudson have each added wins to their ledger in the right-hander's last three starts. He's coming off eight shutout innings at Pittsburgh last Friday in the Braves' 7-0 win, and has allowed just two runs during the three-game stretch that covers 22 innings.
One might think of the pitcher Hudson used to be and assume he is blowing away hitters during his string of wins. Not so. Hudson has walked 11 and struck out only 10 in the stretch, and has a very level 26/23 strikeout-to-walk ratio on the season.
Atlanta is 3-2 in Hudson's five road start to date with the Georgian owning a 2.27 ERA away from Turner Field. The Braves are 2-1 in his last three start at Sun Life Stadium.
Nolasco's season has been up-and-down. He's coming off his worst start of the campaign, allowing eight runs in 5 1/3 innings on Chicago's South Side last Friday in an 8-0 loss to the White Sox.
Florida is 1-3 in his home starts, with Nolasco's ERA a bloated 6.14 in Miami. Chipper Jones and Brian McCann might skip BP before this game since they've basically taken part in that exercise when facing Nolasco in the past. The pair is a combined 21-for-57 (.368) with four dingers each. However, a lot of that damage came before the 2009 season.
Veteran umpire Dana DeMuth will be making his 11th appearance behind the plate this season, with the visitors owning a 6-4 mark in the previous 10. The 'under' is also 6-4, and 2-1 when the total is eight or less.
There is a 30 percent chance of rain in the Miami area for Thursday, something that goes with the territory this time of year. The thermometer should still be scratching 80ºF at game time with southwest winds at 5-10 mph (1B line out to LF).
Florida continues its 10-game homestand when the Phillies come to Miami for three this weekend. Atlanta will head home after this contest to start a six-game homestand beginning with the Pirates.
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!