MLB odds Lay Heavy Chalk on Strasburg and Nationals
Stephen Straburg makes his fourth official trip to a major league mound Wednesday afternoon when the Washington Nationals look to sweep the Royals.
He's been the biggest story in baseball the past couple of weeks, and Stephen Strasburg looks to continue his record-setting plunge into the majors on Wednesday afternoon in front of what promises to be another sellout crowd at Nationals Park.
Strasburg's first daylight start in front of the home fans will find Washington trying to complete a sweep of the Kansas City Royals. The Nats have pulled off a pair of one-run victories so far, 2-1 on Monday and 4-3 last night behind Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham home runs.
Some heavy baseball betting lines respect for Strasburg for this one with the Nationals listed in the minus 245-260 range. Wednesday's betting total is 7 ½.
Following wins in each of his first two starts, Strasburg (2-1, 1.86) took a no decision in his last assignment this past Friday. The rookie allowed just four hits and a run over seven frames in what was eventually a 2-1 White Sox win in 11 innings.
Strasburg's 10 strikeouts gave him 32 during his first 19 1/3 innings, a new MLB record for a pitcher's initial three starts. Of the first 72 batters he's faced in the majors, 44.4 percent have done a U-turn from the batter's box back to their dugout.
The Washington offense plated 14 runs in Strasburg's first two starts, well above the 4.15 runs per game the lineup has averaged in 2010. The Nats scored just 14 total during their six-game losing skid that was broken by Monday's 2-1 win over Kansas City in the series opener.
Ryan Zimmerman has led the June swoon going 6-for-39 since June 11. The Nats' 7-13 mark this month is largely due to scoring 69 runs in the 20-game span. Almost a quarter of those runs, 16, came during a three-game sweep of the Pirates during the euphoria of Strasburg being called up on June 8.
Brian Bannister (7-7, 5.70) has the task of opposing Strasburg for the Royals. The right-hander is coming off two very poor road outings at Cincinnati and Atlanta where he combined to allow 16 runs (14 earned) in seven innings. Those two losses followed a string of five wins from May 16 to June 6.
He's faced the Nationals twice before, but both games came when he was just breaking in with the Mets in 2006. Bannister made his MLB debut versus Washington on April 5, 2006, taking a no decision in what was a 9-5 Nats win in 10 innings. He followed that up five days later at old RFK Stadium with seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball for his first big league win in a 7-1 Mets triumph.
Atlanta native Hunter Wendelstedt will be calling the tosses from Strasburg, Bannister and their bullpens. Now in his 13th season at the big league level, Wendelstedt has been a friend to the home teams with a 10-5 lean that direction in his previous plate assignments. He has a light 8-7 lean to the 'under', 2-2 when the number is eight or lower.
All signs point to a typically hot and muggy day for the DC area this time of year. The afternoon high is expected to reach the upper-90s with a 20 percent shot at a rogue t-storm. Winds are presently listed out of the west at 10-15 mph (3B out to RF).
Kansas City will head home following the game and, after taking Thursday off, host the Cardinals for a weekend series. The Nationals also have Thursday off before beginning a three-game set Friday up I-95 about 40 miles in Baltimore.
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!
Stephen Straburg makes his fourth official trip to a major league mound Wednesday afternoon when the Washington Nationals look to sweep the Royals.
He's been the biggest story in baseball the past couple of weeks, and Stephen Strasburg looks to continue his record-setting plunge into the majors on Wednesday afternoon in front of what promises to be another sellout crowd at Nationals Park.
Strasburg's first daylight start in front of the home fans will find Washington trying to complete a sweep of the Kansas City Royals. The Nats have pulled off a pair of one-run victories so far, 2-1 on Monday and 4-3 last night behind Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham home runs.
Some heavy baseball betting lines respect for Strasburg for this one with the Nationals listed in the minus 245-260 range. Wednesday's betting total is 7 ½.
Following wins in each of his first two starts, Strasburg (2-1, 1.86) took a no decision in his last assignment this past Friday. The rookie allowed just four hits and a run over seven frames in what was eventually a 2-1 White Sox win in 11 innings.
Strasburg's 10 strikeouts gave him 32 during his first 19 1/3 innings, a new MLB record for a pitcher's initial three starts. Of the first 72 batters he's faced in the majors, 44.4 percent have done a U-turn from the batter's box back to their dugout.
The Washington offense plated 14 runs in Strasburg's first two starts, well above the 4.15 runs per game the lineup has averaged in 2010. The Nats scored just 14 total during their six-game losing skid that was broken by Monday's 2-1 win over Kansas City in the series opener.
Ryan Zimmerman has led the June swoon going 6-for-39 since June 11. The Nats' 7-13 mark this month is largely due to scoring 69 runs in the 20-game span. Almost a quarter of those runs, 16, came during a three-game sweep of the Pirates during the euphoria of Strasburg being called up on June 8.
Brian Bannister (7-7, 5.70) has the task of opposing Strasburg for the Royals. The right-hander is coming off two very poor road outings at Cincinnati and Atlanta where he combined to allow 16 runs (14 earned) in seven innings. Those two losses followed a string of five wins from May 16 to June 6.
He's faced the Nationals twice before, but both games came when he was just breaking in with the Mets in 2006. Bannister made his MLB debut versus Washington on April 5, 2006, taking a no decision in what was a 9-5 Nats win in 10 innings. He followed that up five days later at old RFK Stadium with seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball for his first big league win in a 7-1 Mets triumph.
Atlanta native Hunter Wendelstedt will be calling the tosses from Strasburg, Bannister and their bullpens. Now in his 13th season at the big league level, Wendelstedt has been a friend to the home teams with a 10-5 lean that direction in his previous plate assignments. He has a light 8-7 lean to the 'under', 2-2 when the number is eight or lower.
All signs point to a typically hot and muggy day for the DC area this time of year. The afternoon high is expected to reach the upper-90s with a 20 percent shot at a rogue t-storm. Winds are presently listed out of the west at 10-15 mph (3B out to RF).
Kansas City will head home following the game and, after taking Thursday off, host the Cardinals for a weekend series. The Nationals also have Thursday off before beginning a three-game set Friday up I-95 about 40 miles in Baltimore.
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!