MLB Betting Preview: Marlins Look to Even Series at Diamondbacks
It's a coin flip at Chase Field this afternoon when the Florida Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks each send unknown rookies to the mound to end their four-game series.
Two days from now at baseball's All-Star game, every pitcher that takes the mound will be a household name. The exact opposite of that will occur Sunday in Phoenix when a pair of hurlers very few have heard of oppose each other in the finale of the Florida, Arizona series.
With names like Enright and Sanabia squaring off, it's no surprise to see the MLB odds set to a pick 'em with a 10 ½-run total.
Combining to win three World Series in a seven-season span from 1997-2003, the Florida Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks are not enjoying such success in 2010. Florida starts Sunday five games below par at 41-46, putting them fourth in the NL East, 11 games behind the Braves and off nearly six units on the money line. Arizona is dead last in the NL West, 34-54 and down 17.5 units at the window.
The only spot that both teams were making bettors happy was taking games 'over' the scoreboard number. Florida was up a little more than two units with a 44-39-4 'over' lean while the D-Backs were a whopping 53-33-2 that direction, 17 units in the black to almost make up for their money line losses.
Arizona bats have done their part to contribute to the high-scoring games. The Diamondbacks average 4.59 runs per game (eighth in the NL) and have sent 98 balls over the outfield walls (third). But poor results from the mound corps have been a bigger factor.
Diamondback hurlers have served up 117 long flies, most in the majors. Arizona also sits at the bottom of the MLB team ERA column at 5.34.
Paying the price for Arizona's poor season were GM Josh Byrnes and manager A.J. Hinch who were both fired on July 1. The club named Kirk Gibson as interim manager, and Gibby will hand the ball to rookie Barry Enright (1-1, 3.38) for Sunday's series finale.
Enright will be seeing action for just the third time in his career after moving into the rotation spot left vacant when Dontrelle Willis was designated for assignment. The right-hander, a second-round pick in 2007 out of Pepperdine, tasted victory in his debut on June 30, a 4-2 road win at St. Louis. He followed that by tasting defeat in his last outing, a 6-4 home loss to the Cubs this past Tuesday.
Florida also dumped their manager recently, firing Fredi Gonzalez on June 24 and replacing him with Edwin Rodriguez. Sunday should be the day Rodriguez writes in Chris Volstad (4-13, 4.78) on the lineup card as his starting pitcher. However, the big right-hander struggled this year with the Marlins winning just four of his 17 starts, and Volstad was sent down to Triple-A New Orleans after his most recent losing effort.
Instead, Alejandro Sanabia (0-0, 4.32) will be making his first major league start. Sanabia was brought up in June just before Gonzalez was fired, and has seen just three relief appearances. He made 14 starts at Double-A Jacksonville earlier this season where he was 5-1 with a 2.03 ERA.
Arizona took Game 1 on Thursday as small underdogs, 10-4, to break a five-game skid. Florida came back to even the set Friday with a 3-2 triumph as 130 'dogs behind the pitching of Ricky Nolasco and a pair of relievers.
Saturday's third match found the Snakes holding on for a 5-4 win as 140 favorites and the 'under' (10) cashing a second conseuctive game.
The job of calling the plate will fall to Angel Hernandez who has been kind to visiting teams 12 of his previous 19 plate appearances. Home squads are down over 7.6 units when Hernandez is south of the dish, with the 'over' cashing 11 times with a pair of 'pushes.' Both of those trends paid off when Hernandez worked a June 10 game at Chase Field, an 11-7 Atlanta win as 170 'chalk' that easily topped the 9 ½-run 'total.'
Florida will begin the second half of the campaign at home, opening a 10-game stand against the Nationals on Friday (July 16). Preliminary schedules show the Marlins taking on Nats super rookie Stephen Strasburg in that game.
The Diamondbacks will hit the road after the midseason break with a short jaunt to San Diego for three with the Padres.
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!
It's a coin flip at Chase Field this afternoon when the Florida Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks each send unknown rookies to the mound to end their four-game series.
Two days from now at baseball's All-Star game, every pitcher that takes the mound will be a household name. The exact opposite of that will occur Sunday in Phoenix when a pair of hurlers very few have heard of oppose each other in the finale of the Florida, Arizona series.
With names like Enright and Sanabia squaring off, it's no surprise to see the MLB odds set to a pick 'em with a 10 ½-run total.
Combining to win three World Series in a seven-season span from 1997-2003, the Florida Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks are not enjoying such success in 2010. Florida starts Sunday five games below par at 41-46, putting them fourth in the NL East, 11 games behind the Braves and off nearly six units on the money line. Arizona is dead last in the NL West, 34-54 and down 17.5 units at the window.
The only spot that both teams were making bettors happy was taking games 'over' the scoreboard number. Florida was up a little more than two units with a 44-39-4 'over' lean while the D-Backs were a whopping 53-33-2 that direction, 17 units in the black to almost make up for their money line losses.
Arizona bats have done their part to contribute to the high-scoring games. The Diamondbacks average 4.59 runs per game (eighth in the NL) and have sent 98 balls over the outfield walls (third). But poor results from the mound corps have been a bigger factor.
Diamondback hurlers have served up 117 long flies, most in the majors. Arizona also sits at the bottom of the MLB team ERA column at 5.34.
Paying the price for Arizona's poor season were GM Josh Byrnes and manager A.J. Hinch who were both fired on July 1. The club named Kirk Gibson as interim manager, and Gibby will hand the ball to rookie Barry Enright (1-1, 3.38) for Sunday's series finale.
Enright will be seeing action for just the third time in his career after moving into the rotation spot left vacant when Dontrelle Willis was designated for assignment. The right-hander, a second-round pick in 2007 out of Pepperdine, tasted victory in his debut on June 30, a 4-2 road win at St. Louis. He followed that by tasting defeat in his last outing, a 6-4 home loss to the Cubs this past Tuesday.
Florida also dumped their manager recently, firing Fredi Gonzalez on June 24 and replacing him with Edwin Rodriguez. Sunday should be the day Rodriguez writes in Chris Volstad (4-13, 4.78) on the lineup card as his starting pitcher. However, the big right-hander struggled this year with the Marlins winning just four of his 17 starts, and Volstad was sent down to Triple-A New Orleans after his most recent losing effort.
Instead, Alejandro Sanabia (0-0, 4.32) will be making his first major league start. Sanabia was brought up in June just before Gonzalez was fired, and has seen just three relief appearances. He made 14 starts at Double-A Jacksonville earlier this season where he was 5-1 with a 2.03 ERA.
Arizona took Game 1 on Thursday as small underdogs, 10-4, to break a five-game skid. Florida came back to even the set Friday with a 3-2 triumph as 130 'dogs behind the pitching of Ricky Nolasco and a pair of relievers.
Saturday's third match found the Snakes holding on for a 5-4 win as 140 favorites and the 'under' (10) cashing a second conseuctive game.
The job of calling the plate will fall to Angel Hernandez who has been kind to visiting teams 12 of his previous 19 plate appearances. Home squads are down over 7.6 units when Hernandez is south of the dish, with the 'over' cashing 11 times with a pair of 'pushes.' Both of those trends paid off when Hernandez worked a June 10 game at Chase Field, an 11-7 Atlanta win as 170 'chalk' that easily topped the 9 ½-run 'total.'
Florida will begin the second half of the campaign at home, opening a 10-game stand against the Nationals on Friday (July 16). Preliminary schedules show the Marlins taking on Nats super rookie Stephen Strasburg in that game.
The Diamondbacks will hit the road after the midseason break with a short jaunt to San Diego for three with the Padres.
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!
