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Giants@Padres
The San Diego Padres are 24th in the league in runs scored. They are 26th in home runs. They are 27th (!) in batting percentage. Anything else? Oh yeah : they have a 22-15 record and are leading NL West.
The Padres are one of the more pleasant surprises in this year's season of Major League Baseball. With not much activity during the offseason and a lack of new big names coming in, a lot of people thought that this year wouldn't bring anything else than more dissapointment to the team. How could such a bad team seemingly turn around overnight? Well, from good defense comes good offense. And while the offense still having some major issues, the defense really steped up and became the driving force of this team. To put it into numbers, the Padres have allowed less runs than anyone in the Major League (only 111). And it seems that the Giants have felt it more than anyone else.
In the two series with the Giants, San Diego only gave 8 runs in 6 games, shutting them out twice in the process. In both series, the Padres beat the Giants at their own game, staying resillient and making the most out of their chances. The strong performances from their pitchers allowed them to play at a slower pace, with less scoring, and much more adequate to their hitting prowess.
Today we have a rematch from the last series, as Matt Cain comes into San Diego, trying to forget the last outing, when he got rattled for 6 hits for 5 runs and walked 6. That was the worst outing of his season, after he didn't allow more than 3 runs in any of his previous games this year. On the other side we have lefty Clayton Richard, who outdueled Cain and put one of his best performances this season. He went 7 innings and allowed only 2 runs, posting his 4th quality start in 7 games started. Overall he has an ERA of 3.21, just edging Cain at 3.38.
The odds came out with the Giants being a -120 favorite, and with a slight RLM they now sit at -109/-101, with SF still being the favorite.
So what has changed in this short period? Unfortunately for the Giants, not much. San Francisco healed their wounds on Houston, sweeping the 3-game series at home. The Padres, however, got swept by the Dodgers, in a series of tight games. But since styles make games, I'll roll with the Padres once again. They seem to have San Francisco's number, no matter who they put on the mound. And with the Giants trailing them only by a half-game, any slip-up against their main rivals would be crucial, even in this early stage of the season. They have waited this for a long time and they won't give it up without a fight. As long as Richard keeps his cool and gives them a pitching edge, they should win in a under-ish type of game. Take the home dog in this late night battle for the division lead.
Pick : San Diego Padres @ -101 (5Dimes)
Game starts at 10:05 PM ET
Opinions are welcome.
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