First the recap, went 2-0 yesterday winning in dramatic fashion with a 3 run walk off in the Royals game, and also hit my 3 team parlay. Let's move on today where I'm breaking down this Dodgers/Giants game. We have Chad Billingsley going for the Dodgers and Barry Zito for the Giants. Dodgers have now dropped 3 straight and are 7 behind the Padres and 5 behind the Giants. Time to make up some ground huh guys? Billingsley has been pretty solid as of late. He is 2-1 in his last 3 starts with a 3.32 ERA. He has given up 18 hits, 7 runs, and ZERO long balls. Billingsley is 6-4 in his last 10 starts against the Dodgers, but he's dominant in almost every start. He just faced this same Giants team 10 days ago and threw a complete game shutout and got the win. If you look at his recent starts against the Giants you will see that this guy has not given up more than 3 runs against this team since September 29th, 2007 where he gave up 4 runs. He is a terrific day time pitcher with a 2-1 record and a fantastic 1.09 ERA. In 24 innings pitched he has given up 20 hits only 3 runs, and again has not surrendered a home run ball.
Giants counter with Barry Zito who is 8-6 on the year, but 1-2 his last 3 starts. Not really his fault though as the Giants fail miserably to produce runs when he pitches. In his last 3 starts guess how many runs the Giants have produced for him? 4 RUNS, a measly 4 runs in 3 games one in which they were shutout in which was against this same LA team and same starting pitcher. LA has been hitting a miserable .184 against lefties, but in reality they hit left handers better than righties as they have an overall average of .261 compared to only .254 against right handed pitchers. As I looked deeper into this match up I began to like the Dodgers more. Dodgers are 20-8 in their last 28 vs. National League West. Dodgers are 20-6 in Billingsleys last 26 starts vs. National League West (76%). They also do very well in this current situation of being a road dog as they are 5-1 in Billingsleys last 6 starts as a road underdog, and Dodgers are 4-1 in Billingsleys last 5 road starts vs. a team with a winning record. On the other hand, the Giants are 1-4 in Zitos last 5 starts vs. National League West. They also are 2-5 in Zitos last 7 starts with the total set at 7.0-8.5. The umpire in today's game Rob Drake, he is a very consistent umpire with the home team winning 10 and the road team winning 11 out of his 21 starts. Road team is 7-2 in Drakes last 9 Saturday games behind home plate, but Home team is 4-1 in Drakes last 5 games behind home plate vs. San Francisco. So it can go both ways, he's a very consistent ump in my opinion so he won't be much of a factor. Dodgers are also 5-2 in the last 7 meetings in San Francisco. I just really think Billingsley owns this Giants team and combine that with the fact that the Giants do not give Mr. Zito any run support and you got yourself a Dodger victory. This one probably won't be pretty, I expect a low scoring hard fought game, but the Dodgers have to do something if they want to stay alive in the West. Dodgers break the streak and come out with a victory today. I wish all my friends here the best of luck, let's keep making that Baseball money
Los Angeles Dodgers (-104)
Risking 208 to Win 200