MLB – San Diego At Los Angeles

A burgeoning I-5 rivalry continues this weekend as San Diego comes up the California coast to take on division enemy Los Angeles as part of the full baseball betting boards for both Saturday and Sunday.


2007-04-13

A burgeoning I-5 rivalry continues this weekend as San Diego comes up the California coast to take on division enemy Los Angeles as part of the full baseball betting boards for both Saturday and Sunday. The action gets started early both days at 1:00 PM ET and runs through the night with the final game of the Padres-Dodgers series closing it out at 8:05 PM ET on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Here’s more on the NL West rivalry:

Coming into the 2007 season these two squads were once again expected to be the cream of the National League West crop. Neither has disappointed with 6-3 start, possibly leading to another season long dogfight like last season when both teams made the post-season with 88-74 record. In a heated three game set, baseball bettors will have their choice of what sounds best.

San Diego won the tiebreaker for the NL West crown last season because they dominated the Dodgers with 13-5 record, producing +9.6 units of profits just from these games alone. The Padres were also authoritative at Dodger Stadium with 7 wins in 9 games. San Diego was able to punish the Los Angeles pitching staff on the road averaging 6.9 runs per game last season.

This year the Padres under new manager Bud Black believe they can improve with greater versatility on offense. Second baseman Marcus Giles is hitting .333 to start the series and 1B Adrian Gonzalez is top RBI man in the first nine games of the season. San Diego is one of the few teams that have the ability to out-pitch L.A. in the National League.

The Padres Jake Peavy looks like the pitcher of old with two topflight performances in 2007. The RH pitcher has four dependable pitches to call upon and bring the heat when needed. Peavy has thrown 13 innings, allowing just eight hits and one run in his two starts. Jason Schmidt will throw in the middle game of the series and is fine after tweaking his hamstring just after he crossed first base while taking a throw from Nomar Garciaparra. Schmidt tends to perspire a lot and neglected to drink enough fluids on warm day in his last start. "I'm a guy who sweats a lot, and it was a warm day," he said. "It usually happens in the later part of the game when your pitch count is up." Schmidt admitted his mistake “It's not rocket science." When the former Giants hurler pitches against San Diego, his teams record has been 14-11, with the Under 15-9 in the last decade. Peavy has handcuffed the L.A. hitters in his career and is 6-1 with a 2.40 ERA. San Diego is 30-11 against the ML vs. poor power teams, averaging 0.9 or less home runs a game coming into series. Game 2 StatFox Edge: Padres

The final game of the series is the ESPN Sunday night contest and will feature a long standing streak favoring one pitcher. 6-foot-10 right-hander Chris Young has 24 consecutive road starts without a defeat coming into his third start of 2007. His team’s record is 17-7 during this period and he has garnered +9.8 units of profit in this time. Young’s feat is as amazing as it is good fortune. Because of his height and pitching over the top, he is more able to pitch high in the strike zone. Most pitchers would have problems with this method and give up a number of home runs. The tall Texan because of angles and skill has been able to work around this giving his team a chance to win every time out, even on the road. The Dodgers shelled out 7.5 million for Randy Wolf, now almost two years removed from Tommy John surgery. Like most pitchers coming back from that surgery, Wolf was often wild last season, part of the reason Philadelphia lost confidence in him. Wolf has been an above average strike-out pitcher who always gave up a few too many home runs. He wasn’t especially effective in his first start in Milwaukee, but out-dueled the 126 million dollar man Barry Zito in his last outing. This will be his home debut in Dodger Stadium and will face a real challenge in Young. Game 3 StatFox Edge: Padres

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