MLB Baseball Betting for August 9, 2016
Back to work for all 30 Major League Baseball teams on Tuesday after a short card on Monday:
MLB BASEBALL BETTING FOR AUGUST 9, 2016:
SAN DIEGO PADRES AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES:
These are tough times for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Padres are going nowhere this season but they didn’t expect anything else. The Pirates entered the year thinking they were legit postseason contenders. In fact, they were right in the mix in the NL Central until just a few weeks ago. Since then, however, they’ve started losing and the first place Chicago Cubs have started playing like the best team in baseball once again. The Cubs were idle on Monday but will enter play on Tuesday with a 69-41 record and having won 7 straight and 9 of 10. They’ve opened up an 11 game lead over the second place St. Louis Cardinals and a 13.5 game lead over the third place Pirates.
The Pirates were also idle on Monday but are coming off a loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. The fans are getting frustrated and coming up with some awful ideas to ‘fix the team’. Their most scathing criticism came from their own play by play broadcaster John Wehner who went off on the team after a horrible 1-5 road trip last week saying that it “appears that they don’t care”:
“It appears as though they don’t care. I think that it’s kind of hard to stomach when you’re playing the Brewers and Braves, two of the worst teams in baseball, and you can’t do anything. When you watch, especially this past road trip, it’s hard to say, but are they really playing? Are they really giving it their all? I mean, don’t the fans deserve to see their best? And we’re definitely not seeing their best and that is the frustrating part.”
Ouch. The Pirates aren’t doing anything well. They’re not hitting. Former MVP Andrew McCutchen is having a horrible season and he’s not hitting either. In the past seven games the Pirates have a downright pitiful .190 batting average though they *have* increased their run per game average to 3.4 per contest. Heading into last weekend their L7 runs per game was at 2.9 and that’s not going to win a lot of Major League baseball games.
At this point, the Pirates are a pure go against. The Padres are nothing special but still exert a decent effort. The same can’t be said for Pittsburgh.
BET SAN DIEGO PADRES +150 OVER PITTSBURGH PIRATES
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS AT MIAMI MARLINS:
Another struggling team here–the San Francisco Giants have been in horrible form since the All Star Break but somehow they’ve been able to hold on to first place in the NL West. That might not be the case at the close of action on Monday night. The Giants are tied with the Marlins 7-7 in the top of the 14th as of just after midnight Eastern Time. The LA Dodgers, meanwhile, are routing the Phillies 8-3 at Chavez Ravine. Assuming that score holds, the Giants will be tied with the Dodgers should they lose their marathon game with Miami.
The Giants have been scuffling but unlike the aforementioned Pirates it’s obvious they ‘still care’–tonight, for example, they fought their way back to tie the game after going down several runs early. They just aren’t playing well and nothing is coming easy for them right now. There’s no way around it–they need to start winning and doing so ASAP. The Dodgers aren’t exactly tearing it up with a 5-5 record in their last 10 games. As of Monday night, in fact, none of the five teams in the NL West have a winning record in their last ten games. That won’t matter if the Giants don’t stop winning. At their current pace they’ll be passed up by the Dodgers even if Los Angeles can do no better than .500 baseball the rest of the way.
Miami also has problems and have lost 6 of 10. They’re at the risk of losing sight of the NL East leading Washington Nationals who have won 7 of 10 and now lead the Marlins by 7 games (pending Monday’s result). They’ve also got to deal with the third place New York Mets who are just 2 games back.
Both starters are in decent form, but Miami’s Tom Kohler has been extremely sharp in his recent starts. Lefthander Matt Moore has also looked good recently but since the Marlins hit LHP well and are 18-7 against southpaws this season. In a ‘pick’em’ game that’s enough for us to go with the home team against the sad sack Giants.
BET MIAMI MARLINS -110 OVER SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS