MLB Baseball
2012-07-25 - San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Wednesday 25 July 2012 - First Pitch 3:45pm ET
8:45pm (British Standard Time)
Preview
The San Francisco Giants (55-42) will look to put the finishing touches on a three game sweep of the San Diego Padres (41-58) and maintain their lead over the LA Dodgers in the National League West. The Giants have been in great form since the All-Star break, but the race for the Division title looks set to go all the way to October.
They will look for Tim Lincecum to have a big second half of the season after he struggled badly in the first half. Lincecum has a 4-10 record this season with a 5.72 ERA, the highest in the National League, but he has begun to turn things around in his last couple of starts and that bodes well for San Francisco.
The former two time Cy Young winner has won both his starts since the All-Star game and he has given up just the 2 runs in 15 innings pitched in those games.
Lincecum has also dominated the San Diego Padres, compiling a 0.39 ERA in winning his last 3 home starts against them and he has a 1.90 ERA in his 10 career home starts against the Padres.
San Diego have scored just 3 runs and 11 hits in the first two games of the series, but they are going to need to get something going as they send Jason Marquis to the mound to counter Lincecum.
Marquis is 3-5 and has a 3.79 ERA since joining the San Diego Padres from the Minnesota Twins, and he was protected from a loss in his last outing by a strong run output. The pitcher allowed 5 runs in 5 innings against the Colorado Rockies, but San Diego scored 9 runs to win the game.
He played against the Giants in his debut for the Padres and he gave up 4 runs in 6 innings pitched as San Diego were beaten 8-3.
Head to Head
San Francisco lead the 2012 season series 6-2 thanks to wins in their opening two games of this series.
The Giants have won 4 in a row at home against San Diego and are now 10-2 in their last 12 here against them.
San Francisco are 31-16 at home this season, San Diego are 19-29 on the road.
San Francisco are 24-19 in day games this season, San Diego are 14-21.
Prediction
I picked San Francisco to cover the run line last night and they failed to do so, but I did highlight the concerns I had as Edinson Volquez has been pitching very well of late.
This is a different situation as I think Jason Marquis has not been so tight with his command of late and I believe he will offer up chances for the San Francisco batting line up that has been very good since the All-Star break.
Tim Lincecum has also improved markedly in his last couple of starts and I think it is worth riding that momentum and looking for the Giants to win by a couple of runs at least.
The Pick :
San Francisco Giants 6-3 San Diego Padres
