MLB Baseball
2012-04-12 - San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Thursday 12 April 2012 - First Pitch 3:10pm ET
8:10pm (British Standard Time)
Preview
I was totally surprised by the result between these two teams last night as the Colorado Rockies (2-3) scored almost double the runs they had managed all season to beat the San Francisco Giants (1-4) and level the series at 1-1.
If someone had told me before the game that the Giants would score 8 runs last night, I would have been sure they would have won the game, probably with a bit of room to spare, but Tim Lincecum was hammered in the first 3 innings before being pulled. The bullpen was no better as they still had a 7-6 lead until giving up 7 runs in an embarrassing 5th inning.
The Giants will at least feel a little better that their own bats seem to be working as they have now put up 15 runs in the two games in the series, although Coors Field is a batter friendly ballpark. Still, the Giants will expect to give another one of their better pitchers some support and hope he has a better performance than his first in 2012.
Madison Bumgarner will be given the ball after giving up 4 runs from 4 innings in a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He issued 2 walks in that game and struck out 3 batters, but better things will be expected from him on the mound after he finished 2011 with a 13-13 record with a 3.21 ERA.
Bumgarner also has had a lot of success against the Rockies, going 2-1 in his last 5 games against them with a 0.82 ERA. He started once here in that run, giving up just 1 run in 7 innings pitched, although that run was unearned.
Colorado had only scored 10 runs in 4 games this season before the 17 run outburst last night. They will likely need some runs in this one as they send 49 year old Jamie Moyer to the mound for his second start of the season. Moyer gave up 3 earned runs in a 7-3 loss to Houston in his first start since 2010 and he will try and become the oldest pitcher to win a game.
However, he has lost his last 3 games against the San Francisco Giants with a 6.88 ERA.
Head to Head
The win for Colorado last night was the first time they had beaten the San Francisco Giants in 6 games at Coors Field.
The Giants are 8-2 in their last 10 games against Colorado.
Prediction
I am going back to the well for a pick that I made yesterday and I am going to take the San Francisco Giants to cover the run line for the following reasons:
First, they do have a very strong record here and I think Madison Bumgarner will give them a better effort than Tim Lincecum who really struggled with his control yesterday.
Second, Jamie Moyer has not had it easy in his last three games with the Giants and didn't have much success in his opening start of the season.
Third, the Giants bats have been producing runs in recent games and I think they will do enough to win and cover the run line today.
The Pick :
Colorado Rockies 3-7 San Francisco Giants
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll take the San Francisco Giants - 1.5 Runs @ 2.30
