MLB Baseball
2012-04-13 - Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Friday 13 April 2012 - First Pitch 10:10pm ET
3:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
These two teams must surely be getting a little sick of the sight of one another as they meet for the fifth time this season, having already played in Japan and California. The Seattle Mariners (4-4) get a chance to open their home season after doing a lot of travelling early in the 2012 season. The Oakland Athletics (3-4) play their first 'road' game of the season after giving up a couple of home games to play in Japan.
The bats had looked a little tired for the Mariners as they lost 3 of their last 4 games against the Texas Rangers, scoring 12 runs in those games. However, the fact they have finally come home to play may give them a boost in this one.
Seattle will be sending their ace pitcher, 'King' Felix Hernandez, to the mound for his third start already this season, all coming against Oakland. Hernandez has won 1 of those games, as Seattle have won both, and he has a 4.40 ERA.
Hernandez has enjoyed plenty of success against Oakland in his career, going 12-2 with a 2.57 ERA in his last 19 appearances against them. He has also won his last 5 home starts against them with a 1.77 ERA and is 7-2 and a 2.07 ERA from 10 games against them at home.
Oakland are avergaing just 3 runs per game so far this season as they struggle to find consistency with their bats. They scored 5 runs in a win over Kansas City a couple of nights ago, but they had scored just 1 in their 2 previous home games. The A's have the 3rd worst batting percentage so far in the Major Leagues.
They send Barolo Colon to the mound for his third start of the season, again all against Seattle. He has gone 1-1 in those games so far with a 5.84 ERA, although that is mainly down to the fact he allowed 7 runs in his last appearance against them. The first appearance in Japan saw him restrict the Mariners to just 1 run.
Colon will also gain a lot of confidence from his previous appearances in Seattle during his career. He has a 7-0 record from his last 8 starts in this Stadium and a 1.86 ERA, although he has not played here since 2008.
Seattle will hope they can reverse Colon's successes here as they look for their first opening day win at home since 2009.
Head to Head
Seattle lead the season series 3-1 so far, having split the two games in Japan and then winning twice on the road in Oakland.
The Mariners were 6-4 at home last season against Oakland, although they have lost their last 2 against them here.
Seattle are 16-5 in their last 21 games against Oakland when they send Felix Hernandez to the mound.
Prediction
I am going to take the Seattle Mariners with a risky run line pick here as I think they have the better batting line up at this moment and are scoring more runs than Oakland who have struggled with their bats.
Seattle also send Felix Hernandez to the mound and he has been dominant against the A's at home, even though he has mixed success against this line up so far in 2012.
I think the pitching edge and the hotter bats will give Seattle the chance to win a low scoring game.
The Pick :
Seattle Mariners 4-1 Oakland Athletics
