MLB Baseball
2012-04-12 - Arizona D-Backs at San Diego Padres
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Thursday 12 April 2012 - First Pitch 10:05pm ET
3:05pm (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Arizona Diamondbacks (4-1) and the San Diego Padres (2-4) have split the opening two games of their series in California as they get to set to complete the first series of the season against one another. Both of the first two games have been low scoring affairs, with just 9 total runs scored in those games.
The Diamondbacks will be disappointed that they have not already wrapped up this series as they struggled to get the runs over home plate yesterday in a 2-1 loss. They left 11 runners on base and failed to get a hit in 8 at bats when they had runners in scoring positions.
They will hope to have more success as they face Anthony Bass who will be making his first start of the season for the Padres. Bass has worked 4 innings this season in 2 relief appearances and has allowed 2 hits and 1 earned run in those innings. He was 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA in 3 starts for the Padres last season, although he didn't get beyond 81 pitches in any of those games.
San Diego have struggled at the plate in their opening 6 games of the season, but they may have received a bonus in confidence after securing the win last night with a 2 run homer in the 8th inning after failing to get much going in the first 7 innings.
That won't be easy against Ian Kennedy who won his opening start of the season against the San Francisco Giants, but who was not happy with his performance of giving up 3 runs from just under 7 innings. Kennedy had a superb 10-2 record on the road last season with a 3.19 ERA from 15 starts, and he recorded the joint most wins on the road with Kevin Correia of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Kennedy has also enjoyed plenty of success against the Padres, posting a 1.82 ERA in his last 5 against them. He won all 3 starts against them last season and struck out 27 batters while issuing just 1 walk in those games.
Head to Head
Arizona have not had a great time in visits to San Diego, going 5-16 in their last 21 visits in the series.
However, they are 5-5 in the last 10 games played here.
The Diamondbacks are 11-5 in the last 16 games of the series overall.
Prediction
I am going to back the Arizona Diamondbacks to win this game with a little bit of room to spare for the following reasons:
First, I think the Diamondbacks have been solid at the plate and were unfortunate not to make the most out of the situations they had yesterday.
Second, Ian Kennedy has played really well against the San Diego Padres in his recent games against them and might not need a lot of run support to get the team over the edge.
Third, Arizona have played well in the recent games in the series.
The Pick :
San Diego Padres 2-4 Arizona D-Backs
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the Arizona Diamondbacks - 1.5 Runs @ 2.30
