MLB Baseball
2012-04-19 - LA Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Thursday 19 April 2012 - First Pitch 1:10pm ET
6:10pm (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Milwaukee Brewers (6-6) have moved back up to 0.500 for the season as they took a 2-0 lead in this series against the LA Dodgers (9-3), although for a second night in a row it was a win steeped in controversy at the plate. Once again, the winning run was a close call with a tag at home plate, with the Dodgers calling for instant replay on such a call in the future.
Milwaukee will look for their first sweep of a series against LA since they joined the National League in 1998, but they will need a better effort from Randy Wolf who will be given the ball.
Wolf is 0-1 with a 10.16 ERA this season, but he has struggled in both starts so far, including giving up 8 runs in under 5 innings pitched against the Atlanta Braves. The pitcher did not take the decision loss in that game thanks to the Milwaukee bats, although they did lose that game.
He has performed well through the first time when facing a batting line up, but once they get a read on his pitches, he has really struggled. Wolf is 4-4 from 12 career starts against the Dodgers, including splitting a pair of starts in 2011.
LA will not want to finish this series without a win as they could easily have already picked up 1 of the games, especially Game 1 when they blew a 4-3 lead in the 9th inning to lose.
Aaron Harang goes to the mound for the Dodgers with his 0-1 record and a 5.91 ERA. Harang pitched beautifully in his last start against the San Diego Padres, striking out 9 consecutive batters, but he did give up 4 runs in just over 6 innings pitched.
The pitcher held Milwaukee scoreless in 8 innings pitched against them last season while a San Diego Padres. He has also led his team to 3 straight wins against the Brewers while playing for San Diego and Cincinnati.
Head to Head
Milwaukee's two wins this season means they have improved to 5-1 in their last 6 at home against the Dodgers.
Prediction
I am going to back the underdog LA Dodgers to at least grab a game from this series as I think they are more than a little unfortunate to be down by two games and I believe they have the pitching edge in this game today.
Aaron Harang was pretty solid in his last outing, although the Milwaukee Brewers have a better batting line up than the San Diego Padres, but Randy Wolf has struggled for his command and he could have it tougher keeping the Dodgers off the bases.
Wolf did have a great outing the last time he faced the Dodgers in 2011, but he has had it tough against them in his career and I think the underdog is worth chancing.
The Pick :
Milwaukee Brewers 5-6 LA Dodgers
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the LA Dodgers @ 2.20
