MLB BASEBALL BETTING PREVIEW - WASHINGTON NATIONALS @ SAN DIEGO PADRES

MLB Baseball

2012-04-25 - Washington Nationals at San Diego Padres

A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted

WASHINGTON NATIONALS @ SAN DIEGO PADRES
Baseball : North America : MLB
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012, 6:35PM US
(11:35PM GMT)

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PREVIEW

Last night Washington won their series opener here in San Diego 3-1 after a strong outing from Gio Gonzalez, and today they could win the 3 game series if Zimmerman continues the good work. You'd have to have faith him him too, and I'll explain why, but it's important to note the Nationals pitching team have done a stonking job so far, with the last 4 starters pitching 22 scoreless innings over the last 4 games. Quite impressive.

Washington have not lost a series this season, and they will want to end this one right here in the middle game. To do so they turn to Jordan Zimmerman, who is surpriingly only 0-1 despite a very low 1.29ERA so far. Zimmerman has pitched 21 innings so far but is without a win despite giving up just 3 earned runs combined. How has that happened? Because his team have not given him the run support after he has kept opponents quiet.

Zimmermann is also 0-1 against the Padres in 2 career meetings, with a similarly low ERA of just 1.38. Last year he shut them out over 7 innings of work. I have faith in him to do the same today, but the runs simply must come from the batters.

San Diego have lost their last 4 meetings at home against the Nationals. They are also on a terrible run of making errors, no doubt contributing heavily to their losses (they are just 5-13 for the season, while Washington are 13-5) and have made 21 so far, worst in MLB. To give themselves a chance at the series, they will go with Joe Wieland.

Weiland is 0-2 with a 5.73ERA despite keeping the Phillies to 1 run over 6 innings. The Phillies are easy to keep quiet this season though, and he has had trouble in his previous start. Washington are giving up 3.33 per home game, and 4.11 overall. They will take belief from the fact that 4 of their 5 wins have come here at Petco Park. However, they are facing a very strong pitcher today who is not just owning them, but comes in with motivation due to his lack of a win despite quite brilliant performances. It's hard to deny a guy in that kind of mood.

BETTING VERDICT

I'll take Washington to grab the series with a win today. I'm also going to be greedy and risky and go with the handicap. Bear in mind, this is very risky as 12 of the last 14 matches between these two have ben decided by 2 or fewer runs. However, the odds are too slim for the straight win so might as well take the chance at a bigger return if betting this game.

The Pick :