2010년 8월 13일 금요일

Friday's best MLB bets

Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros (-165, 7.5)

The Pirates should have just skipped this road trip – or at least brought bigger bats. In nine games against Pittsburgh this season, Astros pitchers are 7-2 with a 3.42 ERA, throwing one complete game and adding four saves in some close games.

Even more hurtful, the Pirates have struck out 69 times against Houston pitching. But then again, Pittsburgh doesn’t do much damage against anyone on the road.

The Pirates are an MLB-worst 13-44 on the road this season. Away from PNC Park, Pittsburgh has scored an MLB-worst 169 runs and is second-to-last in batting average at .234. The Pirates also have a league-low .290 on-base percentage.

"It's tough. I've never really seen much like it," fired manager John Russell recently told the Associated Press. "We can't win on the road. I think it's got to become a mentality at some point for these guys that they need to rise to the occasion on the road more."

Even with Bud Black now at the helm, the results have remained the same. Expect it to continue in Houston.

Pick: Astros.

Arizona Diamondbacks at Washington Nationals (-108, 9)

The Arizona Diamondbacks are no strangers to seeing lots of runs. The Diamondbacks have seen the over hit in 10 of their past 12 road games and have a deadly combination of garbage pitching and sporadic hitting.

And when the Nationals trot out gas can John Lannan on Friday, the snakes will be ready for more fireworks. Arizona has scored 156 runs against left-handers this year, the fifth-most in the Majors. For the season, Arizona is batting .260 against South Paws with 38 home runs and 56 doubles.

Meantime, the Nationals have seen the over hit in five of their past six games as it is 7-2-1 over the team’s past 10. The Nats may have a pop-gun offense, but the squad is batting a solid .274 in their own park to go along with 51 homers and 14 triples.

"As good as we've been, we can do a lot better," Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman told the Associated Press. "It's exciting. If we can get rolling and scoring some runs, the way our pitchers have been throwing, we'll be a good team."

Pick: Over

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