Up to MLB Betting Trends

posted April 22, 2008 at 16:52 in MLB Betting Trends

BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: Atlanta -230, Washington +190, Total 8.5 (Over -120, Under - Even)

The woeful Washington Nationals (5-15) are in danger of falling into Chesapeake Bay. On Tuesday they will face off against the Atlanta Braves (10-9) in Turner Field (natural grass) in a National League game that is scheduled to get underway at 7:10 PM ET.

Left-hander John Lannan (0-2, 4.86 ERA) is the starter for the Nats, while white-hot John Smoltz (3-0, 0.56 ERA) gets the starting assignment for the Braves.

At BetUS Sportsbook, Atlanta is listed as a -230 favorite (Washington is +190), with a total of 8.5 runs (Over is -120, Under is even money)

Here are some of the MLB betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

(NOTE: These trends may also revert back to the 2007 season)

* WASH has lost 15 of its last 17 games

* WASH has lost 10 of its last 11 road games

* ATL has won its last five games

* ATL has played six of its last eight games UNDER the total

* ATL has won its last six home games

* ATL has played four of its last five home games UNDER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:

* ATL has won 10 of the last 14 meetings

* Four of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total

* ATL has won six of the last seven meetings as the home team

* Four of the last five meetings in Atlanta have gone OVER the total

In their current five-game winning streak, the Atlanta Braves are looking like the New England Patriots of baseball, scoring 31 runs compared to six for the opposition. And the Nationals are going in a different direction, dropping 15 of 17 and scoring 19 runs in their last seven contests. Right now Washington is last in the majors with a .227 batting average and has no one in the starting lineup with more than two home runs. Only one of their starting pitchers has chalked up a win so far.

John Smoltz, at age 41, is truly an ageless wonder. Thus far the future Hall of Famer has allowed one run in 16 innings with 21 strikeouts. He was sixth in the Cy Young balloting last year and could get even higher than that this year. John Lannan has actually looked good in two of his three starts, but of course he's gotten nothing in the way of run support. And he took a beating at the hands of the Braves in an April 12 assignment, surrendering six runs and nine hits in four innings.

The -230 price might be attractive enough under the circumstances, but let's also consider that in Smoltz's three starts, Atlanta has outscored the opposition by a 21-3 margin, and Washington, in the three games Lannan has started, has been outscored by a 16-4 count. We might take advantage of another of the betting options at BetUS Sportsbook, which is to lay a run and a half with the Braves here, laying -110. So we'll look for the Braves, behind one of the greatest staring pitchers in their history, who is still one of the best around today, to get the job done and get it done by putting some distance between themselves and this opponent.

JAY'S PLAY: ATLANTA -1.5 runs (-110)

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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)