Posted on
5/9/2008 4:13:51 PM
MLB Baseball Betting - Florida at Washington
By Charles Jay
BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: Washington -140, Florida +120; Total 9.5
The Florida Marlins (20-14) are warming up just like the weather in south Florida right now. And on Friday night they take on the Washington Nationals (15-20) in an online betting NL game that will get underway at 7:35 PM ET at Nationals Park in the nation's capital.
Right-hander Ricky Nolasco (1-3, 7.46 ERA) gets the start for the Marlins, while southpaw Matt Chicao (0-5, 6.87 ERA) will be on the hill for the Nats.
At BetUS Sportsbook, Washington is listed as a -140 favorite (Florida is +120), with the total posted at 9.5 runs.
Here are some of the MLB Baseball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* FLA has won five of its last six games
* FLA has played five of its last six road games UNDER the total
* WASH has won seven of its last 10 games
* WASH has won six of its last seven home games
* WASH has played seven of its last nine home games UNDER the total
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:
* FLA has won seven of the last eight meetings
* WASH has won seven of the last ten meetings as the home team
* Seventeen of the last 23 meetings in Washington have gone OVER the total
The Marlins are now on a four-game winning streak, and the pitching staff has been doing a terrific job. Florida has surrendered just seven runs in its last four games, and last night Mark Hendrickson got the win as the Marlins completed the sweep of Milwaukee.
Washington has scored a few runs lately as well. The Nationals beat Houston 8-3 on Thursday night. And they've been held below six runs just once in their last six contests. Before you scoff, consider that Washington is third from the bottom in the National League, averaging only four runs per game.
Neither of Friday night's pitchers can necessarily be considered a stopper. Ricky Nolasco stood out on April 27 with a two-hit, one-run effort over five innings against the Brewers, but was banged around in his last outing, as he surrendered 10 hits and six runs to the light-hitting San Diego Padres in less than five innings.
Matt Chico has been abused about as much as any pitcher in the National League. The left-hander showed some promise on April 11, when he threw a masterful five-hitter at the Braves over eight innings in a 3-0 loss, but every other time he's been on the mound he's been hit pretty good. Nineteen of the 50 hits Chicago has given up thus far have been for extra bases, and seven of them have been home runs. The opposition is hitting .338 against him. That's a big jump from the .281 batting average he yielded last year.
As we said, Nolasco isn't a stopper, but Florida is the hotter team, the better team, and incidentally, the team that has had an edge recently in the head-to-head in this series (winning seven of the last eight meetings). We'll take the Marlins as the +120 underdog in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: FLORIDA (+120)
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)