Posted on
5/14/2008 3:15:31 PM
MLB Baseball Betting - Washington at N.Y. Mets
By Charles Jay
BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: N.Y. Mets -140, Washington +120
The New York Mets (20-17) are two games off the lead in the tight online betting National League East, and on Wednesday night they will try to edge closer as they play host to the Washington Nationals (16-24) in NL action that will begin at 7:10 PM ET at Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadow.
Washington sends one of its better pitchers to the mound in Tim Redding (4-3, 3.83 ERA), while the Mets will go with Claudio Vargas, who makes his first start of the year. It is a battle of right-handers.
At BetUS Sportsbook, New York is listed as a -140 favorite (Washington is +120).
Here are some of the MLB betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* WASH has lost four of its last five games
* WASH has played five of its last six games OVER the total
* WASH has lost 13 of its last 17 road games
* NY has won four of its last six games
* NY has played six of its last seven games OVER the total
* NY has won nine of its last 13 home games
* NY has played seven of its last eight home games OVER the total
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:
* NY has won five of the last seven meetings
* The last four meetings have gone OVER the total
* Twelve of the last 15 meetings have gone OVER the total
* NY has won four of the last five meetings as the home team
Washington is averaging less than eight hits a game, the lowest in the National League. The Nats couldn't get the job done on Tuesday night, as the Mets got four RBI's from Ryan Church and six innings of one-run ball from John Maine. The Nationals have now lost four of their last five games.
Tim Redding has had a reasonable amount of success against the Mets, chalking up a 3.80 ERA in his last five meetings with them, although he has only one win to show for his efforts. Of course, Washington pitchers often have nothing to show for their efforts because of the inability of the Nats to produce runs, and it doesn't help that people like Paul LoDuca and Dimitri Young have spent time on the disabled list. Redding, who opened his season on April 2 by one-hitting the Phillies over seven innings, is trying to get over what was his only truly poor outing of the year, where he surrendered five runs in 5-1/3 innings to the Marlins.
Claudio Vargas is making his first start for the Mets, but he is hardly a stranger to the Nationals. Last year, as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, he pitched four-hit ball against them over six innings, giving up only one run. Vargas, who won twelve games for Arizona in 2006 and eleven for Milwaukee in 2007, has just been called up from the Mets' Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans. Cut during spring training by the Brewers, he had signed with the Mets only after seeing the injuries to Pedro Martinez and El Duque Hernandez.
This would appear to be an opportunity for the underdog. After all, Redding has not suffered consecutive losses yet this season. But his team can't win on the road (6-13) or against right-handed pitching (8-15). In fact, as a team they are hitting just .233 against righties. We'll go with Vargas, an experienced pitcher, and the Mets as a -140 favorite in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: N.Y. METS (-140)
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)