Posted on 5/12/2008 3:53:16 PM

MLB Baseball Betting - Washington at N.Y. Mets

By Charles Jay

BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: N.Y. Mets -155, Washington +135; Total 9 (Under -115, Over -105)

The Washington Nationals (15-23) are smarting from their three-game sports betting sweep suffered at the hands of the Florida Marlins. On Monday they travel to Flushing Meadow to face off against the New York Mets (19-16) in National League online betting action that is set to begin at 7:10 PM ET at Shea Stadium (natural turf).

Left-hander Odalis Perez (0-3, 3.43 ERA) continues to look for his first win of the season for the Nats, while the Mets will go with right-hander Nelson Figueroa (2-2, 4.77 ERA).

At BetUS Sportsbook, New York is listed as a -155 favorite (Washington is +135), with a total of nine runs (the Under is -115, the Over is -105).

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

* WASH has lost five of its last six games

* WASH has played four of its last six games OVER the total

* WASH has lost 12 of its last 15 road games

* NY has played four of its last five games OVER the total

* NY has won eight of its last 11 home games

* NY has played five of its last six home games OVER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:

* NY has won four of the last five meetings

* Ten of the last 13 meetings have gone OVER the total

* Eight of the last 12 meetings in New York have gone UNDER the total

Washington's weekend was disappointing, to say the least. The Nationals had gone into their three-game sports betting series with the Florida Marlins having won nine of their last 13 games. But they were swept by Florida, and outscored 23-7 in the process. Now that the pitching staff has been taken to the woodshed, it’s up to Odalis Perez to pick up the pieces.

Perez, a one-time All-Star who won 15 games for the Dodgers in 2002, has gone four straight seasons without reaching double digits in victories, and this season promises to be no exception. In his best season in Los Angeles Perez threw 67% strikes; this season he's thrown 62%. And he has pitched in some bad luck for the Nationals; in only two starts has his team scored more than three runs for him. But you can not ignore the fact that he's actually been pretty effective and pretty consistent - there was a blowup against St. Louis on April 4, in which he gave up five runs in four innings, but in his seven other starts, he's surrendered two runs or less in six of them. In other words, he's pitched well enough to win on at least four or five occasions.

The Mets currently trail the division-leading Florida Marlins by three games in the National League East. They are producing runs - nearly five per game - but they have been bothered by injuries that have prevented them from outfitting a fully healthy squad for virtually the entire season. The good news is that Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado have started to bring their averages up; the bad news is that second baseman Luis Castillo is on the disabled list.

Nelson Figueroa has done a nice job in filling a spot in the rotation in the wake of injuries that have sidelined Pedro martinez and Orlando Hernandez. The Coney Island native put forth four relatively solid starts before slipping in his last outing, a 5-4 loss to the Dodgers in which he gave up all five runs during his five-innings stints. L.A. reached him for eight hits and four free passes.

Perez had a decent outing against the Mets on April 15, allowing two earned runs in six innings. But his team didn't score. They could have better success here. Perez is pitching well enough that sooner or later he is going to get into the win column. Let's try it here, with the nationals as a +135 underdog in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: WASHINGTON (+135)

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