Posted on
4/14/2008 7:37:42 PM
MLB Baseball Wagering - Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
By D.S Williamson
The sports betting community saw the Los Angeles Dodgers provideGreg Maddux, now with the San Diego Padres, his 349th win on Sunday night. The Dodgers will try to bounce back after losing two to three to the Padres when they welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates to Chavez-Ravine. The Pirates won’t get a break as the Dodgers send out Hiroki Kuroda. Sportsbook bettors will know Kuroda was brilliant in his first start of the season giving up only 1 run in seven innings. In his second start of the season, Kuroda was less impressive giving up 4 runs in 5 and 2/3 innings.
The Pirates counter with pitcher Zach Duke. Pittsburgh’s pitchers were en fuego over the weekend. They swept the Cincinnati Reds in that series. Two of Pittsburgh’s pitchers went into the 7th inning against the Reds, Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny. Will Zach Duke keep the good times rolling?
Let’s take a look at the BetUS lines.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Zach Duke – L + 1 ½ - 150 +150 O 8
Los Angeles Dodgers
Hiroki Kuroda – R - 1 ½ + 130 - 170 U 8
The Pirates have been on a roll lately. They’ve been hitting the ball very well and as I wrote above, their pitchers were outstanding in their series versus the Cincinnati Reds. But that may not translate into a win for the Pirates against the Dodgers on Monday night.
Zach Duke has not had success against Los Angeles in the past. He’s gone 1 and 3 with a 7.99 ERA against the Dodgers. The Dodgers bats were on fire Saturday night, but Sunday Greg Maddux silenced them.
I don’t think Duke will. As much as I like to see the underdog Pirates do well, they’re going up against a hungrier, much more talented team. After going 4 and 2 to start this season, the Dodgers have lost 6 out of 8 games. I don’t think that manager Joe Torre and his talented bunch will make it 7 out of 9.
Hiroki Kuroda should soften some of those Pittsburgh bats. He struggled in his second game of the season, but that was against the best team in Major League Baseball right now - - the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are not the Arizona Diamondbacks. That means that giving up the 1 ½ runs on Kuroda for + 130 BetUS odds is the way to go in this game.
The BetUS MLB betting line is Hiroki Kuroda – 1 ½ runs + 130 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Kuroda will put in at least 6 innings in this one. He should shut-down the Pirates and help Los Angeles to a much needed victory.
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