posted March 28, 2008 at 14:07 EST in MLB Betting Trends

The Washington Nationals are set to officially open their new ballpark on Sunday night when they play host to the Atlanta Braves in the first regular-season game for both teams. However, those who plan on doing any MLB betting should take a close look at the pitching matchup – the Nationals have tapped Odalis Perez to start off their season.

Perez was actually unemployed until Washington inked him to a minor league contract in late February, and he didn’t make his spring debut for the team until March 15. The lefthander was up-and-down in his exhibition outings, but with little pitching depth on the roster the Nationals decided to go ahead and include him on their Major League roster.

Then two things happened – the team released John Patterson, and Shawn Hill felt a pain in his forearm. So, with the rest of their opening-day starter options (Jason Bergmann, Matt Chico, Tim Redding) fairly underwhelming, the Nats decided to go with the veteran Perez for Sunday night. So can the lefthander turn in a great performance?

If he does, it will buck his recent trend. Perez has posted an ERA of over 5.50 in each of the past three seasons (for the Dodgers and the Royals), and he hasn’t won double-digit games since grabbing 12 victories for Los Angeles back in 2003. The Royals parted ways with him after he went 8-11 and gave up 178 hits in 137 innings last year.

The Braves have to be more optimistic about their pitcher’s chances of turning in a solid effort on Sunday night. Tim Hudson went 16-10 for the team last season while posting a 3.33 ERA and fanning 132 batters (and as a comparison, he gave up just 221 hits over 224 innings of work). Hudson has won at least 11 games in each of his nine seasons.

Facing off against Hudson for the Nationals will be a couple of newly-acquired outfielders in Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes. Milledge, a long-time Mets prospect, was acquired in a deal with New York in the offseason, while Dukes was picked up from Tampa Bay. Catcher Paul Lo Duca is also new to the Nationals’ lineup for this season, while first baseman Nick Johnson returns after missing all of 2007 with a bad leg injury.

Atlanta added to their attack in the offseason by trading relief pitcher Joey Devine to the Athletics for outfielder Mark Kotsay, although they did lose longtime outfielder Andruw Jones to free agency. The Braves finished five games back of the Phillies in the NL East last season, and they’re hoping to get back into the playoffs at the end of this campaign.

Gametime for Sunday night is set for 8:05pm ET on ESPN. Check the BetUS MLB lines section for the latest odds and totals for this game, and the other openers on Monday.

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