San Francisco has lost 8 of 11 games and is now just percentage points ahead of last place Colorado in the National League West standings
2007-06-06
MLB Baseball Betting
San Francisco has lost 8 of 11 games and is now just percentage points ahead of last place Colorado in the National League West standings. The slump has caused bettors to take a second look at San Francisco who goes from black numbers into the red now at -2.5 units on the Baseball Betting season. The problems stems from having an everyday lineup that does appear capable of scoring runs consistently.
San Francisco is eighth in runs scored in the National League, with a matching team batting average by ranking at .257. The Giants do not have a particularly good on base percentage as a team at .320, which only places them 11th in the league. This is attributed to not taking enough walks. The lack of patience at the plate shows as they have just 174 walks, placing them 13th.
Barry Bonds leads the team with 12 home runs and has been in a prolonged slump for some time, with his batting average dipping to .270. His knees are presently giving him problems, which is really not surprising. Trying to play almost every day at his age is a big issue and would probably be better served further down in the lineup; however that seems unlikely for various reasons.
With a number of players hitting for decent averages, the structure of the lineup does not seem appropriate causing San Francisco to lose games. Bruce Boche is more of a same or similar everyday guy when it comes to filling out the lineup card. Ray Durham batting 3rd or 4th and this speaks to the weakness of the team overall. Though he leads San Fran in runs batted in, he should be batting in these spots. Even when the Giants are hitting well by batting average, they do not score enough runs to win ballgames as evidenced by 1-13 record against the money line after batting .333 or better over a three game span.
Tonight the Giants turn to Matt Morris to get back in the winning column. Morris looks to be completely healthy for the first time since becoming a Giant. To his credit he also has made the adjustment to being a complete pitcher as opposed to hard thrower with 6-2 record and sharp 2.62 ERA. San Francisco will be a +145 underdog at Sportbook.com facing the hottest team in the senior circuit Arizona, who has won 9 of 10, to move into second place in the NL West. Morris is only 5-5 lifetime again the D-Backs, yet delivers quality 3.22 ERA. Morris has a biting curve ball that can be difficult to hit if it has the usual snap. He and the Giants are 9-3 against the ML as an underdog of +125 to +175 over the last two MLB betting seasons.
In San Francisco’s corner they are 33-18 in road games off a one run loss versus a division rival. As good as Brandon Webb has been for the D-Backs he is 1-2 at Chase Field with 4.89 ERA in 2007. The Giants will be trying to break four game losing streak in downtown Phoenix as an underdog in the middle game of the series.
This NL West contest can be heard on XM 189 and viewed on MLB-TV. Good day to study the MLB Betting Trends page to understand how other bettors view this and the rest of the baseball schedule.
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