San Francisco Giants (39-29) AT Arizona Diamondbacks (37-32)
June 16, 2011 at 9:40 PM EST
Opening Moneyline:  ARI -130; SFG +110
Current Moneyline:  ARI -144; SFG +125
Opening Total:  8
Current Total:  8.5

SP:  SFG- Ryan Vogelsong; ARI- Ian Kennedy

The Giants have been red hot as winners of their last five contests.  They won 5-2 last night to remain perfect against the Diamondbacks.

“The last five games against them they have made the plays when it has counted,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “We have been in the games and they have responded better than we have.”

The games have been close, however.  No game has been decided by more than three runs.  Pat Burrell added that note to his post-game statement, saying “We didn’t exactly blow them out, but we got enough for him (Madison Bumgarner).”  Bumgarner had previously received the 5th worst run support in the majors with only 2.65 runs per game.

The Giants will send Ryan Vogelsong to the mound tonight.  Vogelsong is 4-1 with an outstanding 1.81 ERA.  Saturday he was very good, giving up only 2 runs and 8 hits in 6 innings (an inning shy of a quality start), as the Giants won 3-2 on a Nate Schierholtz pinch hit walk-off single.

“I’m not really happy with the way I threw, but the results turned out all right,” Vogelsong told the team’s official website.

Ian Kennedy has been good this season, too.  Kennedy has won 7 of 9 decisions this year and boasts a 3.23 ERA.  Kennedy’s game relies on excellent control.  His pitches aren’t particularly “nasty,” but he keeps it in the strike zone and avoids walking many batters (only 70 in 194 innings last year as he went 9-10 with a 3.80 ERA).

Kennedy is still only 26 years old and can still lower his walk rate further.  The Diamondbacks lost Max Scherzer to obtain Kennedy, and while Kennedy is good, he’s not the prospect Scherzer is.

Kennedy is 3-2 with a 3.88 ERA in his last 8 starts at home.  When he’s on the road, he’s been even better, with a 4-0 record and a 2.40 ERA.  He didn’t have a good road outing on Saturday though, as he gave up 5 runs and 3 homers in 8 innings…still, he got credit for the win, only further bolstering his impressive record.“The offense took care of it and I tried to get innings as much as possible,” Kennedy told the Diamondbacks’ official website. “I was really, really happy that (Gibson) let me go into the eighth.”

Some betting trends:

San Francisco is 4-1 SU in their last 5 games and the total has gone UNDER in 6 of the Giants’ last 8 games.  The Total has gone OVER in 4 of the Giants’ last 6 road games and the Giants are 5-1 SU in their last 6 on the road.  The Giants are 5-0 SU in their last 5 against Arizona.  The total has gone UNDER in 9 of their last 12 against Arizona and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of their last 6 on the road against the Diamondbacks.  The Giants are 10-2 SU In their last 12 games on the road in Arizona.

The total has gone OVER In 4 of Arizona’s last 6 games and it has gone UNDER in 4 of their last 6 at home. The Diamondbacks are 2-4 SU in their last 6 home games and they are 10-5 SU in their last 15 home games.  The Diamondbacks are 0-5 SU in their last 5 against the Giants and the total has gone UNDER in 9 of Arizona’s last 12 games against San Francisco.  The total has also gone UNDER in 4 of the last 6 at home against the Giants while the Diamondbacks are 2-10 SU in their last 12 home games against the San Francisco Giants.

Given the dominance of both pitchers, the current total of 8.5 seems high, especially given the fact it has shifted up another half-run.  Vogelsburg is very unproven, but he has also been very good this season.  Kennedy is the more proven entity and is a good reason why the Diamondbacks are favored in tonight’s matchup despite not having beat the Giants all season.