New York Mets (45-43) AT San Francisco Giants (50-39)
July 8th, 2011 at 10:15 PM EST
Opening Line: SFG -145, NYM +125
Current Line: SFG -135, NYM +114
Opening Total: 6.5
Current Total: 6.5
SP: NYM- R.A. Dickey; SFG- Ryan Vogelsong
Ryan Vogelsong is one of the least likely candidates to have been named to the all-star game, after appearing to be nothing more than a middling bottom of the rotation pitcher so far throughout his career. This year has been different. In his last 11 starts he has posted a 1.67 ERA. Vogelsong spent the last four years in Japan and it appears to have paid off.
“There’s never been a time in my career when this seemed like even a realistic possibility,” Vogelsong said blissfully. “A year ago, almost to the day, I got released and didn’t know if I would ever pitch again.”
It’s a strange time for things to come together. Vogelsong is not young; he’s 33. On Sunday against the Tigers he gave up 2 earned runs in 6 2/3rds innings, falling a third of an inning shy of a quality start, but he did not factor in the decision as the Giants lost 6-3.
The Giants are leading the NL and tonight they will be vying for their third straight victory. The won the final two games of a 4 game set against the Padres this week, with a 2-1 win last night, as Zito (who I said was washed up in my closing paragraph) pitched eight solid innings, giving up only 1 run.
Giants infielder Pablo Sandoval picked up another single to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. He is batting .302 on the year so far with 27 RBIs, 8 HRs, 12 doubles, and 23 runs. His OBP is .344, but he is hitting .352 in his last 12 games. Sandoval is also .322 in his 15 career games against the Mets.
The Mets suffered their first loss since José Reyes’ injury last night, as they fell 6-0 to the Dodgers.
“We came in here and had a very, very good series without José, and we’ve got to move forward,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
The Mets went 0 of 6 with runners in scoring position, thus the reason they scored no runs…Daniel Murphy hit two singles and is now batting .362 over his last 11 games and he is right at .300 for the season. He has 35 RBIs and 35 runs, as well, this year, to go along with a .423 slugging percentage.
R.A. Dickey will take the mound for the Mets. Dickey, a knuckleballer, is 4-7 this year with a 3.68 ERA. In his last 6 starts he has gone 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA. In his last outing he gave up only 1 run and 2 hits in 5 innings, as the Mets won in a 10 inning thriller over the Yankees. Dickey exited the game in the fifth due to tightness in his gluteous maximus after he slipped on a wet mound. Dickey did not expect it to be a problem for tonight’s matchup, though.
Some betting trends:
The New York Mets are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games and the total has gone UNDER in 7 of their last 8 games. The total has also gone UNDER in 4 of their last 5 on the road and the Mets are 7-2 SU in their last 9 on the road. The Mets are 2-6 SU in their last 8 games against the Giants while the total has gone OVER In 8 of the last 11 games on the road against the Giants. The Mets are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games on the road against the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants are 11-5 SU in their last 16 games and the total has gone OVER In 5 of their last 6 games. It has gone UNDER in 14 of the last 21 at home and the Giants are 7-2 SU in their last 9 games at home. The Giants are 6-2 SU In their last 8 games against the Mets and the total has gone OVER In 8 of the Giants’ last 11 games at home against the Mets. The Giants are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games against the Mets at home.
Given the fact that both pitchers are pretty hot and pitching low ERA -ball, it’s easy to understand why the total is set low on this one, and betting on it is a risky proposition. The Giants, however, are clearly the better team, and a moneyline bet on them seems to be a good idea
