Saturday MLB Best Bet: Giants vs. Rockies

Written by Jake Thompson
Saturday, 30 April 2011 16:23

Saturday’s MLB best bet will be in the game between the Giants and the Nationals.

The San Francisco Giants (12-13) have been the made the betting favorite by online sportsbooks despite being on the road to take on the Washington Nationals (12-13) in this 4:05 PM ET game.  Close to 65% of tracked MLB bettors are favoring Buster Posey and the Giants, and our Saturday MLB best bet will let you know if the masses are going to be richer or poorer when this one is all said and done.

Left-hander Jonathon Sanchez (2-1, 1.29 WHIP, 3.21 ERA) takes the mound for the Giants and the youngster has quietly been putting together a very solid season.  He’s done well against some solid offensive squads but give up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 5 earned runs over just 3.2 innings in his only start against the Nationals last year.  That being said, Washington’s offense is really hindered by the fact that third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been sidelined by an abdominal injury, and the Nationals come into this afternoon’s game hitting .224 on the year and just .234 over their last 10 contests.

The Nationals will counter with a lefty of their own in John Lannon (2-2, 1.54 WHIP, 4.05 ERA) and I’ve been a fan of this guy for years.  He’s been putting too many guys on base but he simply knows how to pitch and his team is always in a game because Lannan almost always provides quality innings.  The Giants only got 1 earned run over 7 innings in Lannan’s only career start against them and San Francisco is hitting only .210 over their last 10 games.  The good news for the Giants is that their .244 average against left-handed starters easily trumps the poor .206 mark that the Nationals have amassed this season.

Both bullpens have been solid this season and I don’t expect them to come into play until later in the game since both starters should be capable of going 6+ innings in this one.  Although Sanchez should do just fine against the Nationals, I feel Washington is the play because they are the home underdog and Lannan is likely to throw a gem against a San Francisco squad that simply isn’t scoring runs in recent contests.

Giants 2

Nationals 3