Sunday MLB Best Bet: Dodgers vs. Giants

Written by Jake Thompson
Sunday, 03 April 2011 19:48

Our MLB best bet for Sunday is in the game between the Dodgers and Giants.

The San Francisco Giants (1-2) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2-1) meet up in Sunday’s late MLB game, and our picks will help you figure out whether or not the defending World Series Champions can bring their 2011 record up to .500.  Las Vegas has made the Dodgers a medium-sized wagering favorite and we’ll preview both teams in an effort to make sure everyone is on the right side of this National League West clash.

Starting pitchers for today’s MLB game are left-hander Barry Zito for the Giants and right-hander Hiroki Kuroda for the Dodgers.  Zito was involved in a car crash on Wednesday night but is planning to play with a sore neck that shouldn’t bother him too much.  Zito was rocked the last time he went to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers, but he has given up 2 or less runs in his other 6 recent meetings against this squad.  Kuroda gave up 3 earned runs over 8.0 innings in his only start against the Giants last year, and San Francisco only scored 3 total runs over 14.1 innings against this guy the year before.

One reason for the odds favoring the Dodgers by this amount is that Rookie of the Year catcher Buster Posey is out today after taking a foul ball off of his chin last time out.  San Francisco still has some offense and is hitting .267 against righties in this short season.  The Giants scored 10 runs last time out against Ted Lilly and should be able to get a few off of Kuroda.

Los Angeles was shutout in that 0-10 loss to the Giants, but has hit .256 against lefties and has appeared to be much more comfortable against southpaws at this point in the year.  Zito isn’t as strong a pitcher as Matt Cain, Jonathon Sanchez, or Tim Lincecum, and I have to expect Los Angeles to do more on offense than they have in the first 3 games of the season.

The bullpens for both teams have been strong this season but I’d say the Dodgers are a better bet for success tonight since the Giants are without star closer Brian Wilson because of an oblique injury that is likely to keep him out for at least the first week of the 2011 MLB season.  Los Angeles’ bullpen has shown well so far in this series and I don’t see a ton of late runs being the deciding factor here.

Ultimately, our best bet will be on the Giants because Kuroda had a poor spring and Zito had a great one.  Both starters have nice histories against their opponents but Zito has dominated the Dodgers for longer and he seems to have everything working in his repertoire.  San Francisco makes for a nice underdog MLB bet today and we will make it our favorite one of the day.

Giants 4

Dodgers 3