The Atlanta Braves send Javier Vazquez to the mound tonight and hope to improve upon their seven-game winning streak with him on the mound.
Tonight's Sunday Night Baseball matchup pits two of the best arms in the game this season up against eachother in the Philadelphia Phillies' JA Happ and the Atlanta Braves' Javier Vazquez.
Both pitchers come into the game with a sub-3 ERA, and both have pitched very well of late. Runs will be at a premium, but someone has to come out on top.
My pick is the Atlanta Braves. Javier Vazques has been in top form in 2009, compiling a 2.90 ERA and a microscpic 1.04 WHIP over the course of the season with 171 strikeouts in the process. The Braves have won in his last seven trips to the mound, and Vazques is 5-0 over that stretch. Vazquez has gone at least seven innings in his last six starts, leaving only a few innings of work for the bullpen. He has received plenty of run support in his last fve starts as the Braves have scored at least six runs in each of those five games and eight or more in three of them.
JA Happ's season has been just as impressive, with an 8-2 record and a 2.75 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Unfortunately for Happ, he doesn't have the 1-2 punch of Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano behind him for the late innings. Brad Lidge has been the exact opposite of a sure thing late in games this season, and in a game like this where both starting pitchers look to be on their games, a shaky bullpen is a very scary proposition.
With two excellent starters taking the mound, I like the under 7.5 tonight; but with the better bullpen, I like the veteran Javier Vazquez at home to pick up the win tonight at -125.
The Pick: Atlanta Braves -125