The Dodgers stumbled into the All-Star break,
struggling mightily without MVP candidate Matt Kemp in the lineup. But they
begin the second half still in the lead in the NL West and they get Kemp back
as they begin a three-game series with the Padres at Chavez Ravine
Friday night.
Game 2 Recap & Game 3 Pick
These teams have split the first two games of this series,
although the Dodgers are kicking themselves for blowing Saturday's game. After
taking the series opener Friday night 2-1 LA led the Padres 6-4 in the eighth
inning Saturday. But San Diego got a run in the eighth, then scored two runs
with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth on a steal of home and a
throwing error, giving the Padres a shocking victory.
So the Dodgers have now fallen to second place in the NL
West, a half-game back of the division-leading Giants.
The Padres, meanwhile, are 19 games under .500 at 35-54
LA was struggling badly on offense without Matt Kemp and
Andre Ethier, but in the two games since their return to the lineup they are a
combined eight-for-16 with four RBI.
The struggling Chad Billingsley (4-9, 4.30) will start
Sunday's series rubber match for LA against Jason Marquis (1-5, 3.71) for SD.
Billingsley has just six quality starts out of 18 outings
this season, and the Dodgers are now 8-10 when he's started, losing his last
five in a row, as the right-hander has allowed 20 ER over his last 29 innings.
However, in his only start this year vs. the Padres
Billingsley picked up a win, shutting the Pads out on three hits over 8 1/3
innings.
Marquis, meanwhile, gave San Diego four quality starts in a
row after joining the team last month, but over his last three outings he's
given up 12 ER on 21 hits in 17 1/3 innings. The Padres have only won two of
his seven starts for them, but that's not been all his fault.
On the season Marquis, who also started seven games for
Minnesota, has allowed 99 hits in 78 innings.
Last year, while pitching for Arizona, Marquis made one
start against the Dodgers, giving up three runs in six innings.
In perusing some baseball betting outlets Sunday morning the
best price we could find on the Dodgers for Sunday's game was the -156 offered
at Matchbook, while the Padres could be gotten at +153 at The Greek.
LA is also being offered at +140 on the run line at 5Dimes.
And most online sportsbooks are lining Sunday's game with a
total of eight.
Free MLB Pick
Billingsley scares us, and Marquis doesn't look much better.
So we'll go with the 'over' eight on Sunday's Dodgers-Padres game.
Game 1 Recap & Game 2 Pick
LA took the opener of this series Friday night 2-1, as
Kershaw out-dueled Richards. The Dodgers won as steep -195 favorites, and the
game never even got a whiff of its total of 6.5.
Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, both back Friday night after
stints on the DL, went 2-for-4 and 0-for-two, respectively. According to Yahoo
Sports, LA is now 24-12 this season with both Kemp and Ethier in the lineup.
So Los Angeles held on to its half-game lead over San
Francisco in the NL West, while the Padres fell to 20 games under .500.
Aaron Harang (6-5, 3.51), who pitched for his hometown
Padres last year, gets the start Saturday night for Los Angeles against Edinson
Volquez (5-7, 3.52) for San Diego.
Harang is only seven-for-18 on quality starts this season,
but the Dodgers have managed to go 9-9 in games he's started. Most recently
held the Reds to one run on three hits through seven innings 10 days ago, but
over his previous three outings he'd allowed ten ER in 15 1/3 innings.
Harang has already started three times this year against the
Padres, allowing seven ER on 18 hits through 17 2/3 innings. LA won two of
those three games.
Volquez is nine-for-18 on quality starts this season, with
the Padres going 8-10 in games he's started. He's working on a string of three
QS in a row, after holding the Mariners, Rockies and Reds to a total of two
earned runs over his last 19 2/3 innings. For the season Volquez has given up
just 85 hits in 107 innings, with 98 strikeouts, but his 63 walks have been a
serious problem.
Volquez has already started three times this season against LA,
giving up 11 ER on 17 hits in 15 innings. San Diego lost all three of those
games.
As of Saturday morning most online sportsbooks were listing
the Dodgers as favorites of around -135 for Saturday night's game, with a total
of 7.5.
LA could also be gotten at upwards of +170 on the MLB
betting run line at some outlets.
Free MLB Pick
The Dodgers certainly are glad to have Kemp and Ethier back,
and they can't help but improve the LA offense. Also, Harang hasn't been too
bad against San Diego; LA has had good success against Volquez; and the price isn't too
bad. So we'll go with the Dodgers for Saturday.
Friday's Game 1 Pick
Back on May 31 the Dodgers owned the best record in the
Majors at 32-19. On that day they also placed Kemp back on the DL after he
re-aggravated a bad hamstring. Since then LA is 15-21, and it lost 15 of its
last 20 games going into the break, finishing up by dropping three of four
games in Arizona.
So at 47-40 overall the Dodgers still lead the NL West, but
by just a half-game over second-place San Francisco.
Not only is LA expected to get Kemp back Friday night, but
also Andre Ethier, who's spent the last couple of weeks on the DL with a
strained oblique.
San Diego, meanwhile, has struggled all season, but had won
six in a row through last week, before dropping their last three games before
the break.
So the Padres, at 34-53, are in fourth place in the NL West,
13 games back of Los Angeles.
Friday night's series opener pits a couple of Claytons
against one another as LA's Kershaw (6-5, 2.91), who threw 27 pitches in the
All-Star game Tuesday night, goes against San Diego's Richard (6-9, 3.91).
Kershaw is coming off one of his worst outings of this
season, in which he gave up five runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings last
Friday against the Diamondbacks. On the season, though, the defending NL Cy Young
Award winner has 12 quality starts out of 18, allowing 96 hits in 121 innings,
walking 32 and whiffing 119.
Kershaw has started twice against the Padres this season, giving
up three ER on 10 hits over 8 1/3 innings.
Warming up over in the other bullpen Richard has 10 quality
starts out of 18 tries this season, but San Diego has only won seven of his
starts. In his most recent outing Richard got ripped for six runs in six
innings last Saturday against the Reds, but in his five starts previous to that he
had allowed just seven ER on 29 hits over 37 innings.
For the season Richard has given up 117 hits, including 16
dingers, in 120 innings.
Richard has already started three times this season against LA,
and he's been pretty effective, allowing six ER on 12 hits over 20 innings. The
Padres won two of those three games.
In perusing some online baseball betting outlets Friday
morning the best price we could find on the Dodgers for Friday night's game was
the -181 at Pinnacle, while the best number we found on the Padres was the +173
being offered at 5Dimes.
LA could also be played at +136 on the run line at
Matchbook.
And finally, most online sportsbooks are tagging Friday's
game with an 'over/under' of 6.5.
In early betting on Friday's series opener about 70 percent
of action on the side was coming in on the Dodgers, while about 55 percent of
play on the total was coming down on the 'over.'
LA has taken seven of nine games from San Diego so far this
season. Also, with none of the totals on those games posted above seven, the
'over/unders' have gone 6-1-2 in this series this season.
The Dodgers are 27-16 at home this season, while the Padres
are 17-26 on the road.
Free MLB Pick
It's hard to go against Kershaw, but we just don't like
risking that much on the money line price, especially considering Richard has
some pretty good numbers against LA. So we recommend either taking the Dodgers
on the run line or San Diego on the money line.