Two of the hottest teams in the NL square off tonight, one
looking to hold down first place, the other looking to hold down a wild card
spot and cut into their deficit of the division lead. The Dodgers come into
Atlanta as small under dogs, see who we think comes out on top.
Streaking
Both of these teams are peaking at the right moment. The
Dodgers are on a run and their mid season acquisitions are really paying off,
mainly Hanley Ramirez and Shane Victorino. The Dodgers just had a four game win
streak snapped yesterday in a tough 10-6 loss against AJ Burnett but their run
is no where close to done. This team is seeing the ball as well as any team in
the National League right now, up and down the line up they are all tearing the
cover off the ball. In their last five games the Dodgers have scored a combined
36 runs. Hanley Ramirez and Victorino are hitting a combined .309 with 30 RBIs
since being traded to LA.
Chipper Jones blasted 2 home runs last night to extend the
Braves winning streak to three games, they have won seven of their last 10 over
all. They also, like the Dodgers are seeing the ball very well, scoring a
combined 24 runs in their last three games. Chris Capuano and Tommy Hanson take the ball for their
respective teams and odds makers have opened up Atlanta a slight -121 favorite.
Braves struggles against lefties 
You throw out Atlantas recent 6-0 win over Clayton Richard
and the Braves left handed heavy line up has been worn out by left handed
pitching and that is what they will face tonight in Chris Capuano who has a
rock solid ERA of 3.11. Eric Stultz (LHP) went 7 and 2/3rds of just 5 hit ball
while giving up 1 earned run, while striking out 5 as the Braves took the loss.
Jonathan Niese, another LHP, just recently went 8 strong innings against
Atlanta, scattering 6 hits of just 1 hit ball and six strike outs, as again the
Braves took the loss. And lastly against Cole Hamels, they again took a loss as
Hamels threw a complete game shut out while striking out 5.
So you throw out gas can Clayton Richard and over their last
three starts against lefties, the Braves have lost all while managing to scratch
out a total of just two runs combined and striking out 16 times. Chris
Capuano certainly has the goods to shut down this heavily left handed line-up if
Jonathan Niese and journey man Eric Slultz can, something to consider when making your mlb picks.
Tommy Hanson
Hanson has been an enigma all year. He came into the season
with high hopes, looking to be a 20 game winner but again inconsistency has
buried Hanson. He does own a good record of 12-5 but has an ERA 4.29 and a very
high WHIP of 1.44. Tommy has struggled with his command all year long, walking
55 batters in just 126 innings pitched. He has been especially bad over his
last three starts with a 6.43 ERA and a very high 2.21 WHIP. If he puts up
anything close to these numbers tonight, LA will hang double digits on him.
The Dodgers are feeling better than any time they have all
year and come into this series with a boat load of confidence, meanwhile the
Braves can not feel good about having to take on another good left handed
pitcher here and that is why we believe the odds makers have opened the line so
low. The Dodgers are swinging the bats too well to pass up plus money here.
Los Angeles +112 is
our MLB Pick of the Day