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Picks for 5/25/09: Braves Heavy Favorites on Road
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Rivalry Page: Braves vs Giants
Rivalry Page: Padres vs Diamondbacks
Rivalry Page: Reds vs Astros
Result: +0.07 units
Atlanta Braves (-140) over San Francisco Giants (1.5 Units) - The Braves are heavy favorites here on the road against the Giants but we don't mind making them a big play today. The Braves just swept the Blue Jays at home and are now going up against Sanchez on the road. They love batting against lefties. They average more than 2 runs more per game against lefties than they do against righties. And Sanchez is horrible, the Giants are just 1-6 when he pitches.
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San Diego Padres (114) over Arizona Diamondbacks (1.0 Units) -
The Diamondbacks just had a very successful road trip but the Padres are in the midst of a 9-game winning streak. Now that the Padres are on the road, they have been pegged as a small underdog.
Sure, the Padres are just 5-16 on the road but they were 13-22 before they reeled off 9 consecutive wins. So basically, they are a different team now than they were when they were when they lost all those road games.
In fact, if you look at all the reports, there's plenty of chatter on about their poor road records.
"On Sunday, the Padres completed the first 9-0 homestand in franchise history and hit the road having won 10 straight home games. Ah, the road. When the Padres play Monday afternoon at Chase Field in Phoenix, they will be trying to snap an 11-game road losing streak." as taken from Yahoo! Sports.
What this highlights is that the Padres have something to prove alongside wanting to win Game #10... all the while they are underdogs in a divisional rivalry game. Good value pick.
Road divisional rival dogs with a 6+ game winning streak in the first game of a series are 9-3 over the last 5 years. They are undervalued by about 19 points the past 10 seasons.
Take this game action regardless of pitcher.
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Cincinnati Reds (100) over Houston Astros (1.0 Units) -
The Reds are divisional rival dogs here today so it does not take much for us to want to bet them.
The Reds do not hit lefties very well but they'll be facing their third consecutive lefty today. So the familiarity will be helping them today. They'll get used to facing lefties. Familiarity will also be helping them in that today's game represents their third consecutive home series and teams fare much better at home the longer they stay.
Take this game action on Wandy Rodriguez on the mound for the Astros.
