Baseball Betting Picks: Baltimore Orioles at Seattle Mariners

Added on Jul 03, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

The Mariners took the first game of this three game set on Monday night and they’re favored in the second game of the series as their ace Felix Hernandez takes the mound. The Orioles will counter with talented lefthander Wei-Yin Chen who should benefit greatly from the notorious ‘pitcher bias’ at Seattle’s Safeco Field:

Baltimore Orioles at Seattle Mariners
July 3, 2012 7:10 PM Pacific

“King Felix” Hernandez is as good as they come and he’s put up some very impressive numbers this season. Overall, Hernandez has a 3.09 ERA and 114 strikeouts to just 32 walks. At home, he’s got a 2.14 ERA and 64 K’s. In his last three assignments Hernandez has allowed only 2 earned runs and struck out 30 for a 0.78 ERA.

Those numbers are exceptional to be sure, but the bottom line isn’t quite as impressive. The Mariners are just 8-8 in Hernandez’s 16 starts this season and just 4-4 in his 8 starts at Safeco. That’s not surprising since Seattle is one of the worst offensive teams in Major League Baseball. Their offensive output at home is downright pitiful–at Safeco Field the Mariners are hitting .199 and averaging just 2.8 runs per game.

Baltimore has struggled of late but YTD they’ve been among the most profitable teams for baseball bettors in the entire sport. So far this season they’ve amassed +11.2 units and are currently holding on to second place in the brutally tough American League East–though at this stage of the game the Yankees are pulling away from the rest of the division. The O’s trail the Yankees by 6 games and have a 1/2 game lead over Boston and Tampa Bay. They need to start stringing some wins together not only to close the gap with the Yankees but to keep the rest of the division in their rear view mirror.

The Orioles will start lefthander Wei-Yin Chen who has shown flashes of brilliance this season. He could be due for a big game against the listless Mariners’ offense. Seattle is just 10-15 against left handed pitchers and Baltimore has won 5 of Chen’s 7 starts on the road. Nothing but respect for ‘King Felix’ Hernandez but we’d rather take the underdog price with the better overall team–and the much better offense.

Bet Baltimore Orioles (Chen) +130 over Seattle Mariners (Hernandez)