MLB Betting Free Picks: NY Mets @ Baltimore

Added on Jun 12, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Big weekend of sports betting action all over the world, and we’ll get things started with a baseball betting position in Interleague action between the NY Mets and Baltimore Orioles. The Mets took a 5-1 victory in the opening game of the series on Friday night, and will be looking to make it two straight on Saturday night.

NY Mets (Hisanori Takahashi) at Baltimore Orioles (Brian Matsuz)
June 12, 4:05 PM Pacific

The Mets are something of an enigmatic team, but they’ve been in good form lately winning 7 of their last 10 games and moving into 2nd place in the National League East just 1.5 games behind 1st place Atlanta. Baltimore is in last place in the AL East with the worst record in Major League Baseball. So why is this game priced the way that it is? A good part of it is the fact that the Mets have been awful away from Shea Stadium with a 9-18 road record. That record should improve this weekend as they face an Orioles team that’s only 11-19 at Camden Yards.

Hisanori Takahashi has struggled for much of the season and was shelled in his only road start this year giving up 6 runs in 4 innings. Matusz hasn’t exactly set the world on fire himself, with a 5.10 ERA and Baltimore has lost 9 of his 12 starts including 4 of 5 at home. So why do we like the Mets here? Part of it is a simple play against Baltimore–the Mets’ road performance notwithstanding they’re a better team. More significantly, you’ve got a situation where the Mets have performed well against lefthanders while the Orioles have struggled. New York is 12-7 +5.9 units against southpaws, while Baltimore is a pitiful 5-16 -9.2 units.

Baltimore’s run production has been horrible all year, and in their last 12 games (in which they’re 2-10) they’ve averaged a meager 2.25 runs per contest. Throw out a 7 run outburst against the Yankees and that average drops to 1.81 runs per game in that stretch. We’re backing the better team in a strong situation at a good price.

Bet NY Mets (Takahashi) +100 over Baltimore (Matusz)