Free MLB Baseball Picks: September 13th 2011
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Pick: New York Mets -145
The Mets have the edge on the mound with Gee, who’s 6-3 with an ERA of 3.31 at home this season. The Mets are 5-1 in Gee’s last 6 home starts vs. a team with a losing record and 11-4 in his last 15 starts overall vs. a team with a losing record. Also, he’s 3-0 lifetime with an ERA of 3.08 in 4 starts against the Nats. Washington’s Wang has been struggling. The Nats are 0-3 in his last 3 starts, during which he posted an ERA of 4.58. Plus, he’s 0-3 with a 5.75 ERA in 4 starts against the NL East. We’ll bet the Mets. -Dave Price

Pick: Arizona Diamondbacks -129
The D-backs are on fire. They’ve won 17 of their last 20, and I expect them to keep rolling with Cy Young candidate Ian Kennedy on the hill. Kennedy is 19-4 (22-8 on the ML) with an ERA of 2.90 this season. He’s 9-0 (12-1 on the ML) with an ERA of 1.87 against division opponents, winning all 3 of his starts against the Dodgers this year. The D-backs have won each of his last 4 and 11 of his last 12 starts. Chad Billingsley is a quality starter, but he’s struggled against division foes to the tune of 4-7 (5-8 on the ML) with an ERA or 4.94. Also, the Dodgers are 0-6 in their last 6 home games vs. a team with a winning record and 1-5 in their last 6 home games in this series. Take Arizona. -Jimmy Boyd

Pick: San Diego Padres +146
San Francisco has folded in September, unlike a year ago, with a weak offense, 30th in runs scored and 29th in on base percentage. They are favored here with Matt Cain, though the team is 3-7 his last 10 starts. He is 0-2 against the Padres this season (5-11 all time) and has been a bit wild his last 2 starts, walking 7 in 15 innings. That offense faces Cory Luebke (3.28 ERA), who has a terrific 131-37 strikeout to walk ratio in only 120 innings. The Padres are 4-1 in Luebke’s last 5 starts with 4 days of rest. And the Giants are 3-7 in their last 10 games vs. a left-handed starter. Play the Padres. -Jim Feist (Handicapperspicks.com)

Our Wednesday night MLB predictions take us to Citizens Bank Park for the second game of the non-divisional NL series battle between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies; first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 ET.
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Tuesday night’s series opener was a slugfest right from the onset as both clubs managed to combine for 11 runs through the first five innings of play. Unfortunately for Philly, it was the Dodgers that tallied seven of those runs, and they ultimately cruised to the impressive 15-9 road victory to increase their winning streak to three in a row.

The triumph also halted Manager Joe Torre’s clubs road losing streak at five in a row to move them to 23-30 (-$797) as a visitor to date. With Tim Lincecum and the Giants falling as hefty favorites to the Chicago Cubs, LA now trails the NL Wild Card leaders by five-games.

The defeat was only the Phillies second in their L/8 overall games played ($385), but with the Braves scoring the 4-2 home victory against the Houston Astros, Manager Charlie Manuel’s defending NL Champs fell 2.5-games back in the NL East standings.

Los Angeles Dodgers (59-54, -$564) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (62-50, -$183)
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, August 11th, 7:05 ET
Game Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
TV/Radio Broadcast: FOX – Prime Ticket, Comcast (Philadelphia) XM

Chad Billingsley has been stuck on win #9 since the end of July as the righty just hasn’t gotten any run support to complement his fine pitching. He’s allowed just nine hits and three ER’s through his L/12.2 innings of work, but his teammates managed to plate him a grand total of one run during that stretch. He’s been at his best away from Dodgers Stadium where he stands 5-2 with a stellar 2.95 ERA & K/BB ratio of 53/21.

Los Angeles Dodgers is 6-2 in his L/8 road starts and he’s fared well at ‘CBP’ throughout his career going 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA while K’ing 19 through 20 IP and allowing zero long balls.

Roy Oswalt’s arm picked a heck of a time to die out on him. In a pair of starts since coming over from the Houston Astros at the trade deadline, the righty is 0-1 with a no decision and has allowed 10 hits and six ER’s with a K/BB ratio of 9/6 through 12.1 total IP. He says he goes through this “dead arm” period every season.

If ever a team presented him with a chance to tally his first career victory as a member of the Phillies, it would be the Dodgers. The Astros won each of his L/4 starts against them dating back to 2007, and in his career, he’s 6-2 with a 3.39 ERA & 1.13 WHIP in nine overall appearances.

MLB Insider Tip : The City of Brotherly Love has waited patiently for Roy-O to show them why they traded a number of solid prospects for him a couple weeks ago. I feel with the weather being of the hot and sticky variety, it will loosen the righty’s arm up and help him toss some of his nastiest stuff in weeks.

Billingsley’s been locked in ever since he got bludgeoned for seven runs on 10 hits in St. Louis back on July 16 th, and he’s churned out quality outings three of the four times he’s pitched in the Philadelphia Phillies.

Seven of his 11 road outings have come in under the closing ‘total’ while 13 of Oswalt’s 21 ‘total’ decisions have stayed on the low side of the number. My MLB predictions have the starters ruling the night with the bullpens keeping things in order to cash this ‘under’ ticket.

My MLB Prediction: Los Angeles/Philadelphia Under (Billingsley/Oswalt)
Source: BetUS Locker Room Featured on: Handicapperspicks.com