Baseball Chat

[Teamlasvegas]

Braves over the Giants this afternoon.

The Braves return home with a bit of momentum after Rick Ankiel's extra innings home run tied this series. Atlanta is a completely different team at home where they are 56-25 and hitting .270 as a team. They'll face lefty Jonathan Sanchez who is 13-9 with a 3.08 ERA in 33 starts this season. The lefty is 5-5 with a 2.86 ERA on the road. Sanchez faced the Braves twice this season giving up seven runs and 12 hits in 8.3 innings of work. He is 1-2 with a 5.55 ERA in five starts overall against Atlanta. Nate McLouth (3-7), Brian McCann (3-7), Melky Cabrera (2-5), Alex Gonzalez (1-3), and Brooks Conrad (1-2) have good numbers against Sanchez. The big issue with the Giants starter is that he only averages approximately 5.8 innings per start. That means a bullpen that has an ERA of 3.74 on the road will come into play. This is the same unit that coughed up Game 2 and has blown 10 saves on the road. Last year, the Braves were one of the better teams in the league against left-handed pitchers. They average 5.6 runs per game in the daytime going 31-23 in the process.

Tim Hudson has been a fantastic story for the Braves this season. He's 17-9 with a 2.83 ERA in 34 starts. Hudson has enjoyed pitching at home where he is 11-5 with a 2.48 ERA. The Braves starter gave up just two runs and six hits over 15 innings pitched against the Giants including a 3-0 win back in August. Pat Burrell (7-34), Freddy Sanchez (3-21), Cody Ross (2-15), Edgar Renteria (2-10), Pablo Sandoval (1-6), Juan Uribe (0-5), Andres Torres (0-3), and Nate Schierholtz (0-2) all have poor numbers against Hudson. The Giants are hitting .250 as a team on the road and .227 in the NLDS series so far. They'll face a Braves bullpen that is 19-4 with a 2.93 ERA at home blowing only seven saves out of 31 opportunities. Atlanta has been solid at home all season so we’ll recommend a play on the Braves over the Giants this afternoon.