Free MLB Baseball Betting Picks: June 26th 2009: ATS Consultants

Below are Free MLB Picks for June 26th from ATS Consultants. Do you want to receive more free expert MLB predictions on a daily basis, be sure to sign-up for the ATS Consultants Newsletter.

UNDER 7 San Fran/Milwaukee:
Terrific pitching matchup tonight as these two NL Playoff contenders do battle at Miller Park. Matt Cain (9-1, 2.28) takes on Yovanni Gallardo (7-4, 3.00) in a classic pitchers duel.

Cain has to be one of, if not the leading candidate for the National League Cy Young Award. He’s been close to unhittable all season, and lately he’s been even better. He’s allowed only 1 run in 4 of his last 5 starts and gone 4-0 in that span. San Francisco has been one of the surprise teams in the league this year, and they’ve been led by their pitching, notably Cain and 2008 Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. If they keep this up, the Giants can challenge for the Wild Card, since the Dodgers have basically ran away with the NL West.

Milwaukee, the NL Central leaders will counter with righty Yovanni Gallardo, who has been terrific for the Brewers all year. Not as dominant as Cain, but Gallardo has allowed only 8 runs in his last 30 innings of work, good for a 3-2 record. He’s been striking out more hitters this year than in the past, with 93 in 90 innings. He won his only start against San Fran this season, going 6 innings and allowing 2 runs in a Brewers win on April 8.

UNDER 8 Boston/Atlanta:
Talk about a hot pitcher, Red Sox starter Josh Beckett is really on a roll lately. Beckett (8-3, 3.74) hasn’t allowed a run in 3 of his last 5 starts, and allowed 1 run in one of the other outings. He did have one awful start in that time frame, but overall has only allowed 7 runs in his last 33 1/3 innings, including 6 runs in one start in Philadelphia on June 14. Beckett is beginning to look like a strong contender in the AL Cy Young race. It helps that the Red Sox have built a big lead over the Yankees in the AL East.

Jair Jurrgens (5-5, 2.89) has become the ace that the Braves thought he’d be when they acquired him from Detroit a few offseasons ago. He’s been a model of consistency depsite Atlanta’s poor offensive support they give him. Once the Braves add some bats, through free agency or trades, they’ll be back to contending as their pitching is still one of the tops in the league. Jurrgens has allowed 7 runs in his past 21 innings, and will need to pitch well tonight to give Atlanta a chance facing Beckett. He allowed 2 runs in 6 1/3 innings on Sunday at Boston. The Sox won that one in the bottom of the ninth on a Nick Green homer, rendering Jurrgens with no decision.

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