Free Baseball Pick: Atlanta Braves – July 11th 2009

Free Baseball Pick: Atlanta Braves
July 11th 2009: Courtesy of Lee Kostroski – experts.covers.com

Jair Jurrjens is just 6-7 on the season but he has posted an excellent season for the Braves. His ERA is 2.91 and in 18 starts Jurrjens has allowed as many as four runs just three times. Jurrjens has actually pitched slightly better on the road this season and he allowed just three hits and one run in a start against the Rockies earlier this season. Atlanta’s bullpen does not have great overall numbers for the season but in it has been a much more reliable unit than the counterpart for Colorado.

Jason Marquis has had a great season but he is a bit overvalued based on his inflated 11-5 record. At home Marquis owns a very average 3.72 ERA and a dangerously high 1.40 WHIP. In over 117 innings Marquis has just 16 more strikeouts than walks and five times this year Marquis has allowed five or more runs. Colorado’s bullpen has an ERA of 5.67 in the last ten games and the late innings have been a problem all season even though the Rockies have managed to enter the wild card race. Atlanta has won six of the last nine meetings between these teams and the Braves have been the much better hitting team in recent games.

Atlanta is batting .297 in the last ten games compared to just .228 for the Rockies even though these teams have produced nearly the same records in that span. Atlanta has scored an average of five runs per game in the last ten games while the Rockies have been held to three or fewer runs in nine of the last 15 games. Atlanta has been a very respectable road team this season and the Rockies appear to be a bit overvalued coming off a recent win streak in June.

I’ve got a solid free pick for you with Atlanta tonight but if you really want a game you can ‘hang your hat on’ then check out my huge 9* Best Bet available here on Coverexperts.com.
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