Baseball Betting: Astros vs. Marlins Odds & Picks: August 18th 2009

Free MLB Pick: Florida Marlins (-115 odds)
Tue August 18th 2009 8:05p
Visit Touthouse.com for more baseball betting picks from Mike Rose

After a disappointing start in his last outing, RHP Ricky Nolasco will be back on the bump on Tuesday night. Nolasco conceded a whopping ten runs in just 3.1 innings against these Astros last week in Florida’s 14-6 loss. Prior to that start though, the right-hander had been on fire, pitching four straight games of allowing two runs or less. Nolasco may only be 8-8 with a 5.44 ERA on the season, but that is a marked improvement from the 2-5 record and 9.07 ERA he had at the end of May. Since that point, Marlins bettors are 9-4 in his 13 starts, and have earned a cool $638 in the process. Nolasco is 2-1 in four career appearances against the ‘Stros, but his 8.35 career ERA is bloated thanks to his miserable outing last week.

The Astros will counter by sending rookie RHP Bud Norris to the mound. After just three starts, Norris has already netted MLB bettors over five units on the season, making him one of the Top-10 money pitchers in the NL. He’s a perfect 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA. Opposing batters are only hitting .228 against him in 21.0 IPs. His last start wasn’t fantastic, but thanks to how poorly Nolasco pitched in that game, Norris’ four earned runs in five innings was good enough for the victory. Norris has only made one career start in Houston, and that came back on August 7th. He pitched six innings, allowing just three hits and two runs in the Astros’ 6-3 win over Milwaukee.

Six straight meetings between these teams have eclipsed the ‘total’. The winning team has scored at least eight runs in all six of those outings. Norris may be the hot pitcher, but it’s hard to believe that his luck is going to continue. Nolasco has really pitched much better than his season numbers indicate. Bank on him to have a nice rebound performance and to score a victory against the team that lit him up just six days ago. Florida has won six of the L/7 against Houston. Look for that streak to continue tonight…