MLB Betting: The MLB Betting Market – April 12th 2010

Courtesy of Mike Rose at Handicapperspicks.com

If you look at baseball betting as if it were the stock market, here’s a look at what we’re buying and selling through a week of play on the diamond.

Bullish Squads

Toronto Blue Jays (5-1, +$588): What a week it was for the Jays! Many thought that this would be the worst team in baseball this year, but after picking up wins in five of their first six, some may be changing their opinions. Then again, this was a team that was in front of the AL East after the first month of the season last year, too, and by the time the season was over, not only did Toronto finish with one of the worst records in baseball, but it also had a miserable money total for its bettors.

San Francisco Giants (5-1, +$419): Pitching is what carried the Giants to a great record a year ago, and that’s exactly what has gotten them through a solid first week of play this year as well. The six games played with four runs or less allowed carried their streak to a solid 13 games in which no team has scored at least five runs on them dating back to last year. The difference is, at least right now, scoring 5.17 runs per game is about 20 percent better than it was at season’s end last year.

Bearish Squads

Houston Astros (0-6, -$626): Whereas we thought that the Blue Jays would be awful and they got off to a good start, the Astros were thought to be awful and… well… were awful in Week 1 of the MLB betting campaign. They only hit two home runs and averaged just 2.17 runs per game this week, and their rotation had a 6.00 ERA. Sell, sell, sell!

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2-5, -$473): Many thought that this would be the year that the Halos finally fell from the top of the AL West standings, and if this first week is any indicator, those MLB pundits were correct. The Halos haven’t scored more than four runs since Opening Day, and they allowed at least nine runs three times in their L/4 overall. Only three starters posted quality outings.

Buy/Sell

Player to Buy – Zach Duke, Pittsburgh Pirates (2-0, 3.00 ERA): The top southpaw for the Pirates had himself a week to remember. He went 2-0, both as sizeable dogs, including beating Arizona’s RHP Dan Haren on the road. Duke only gave up 11 hits and three walks in his 12 innings of work, and if he’s lucky and pitches well enough in the first half of the year, he’ll be playing on a contender by the trade deadline.

Player to Sell – Mike Gonzalez, Baltimore Orioles (0-2, 2 BS, 18.00 ERA): For those of us that were suckered into believing that Gonzalez was going to be a real savior for the Orioles bullpen, we can all think again. In his three outings this week, he blew games against both Toronto and Tampa Bay, and in the third outing, he gave up a hit and two walks before finally shutting the door for his first save.

Be sure to check out Mike Rose’ expert MLB picks here

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