Sorry for the lack of posting lately, I have been pretty swamped by finals, but now that my school year is complete, I can resume posting daily Picks of the Day!
PPOTD Record: 8-4
Today's PPOTD: Milwaukee Brewers (11-13) at San Diego Padres (8-17)
Current Line: Milwaukee -155 (bet365)
The Milwaukee Brewers have had a bit of a disappointing start to the regular season with an 11-13 record. The vaunted starting pitching staff has contributed to the team giving up a National League worst 125 runs this season. But, there are signs that the Brewers may be turning it around! In their last three games, the Brewers have given up a total of five runs.
The San Diego Padres have had a terrible start to the season with an 8-17 record. The Padres have only scored 77 runs in this young season, including scoring only 7 in their last four games. The Padres have the worst record in the National League.
Yovani Gallardo (1-2, 6.08 ERA, 1.65 WHIP) will be starting today for the Milwaukee Brewers. While at first his ERA looks atrocious, if you dig a little bit deeper, you will see that it isn't that bad. Gallardo has pitched twice against the St. Louis Cardinals this year. In those starts he has given up 14 earned runs in 5.2 innings for two losses. If you disregard those two starts, he has a 1.71 ERA in his other three starts. This trend has also been present in 2011. In that year, Yovani had a 3.52 ERA, but if you take away his starts against the Cardinals it drops down to a 3.23 ERA. So as you can see, Gallardo's ERA is not as bad as it looks as long as he doesn't face the St. Louis Cardinals. Yovani has a 2.08 career ERA at Petco Park.
Jeff Suppan (No Appearances this year) will be starting today for the San Diego Padres. Jeff Suppan at age 37 has definitely seen his better days. He has not pitched in the major leagues since 2010. He also has not had a major league ERA below five since 2008 (4.96 ERA in 2008). Jeff has also been playing terrible at the minor league level. This season with the Triple-A Tucson Padres, Suppan has a 12.15 ERA. Last season with Triple-A Omaha he had a 4.78 ERA. Jeff Suppan's career ERA at Petco Park is 5.59.
Pick: Milwaukee Brewers
Confidence: W10 or less
Summary: When this prop was originally put up with Cory Lubeke starting for the Padres, this looked like it would be a tossup with the slight edge going to the Padres. But since Suppan was announced as the replacement, this becomes a lock for the Brewers.
