The Oakland Athletics are in San Francisco to take on the Giants in the 2nd game of a mini two game series. The Giants won the first game 5-2 as Matt Cain pitched 6.0 solid innings and finally picked up his second win of the season. Oakland has gotten the best of the Giants over the last few seasons winning 6 of the last 8 meetings overall.
Head to Head Trends
Athletics are 6-2 in the last 8 meetings.
San Francisco Giants (+107)
The San Francisco Giants are back in 1st place in the National League West after yesterdays win over the Athletics and the Dodgers loss to the Detroit Tigers. The Giants have been in bit of a slump since going on that hot stretch earlier this season that saw them win 14 of 17 games. Since that hot stretch they have won just 8 of their last 28 games and are looking a bit shaky. Over their last 10 games they have had some good pitching but their offense just hasn’t been their averaging only 2.30 runs per game and hitting .201 as a team. Starting for the Giants is the veteran Tim Hudson who is 7-5 with a 2.53 ERA on the season.
San Francisco Giants Trends
Giants are 1-4 in their last 5 games vs. a left-handed starter.
Giants are 8-20 in their last 28 overall.
Oakland Athletics (-117)
The Oakland Athletics are 1st in the American League West 3.5 games up on the LA Dodgers. The Athletics are not only 1st in the West but they’re also the top team in all of baseball right now with a 57-34 record. Oakland has been on a tear all season long and don’t show any signs of slowing down any time soon as they have won 6 of their last 8 games and 17 of their last 24. It’s no secret why the Athletics are as good as they are, they have the best offense in all of baseball with 4.97 runs per game and they have the second best defense in all of baseball allowing just 3.41 runs per game. Starting for the Athletics is lefty Scott Kazmir who is having an outstanding 1st season with Oakland going 10-3 with a 2.53 ERA so far this season.
Oakland Athletics Trends
Athletics are 7-1 in Kazmirs last 8 starts with 4 days of rest.
Athletics are 14-4 in Kazmirs last 18 starts.
Athletics are 51-19 in their last 70 games as a favorite.
Conclusion
I like Oakland to win this one today. I think they have just a slight pitching advantage with Kazmir over Hudson but they have a big advantage when it comes to offense. The Athletics are averaging over one full run more then the Giants are on the season plus the Giants have been in a bit a hitting slump recently averaging just 2.30 runs per game.
