MLB Lines – Diamondbacks vs Dodgers
For everyone except the San Francisco Giants, the National League West division has been a no-holds barred frontier where teams have taken turns struggling (the Giants have cruised to a comfortable division lead). Two of the division’s combatant meet in Southern California on Friday night.
Date/Time: Friday, June 13 2014, 10:10 pm EST
Venue: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles CA
Arizona +180, Los Angeles -220
Over/Under: 6.5
Pitching Match-up: Chase Anderson (5-0, 3.14 ERA) vs. Clayton Kershaw (5-2, 3.17 ERA)
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Tonight’s tilt between the Diamondbacks (29-40) and the Dodgers (35-33) features a match-up of dominant starting pitchers, though one has just emerged from the reeds and the other has been arguably the league’s best for years.
Arizona’s Chase Anderson has been sizzling since the floundering club called him up from the minors. It’s a good thing too, because pitching was one of the flagstones that was doing the Snakes in on their way to a near-historically miserable start to the season.
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Kershaw, meanwhile, is the richest man in the pitching community for a reason. He churns out excellent season after excellent season and when the Dodgers’ lineup goes into an extended slump or the team is not playing like its bloated payroll suggests it should, it can count on Kershaw to keep treading water.
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While Kershaw has been grinding out predictably good stats, Anderson has come on the scene and performed admirably, with five wins coming in five starts. Five starts in the bigs is a decent sample size; in addition to an ERA around three and a WHIP of 1.15, opponents are only batting .236 off Anderson.
These trends must thrill the D’backs as they desperately struggle to be relevant again in the West.
Being three games over .500, the Dodgers haven’t blown the world away, but their record is good enough for second place in the division. If it weren’t for some masterful pitching efforts from Kershaw, Zack Greinke and the resurgent Josh Beckett, the Dodgers would likely be just as goosed as Arizona.
Both of these teams can hit, but L.A. has hung its hat on pitching for several years now and Dodger Stadium is a pitcher-friendly park. It could come down to a duel between the new face and the grizzled veteran (though the “veteran” Kershaw is still only 26).
Though Arizona is 6-4 in its last 10 games and been noticeably better than the disastrous opening month (the Diamondbacks started April going 9-22) the club is still 15 games back of San Fran and though you hate to say they are just playing for respect before the All-Star Game, the reality suggests that.
Even the Boys in Blue are 8.5 games back of the Giants, because their rivals have been so damn good. Whenever L.A’s hitting and pitching commingle at the same time, look out.
Anderson’s track record thus far has been great and it’s been a nice narrative for the D’backs but it’s crazy to discount Los Angeles at home – especially when the club’s ace takes the mound.
On the off-chance Anderson out-duels Kershaw and pitches his team to a victory on the road, you will start to hear more buzz about Chase Anderson.
Los Angeles 4, Arizona 1
Take the UNDER
