Florida Marlins (39-33) +170, 8 at Oakland A’s (39-33), 10 pm Eastern Friday
by Zman of Predictem.com
A couple of teams doing a good job of staying in their respective divisional races hook up when the Florida Marlins and Oakland A’s tip-off a three-game inter-league series Friday night out by the Bay.
Hardball bookmakers are listing Oakland and starting pitcher Rich Harden (4-0, 2.53) as -190 home chalk for Friday’s game, with a total of 8, while Florida and Mark Hendrickson (7-5, 5.74) are getting +170 as road underdogs.
Florida just took two of three games in Seattle, and is 3-3 so far on a current nine-game road trip. Meanwhile, Oakland just dropped two of three games in Arizona, scoring two runs over the last two games. So going into this series, Florida trails the first-place Philadelphia Phillies by just two games in the National League East, while the A’s are 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Angels in the AL West.
Florida is 17-18 on the road this year, 28-29 as underdogs, and 43-29 vs. the run line.
Oakland is 22-17 at home this season, 21-13 as favorites, and 40-32 vs. the run line.
These two teams haven’t met since 2003.
Over his last three starts, including a mediocre performance last Saturday vs. Tampa Bay, Hendrickson has allowed 12 ER and 26 baserunners in 13 1/3 IP. Florida is 9-6 in Henrickson’s starts this season, the totals also 9-6.
Hendrickson last started a regular-season game vs. Oakland back in 2006, when he was with Tampa Bay.
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Over his last three starts, which includes a one-hit, six-inning outing last Saturday vs. San Francisco, Harden has given up five ER and 20 baserunners in 18 2/3 IP. Oakland is 7-2 in Harden’s starts this seaosn, the totals 4-5.
Harden has never started a regular-season game against Florida.
Florida ranks 22nd in the majors in team batting at .255, 24th in team OBP at .321, 4th in team slugging at .448, and is averaging 4.9 runs per game.
Oakland ranks 24th in batting at .252, 14th in OBP at .330, 26th in slugging at .378, and is averaging 4.5 RPG.
The Florida bullpen has given up two ER and 16 baserunners over its last five games, covering 12 innings of work.
The A’s pen has allowed 6 ER and 22 baserunners over its last five games, covering 14 1/3 IP.
The totals are 43-26 in Marlins games this year, 28-38 in A’s games, and 16-20 in games played at McAfee Coliseum, which are averaging a ML-low 7.6 total runs per this year.
Zman’s Pick: Rich Harden is tough but to lay that kinda wood is bad news. Let’s hope that Hendrickson has a good outing and that should keep this one under the number. Take UNDER 8 runs to be scored.
