Braves get first look at Strasburg

Baseball Betting Lines

06/28/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nationals drafted Stephen Strasburg with the hopes that he could one day headline a rotation that would make Washington a contender in the National League East.

The 21-year-old phenom gets his first crack at division play this evening when the Nats visit the first-place Atlanta Braves for the opener of a three-game series at Turner Field.

Strasburg has gone 2-1 with a 1.78 earned run average over his first four starts, striking out 41 batters over 25 1/3 innings since making his debut on June 8 versus the Pirates. His last three starts have all come against American League opponents and the right-hander will be trying tonight to rebound from his first career loss.

Despite allowing just one earned run for a third straight outing, Strasburg suffered a 1-0 setback to the Royals on Wednesday. He allowed a career-high nine hits, but didn't walk a batter and struck out nine to pass former Cleveland hurler Herb Score for the most strikeouts through the first four starts of a big league career.

"For the most part, I went out there and threw strikes," said Strasburg, who threw 75 of his 95 pitches for strikes. "Couple mistakes by me. They really didn't hit the ball hard, except for a couple times they found holes, but that's baseball."

The Nationals hope that the San Diego State product can go deep into this contest after Washington blew leads in all three games of its weekend series with Baltimore. The Orioles recorded the winning run in Sunday's 4-3 contest on Miguel Tejada's two-out single in the eighth inning that handed Nats reliever Tyler Clippard his second loss in as many days.

"It feels devastating," Clippard said of the three losses. "We're battling our butts off, we're playing good but we're coming up short and it's not fun."

Washington, which got a two-run homer by Roger Bernadina, has lost four straight and 12 of its last 15 to fall 11 games back of the Braves in the NL East.

The Nats have also lost 20 of their last 24 road contests and tonight face a team with the best home record in baseball. The Braves are 26-8 at Turner Field this year despite Sunday's 10-4 loss to the Tigers that halted the club's seven-game home winning streak.

Troy Glaus and Brian McCann notched RBI doubles for the Braves, who have lost four of their last six and lead the Mets by just a half-game for the top spot in the NL East. Starter Tommy Hanson lasted just 3 2/3 innings, yielding six runs -- five earned -- on eight hits.

"I felt pretty good until that fourth inning," Hanson said. "The wheels just came off. Just a frustrating inning."

Atlanta rookie Jason Heyward did not play on Sunday due to a left thumb injury and he is slated to have an MRI today. He is batting .251 this year with 11 homers and 45 RBI, but his hitting just .172 over his last 25 games.

While the Nationals are turning to their young star, the Braves counter with a veteran in Tim Hudson, who is an outstanding 7-3 this year with a 2.54 ERA. The 34-year-old, though, allowed more than three earned runs for the first time this year in Wednesday's loss to the White Sox, getting charged with four runs on six hits and three walks over seven innings of a 4-2 setback.

Hudson, who has pitched at least seven innings in each of his last four starts, is 4-1 with a 1.87 ERA in five home starts this season and has won his last seven decisions versus the Nats franchise since his lone loss to them on June 5, 2006.

In 14 career starts against them, the right-hander is 8-1 with a 1.62 ERA and got a no-decision in a May 6 meeting that saw him allow two runs over seven frames of work.

Atlanta lost two of three in that set at Washington, and the Nationals have won six of the last seven matchups between the two clubs.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


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