Atlanta Braves vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Free Pick: Los Angeles Dodgers (165)
Fri July 31st 2009 7:35p
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Jason Schmidt enters his third start of the season after not pitching for the better part of two years. He’s by no means the same pitcher MLB bettors came to know and love, but this is his third outing and management hopes he starts to show signs of turning it around tonight. In eight total innings of work to date, Schmidt has allowed 10 hits (1 HR) and seven ER’s with a K/BB ratio of 3/4. The Marlins lit him up pretty good his last time out tagging him for five hits and four ER’s through just three innings of work. Schmidt hasn’t faced Atlanta since 2006 whom he’s 5-9 with a 5.28 ERA & 1.46 WHIP against in 18 career starts.

Rookie Tommy Hanson absorbed the first loss of his big league career his last time out against the Milwaukee Brewers; the defeat dropped him to 5-1 on the year. He boasts a stellar 2.95 ERA & 1.31 WHIP with a K/BB ratio of 37/25 through 55 total innings of work. He’s a perfect 3-0 with a 3.33 ERA at Turner Field where he’s surrendered just 17 hits and nine ER’s through 24.1 innings. The righty will be looking back at the Dodgers offense for the first time in his career this evening.

Atlanta will be a popular choice by many this evening with Los Angeles playing so many innings of baseball against St. Louis the last two nights and traveling. That said; it’s ludicrous to make the NL’s best MLB bet this large an underdog against a rookie. Jason Schmidt will soon round into form, hopefully tonight, and Hanson’s going to have a terrible go of it if he issues a lofty amount of free passes to one of the better base stealing teams in the league. Value clearly resides with the Dodgers in this spot, so take a stab!