Los Angeles Dodgers (53-46) @ San Diego Padres (58-39)

Date: Wednesday July 28th, 2010

Time: 10:05 pm EST

Preview: The Los Angeles Dodgers will head to Petco Park to take on the divisional leading San Diego Padres. Los Angeles comes into the series on Tuesday night in third place in the NL West, and six games behind San Diego. The Dodgers finished the series against the Mets on Sunday with a 1-0 win over the New York Mets. Los Angeles ranks 8th in all of baseball with a .263 batting average, led by Rafael Furcal and his .326. The Dodgers will send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound in an effort to grab his ninth win of the season. Kuroda is 8-8 with a 3.48 earned run average in 19 starts this season. The right hander from Japan is coming off an eight inning affair, in which the Dodgers beat the Mets 2-0.

San Diego will send big lefthander Clayton Richard to the mound, in search of win # 8. Richard is 7-5 with a 3.57 earned run average in 20 starts. In his career, he holds a 18-15 record in 71 appearances. Richard is coming off a start against Atlanta where he threw six innings, allowing nine hits and four runs in a loss. The Padres hold a 3.5 game lead over the San Francisco Giants for the top spot in the west. Adrian Gonzalez is putting up MVP type numbers, as he is hitting .295, with 21 homeruns, 64 runs batted in and 57 runs scored; all team leading. San Diego also boasts the best earned run average in all of baseball; 3.27.

My MLB Betting Picks: The home team wins, as Richard slows down Los Angeles. Padres win 5-2.