A full card of baseball betting for Saturday, but not a lot of value to be had.  We have come up with an attractive position on the National League game between the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros.  Padres continue to play very well, winning 7 of 10 and currently holding down first place in the National League West with a record of 18-11.  Houston is back to the same dismal form that the had at the beginning of the season.  They’ve now lost 9 of their last 10 and are in last place in the NL Central with a 9-20 record.

SAN DIEGO PADRES VS. HOUSTON ASTROS:

For whatever reason, the Padres aren’t getting much respect from linesmakers but we’ll gladly take advantage of this fact while we can.  Padres improved to 7-6 on the road with Friday night’s 7-0 beatdown of Houston.  Mat Latos went 8 innings for San Diego allowing 2 hits, no runs and striking out 9.  He’s a decent young pitcher, but the reality is that the Astros made him look like a Cy Young candidate.  Houston has scored only 80 runs this year, for an average of 2.75 per game.  Throw in a team batting average of .233 (last in the NL) and you’ve got a team that has to get good pitching in order to compete.

The problem is that with the exception of Roy Oswalt, who has looked good this season, the pitching has also been miserable.  The Astros have a team ERA of 4.26 which ranks 9th in the NL.  Of course when you’re scoring an average of 2.75 runs per game and giving up an average of 4.26 per game that math isn’t going to work out.  Jon Garland has pitched very well lately–he’s got a 2.83 ERA overall and the Padres have won 4 of his 6 starts.  In his last three assignments, he’s 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA.  Felipe Paulino weighs in with a 5.53 ERA and Houston has lost all five of his starting assignments.  We’re getting the pitcher in much better form and the all around better team at a reasonable price.

PLAY SAN DIEGO (GARLAND) -120 OVER HOUSTON (PAULINO)