If the afternoon winds off of the bay in San Francisco are blowing to the hitters' advantage, there could be a slew of runs and a ton of homers in Saturday's clash between the San Francisco Giants (34-26 SU, +5.78 Units) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (27-32 SU, -2.41 Units).
PITCHING MATCHUP
Josh Collmenter and Ryan Vogelsong are literally nothing more than average pitchers to be used at the backs of rotations. The two have combined to give up 23 home runs this season, and both are allowing far more fly balls than they should to be successful.
Both of these men do have at least 1.6 ground ball to fly ball ratios, but when they have left balls up in the strike zone, teams have been punishing them badly.
Collmenter, in particular, has been very bad of late. He gave up four home runs and was lucky to not give up more than five runs in his last start at home against the Mets, and he now has 12 home runs given up since the start of May. Not surprisingly, his ERA is up at 7.50 since May 6 as well.
Vogelsong can at least rest easily on the fact that he has pitched significantly better at home (2.25 ERA) than on the road (6.31 ERA) this year. That said, he has only tossed 28.0 innings thus far at AT&T Park, and regression to the mean could be in store.
ADVANCED STATS
These two teams sort of have deceptive power that must be accounted for. The Giants only have 51 home runs on the season, while the Diamondbacks have just a total of 57, but both are really able to mash the baseball.
It isn't often that you see a team in the bottom 10 in the league rank in the Top 10 in slugging percentage, but that is the case with both of these clubs. Park factor, of course plays a role, but the fact that San Francisco is slugging .412 as a team and Arizona is slugging .404 as a team is awfully impressive.
With the cold, damp weather now a thing of the past, this late afternoon game could provide good conditions to sock the ball a long way. Don't be stunned if these two starting pitchers combine to give up at least three homers in this one.
TALKING BULLPENS
The Diamondbacks really still don't have anyone to close out a ballgame. Brad Ziegler is now the man asked to fill ninth inning duties, but he has yet to have a perfect inning of work since he has taken over as the closer.
He's 6-of-8 this season in save chances, and it should be noted that he has closed four straight opportunities, but there is still definitely something shaky about Ziegler that bothers us. For example, he doesn't have a strikeout in his last seven appearances, and for any closer, that isn't a good sign.
If Arizona is leading in the late innings, there is always the possibility that the game is going to end up going awry. Ziegler might have gotten the job done of late, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't gotten interesting. We'll have to see how this plays out on Saturday, but we know we want no part of the D'Backs in live betting if this one is a one-run game in the ninth.
The MLB lines for this Saturday contest will first be released by BookMaker Sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every half inning with BookMaker's live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen in the next at-bat or how many runs will be scored in the next inning. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
Need to fund your account before the big game but don't have your computer? No problem! BookMaker Sportsbook now offers a mobile betting cashier so you can deposit money directly from your smartphone. Don't miss out on getting paid because you couldn't bet. Click here, and deposit at BookMaker now! The ballgame pitting the Arizona Diamondbacks versus the San Francisco Giants will commence Saturday, June 13, 2015 at 7:15 p.m. ET at AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA. You can watch the contest live on FOX.
