MLB Odds – Mariners Hope for Victory Against the Orioles

The Seattle Mariners send their ace to the mound in hopes of garnering their first sweep of the Baltimore Orioles in over 6 years. The Mariners Felix Hernandez, a big favorite in the baseball sportsbook to beat the Orioles on Wednesday, has been very good so far in 2010. In 3 games and 20.1 innings of work, Hernandez is 1 and 0 with a 3.10 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.

But he’s going to have to step up his game against Baltimore on Wednesday night. Hernandez went 0 and 3 for a 4.99 WHIP against the Orioles in 2009. That’s strange considering he was the A.L. Cy Young Award runner-up last year.

This Baltimore team, though, has an issue when their ace, Kevin Millwood, steps to the mound. Millwood has actually done very well so far in 2010 when posting a 2.89 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. The problem is that he is 0 and 2 out of the 3 games he has started because the Orioles have only scored a total of 7 runs in those3 games. There’s not much Millwood can do when his team fails to give him run support.

Game-night: 4/21/2010
First-pitch: 10:10 pm EST

Below are the baseball odds for this game.

Baltimore Orioles
Kevin Millwood – R +1 ½ -130 +160 O 7 -105

Seattle Mariners
Felix Hernandez – R -1 ½ +110 -190 U 7 -115

Seattle’s got a huge advantage in this game based on the trends.

The Seattle Mariners are 6 and 1 in their last 7 games overall.

The Seattle Mariners are 7 and 1 in Felix Hernandez’s last 8 games as the starter in game 3 of a series.

The Baltimore Orioles are 1 and 8 in their last 9 games after losing the first 2 games of a series.

The Baltimore Orioles are 18 and 47 in their last 65 games as the underdog.

The trends point to Seattle roughing up the Orioles in this game and I can’t disagree. Hernandez did have his issues with the Orioles in 2009 but this Orioles team is absolutely reeling. Baltimore has gone 1 and 9 in their last 10. The only hope that Baltimore has is for Miguel Tejeda, who might return to the Orioles’ line-up after suffering a groin strain that has kept him out of 3 straight, builds on his 3 for 3 performance against the Oakland Athletics in his last game.

Even then, the Orioles are going to find it tough to get past Hernandez. Millwood for Baltimore has been exceptional in 3 starts so far for his new team. The only problem is that as long as the Orioles fail to give him run support, he’s going to rack up losses.

That can’t do a lot for Millwood’s confidence. He might be worse against the Mariners on Wednesday night than he has been all season long since Seattle throws the terrific Hernandez against them.

Although under the total of 7 looks likely, I’m more inclined to go with the safer bet in this situation.

I don’t like the baseball odds of -190 on the Mariners, but to me it should be an easy victory. I’m betting that Seattle completes the sweep of Baltimore on Wedensday night. My money will be on Seattle at -190 in the baseball sportsbook.

MLB Free Picks: Seattle Mariners -190