The Big Unit in a Big Game – Washington at San Francisco

The Big Unit is looking like he’s starting to find his form this season after starting very slowly for the San Francisco Giants. His record isn’t anything to ride home about at 2-3 with a 5.68 ERA. But if Johnson is a pattern pitcher then he will be solid in this game as he seems to follow a rough outing with a solid start.

It’s a sort of consistent inconsistency as he allowed seven runs and eight hits in 5 plus innings in his last outing against the Rockies, but that came on the heals of seven scoreless innings in his previous start. Here’s where the pattern comes in as he walked seven in 3 1/3 innings in his April 25 Arizona homecoming, much to the delight of his former team and fans. That outing was of course right after he threw seven innings of one-hit ball against the Diamondbacks in his previous outing. This followed a seven-run, 3 2/3-inning struggle at Los Angeles. Starting to see the pattern here?

Getting the ball for the Nationals is Daniel Cabrera who has yet to register a win this season going 0-3 but with a 4.85 ERA, which isn’t so bad. His last start, a week ago today, it looked like he was on his way to getting rid of the goose egg, but things unraveled in the fifth inning. Cabrera loaded up the bases and then walked Andre Ethier to force home Rafael Furcal, giving Los Angeles a 2-1 lead. Cabrera couldn’t find the plate in the next inning as he walked two batters before handing the ball over with the bases loaded. The bullpen couldn’t do anything to stop the bleeding and The Dodgers blew the game open with seven runs.

Here are some trends as they relate to this game:

Washington:

• Over is 7-1-2 in WAS last 10 Mon. games.
• WAS are 15-47 in their last 62 road games.
• WAS are 16-36 in their last 52 games on grass.

San Francisco:

• Under is 9-1-2 in SF last 12 games following a win.
• Under is 7-1-2 in SF last 10 home games.
• SF is 7-2 in their last 9 home games.

Sunday’s game was a difference-maker for the Giants. They needed 13 innings to take out the Los Angeles Dodgers which gave them the series victory. More importantly for the Giants, taking out their cross town rivals was a huge confidence boost for a team that had a rocky start. Sometimes it is a big victory like that to kick start a team and put them on a big run. They are second in the National League West, 4 1/2 games behind first-place Los Angeles. They have to like where they sit as they have taken their last two series against the boys in blue, a team that will be without star slugger Manny Ramirez until July.

Look for the Big Unit to have a solid outing as he knows how important this game is in terms of keeping the momentum going.

The Pick: San Francisco -1 ½ (+135)