The San Francisco Giants have been sliding, and the offense has been, at best, inconsistent. But they are going to have to get things together if they are going to hold off the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. On Saturday they will put a pitcher on the mound who has been shaky at best, as they go up against the NL East-leading Washington Nationals in a game that is set to begin at 7:05 PM ET at Nationals Park. If you are a BetAnySports customer, you’re going to have an opportunity to place your bets against the MLB odds in real time, as you take advantage of the state-of-the-art software supplied by Live Betting Ultra.

The Giants (57-42) lost again on Friday, as they were held to four hits in a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Nats. Gio Gonzalez went seven innings and allowed only two San Francisco batters to hit safely. They lead the Dodgers by just two games. And the offense has to be a major problem, as they have scored three runs or less in eight of their last thirteen games.

The Nationals (65-44) may actually get to the finish line this season. They were overtaken in the second half by the New York Mets last year, but now they lead the NL East by seven games over the Miami Marlins.

Washington goes with the pitcher with the best winning percentage in the majors, as Stephen Strasburg takes the mound. He’s 15-1 with a 2.63 ERA and has averaged 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings. The Giants go with Matt Cain (3-6, 5.53 ERA), who upon the team’s acquisition of Matt Moore was, for the time being, given the fifth spot in the rotation over Jake Peavy.

In the MLB odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, the Nationals are big favorites at home:

San Francisco Giants (Cain – R) +200

Washington Nationals (Strasburg – R) -220

Under 8.5 Runs -115

Over 8.5 Runs -105

Giants +1.5 Runs -105

Nationals -1.5 Runs -115

The Nationals have only a couple of .300 hitters – one of them is catcher Wilson Ramos, an emerging star who is batting .331 with 16 homers. He is second in the National League in batting, and the only guy ahead of him is teammate Daniel Murphy, who was a post-season hero last year for the New York Mets, who could really use him right now. Murphy’s .356 average is accompanied by power, as he has hit 21 homers. That leads this team, even ahead of Bryce Harper, who won last year’s NL Most Valuable Player award. Harper has a four-game hitting streak after going one-for-three on Friday night, but he is hitting only .132 over the last twelve games.

Strasburg is coming off a couple of very strong outings, both on the road, as he surrendered one run on six hits combined against the Indians and D-Backs. BetAnySports patrons saw him get hit hard against the Dodgers on July 21 (six runs in six innings) but sandwiched around that were six starts in which he yielded just four runs in 41-2/3 innings.

Cain has not been a big hit on the road, with a 7.48 ERA in five starts. he has also given up six homers in 21-2/3 innings in enemy parks as opposed to seven homers in 48 innings at home. Another interesting thing for Cain is that while is a difficult man to hit during his first 25 pitches (with opponents hitting just .221 against him), they have hit an obese .451 against him from his 75th pitch forward. So they are going to have to get him out of there.

Cain, interestingly enough, got to 95 pitches against Washington last time out, and had a no-hitter going through five innings. And fellow pitcher Madison Bumgarner came in to pinch hit for him, which was ironic, considering that Cain had blasted a three-run homer in his previous start against Cincinnati.

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