Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves Betting Odds

Opening Moneyline Odds: Stephen Strasburg (+115) vs. Tim Hudson (-125) at Sportsbook.com

Tonight in Atlanta the Braves host the Washington Nationals, who hope that phenom Stephen Strasburg can snap their losing streak. However, it will not be easy as the Braves have their Ace on the hill in the first game of this series. Each team is back to playing in the National League after inter-league play.

The Braves are still in first place in the tough NL East with a slight .5 game lead over the streaking New York Mets. Atlanta is coming off a loss, but is still 6-4 in their last 10 games. The Nationals were playing .500 ball for a while, but have fallen back to earth. Washington has lost 4 straight, is 2-8 in their last 10 games, and trail the Braves in the division by 11 games.

To say things are not going well for Washington is an understatement, as Baltimore, who has the worst record in the Majors, recently swept them.

Stephen Strasburg has lived up to his expectations recently breaking a record that was over a half-century old with 41 strikeouts in his first 4 starts. The way he is pitching he may catch up to the current Rookie of the Year front-runner in Atlanta's Jason Heyward (.251 11 HR 45 RBI). However, he will likely not face Heyward tonight, as the Braves' rookie has a sore thumb and will have a MRI on it today.

In their last games the Braves lost to the Detroit Tigers 10 to 4 and the Nationals were beat by the Baltimore Orioles 4-3.

The Nationals have the third worst road record in the NL (13-17), which is not good since the Braves have the best home record in the Majors (26-8). The Braves have won 16 of their last 18 games at Turner Field. However, the Nationals have won their last 4 games in Atlanta and 6 of their last 7 against the Braves.

Even though the Braves have won 6 of their last 10 games their offense has been struggling only hitting .232 in that span.

Tim Hudson (7-3 2.54 ERA) will be on the hill for the Braves tonight and in his last start he gave up 4 runs in 7 innings, but did not get much run support and took the loss. Stephen Strasburg (2-1 1.78 ERA0 is on the mound for the Nationals and speaking of no run support the rookie went 6 innings and gave up only 1 earned run, but took the loss.

The Nationals will likely need Strasburg to have another quality start wince their offense only ranks 21st in both team batting average and RBI's.

Hudson has dominated the Nationals winning his last 7 decisions against them and is 8-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 14 games against them in his career.

Rankin's Pick

Take the Braves -125 at 5Dimes