Baseball Betting - L.A. Dodgers at Florida Marlins

Many sports betting fans were excited about the Florida Marlins when they got off to a red-hot start, but the Fish have cooled down considerably, falling below the .500 mark entering the weekend. On Saturday they will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in National League baseball sports betting action that is slated to begin at 6:10 PM ET at Dolphin Stadium (natural turf) in Miami Gardens, FL.

There will be a couple of southpaws on the mound on Saturday. veteran Eric Milton, just up from the minors, will be the starter for the Dodgers, while youngster Andrew Miller (0-1, 6.94 ERA) gets the assignment for the Marlins.

Here are some of the MLB baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
(Numbers are good through Thursday's games - check Friday's results)

* LA has won 10 of its last 14 games
* LA has played four of its last six games UNDER the total
* FLA has lost seven of its last nine games
* FLA has lost six of its last seven home games

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD sports betting trends:

* FLA has won three of the last four meetings
* LA has won five of the last eight meetings
* Eight of the last ten meetings have gone OVER the total
* LA has won four of the last five meetings as the road team

The Dodgers just purchased Eric Milton's contract from its Triple-A team in Albuquerque, and he will make this start in place of Jeff Weaver. Milton has been around for a while, having made his major league debut back in 1998 for the Minnesota Twins. Milton, a former first-round pick of the Yankees, went 8-14 in his rookie season, and pitched a no-hitter the next year. His best season was probably 2001, when he went 15-7 and was named a National League All-Star. He also went 14-6 for the Phillies, although that year, and the year after, he gave up more homers than any other NL hurler.

After an 0-4 start to the 2007 season, Milton had elbow problems and had to undergo "Tommy John" surgery and has not started a game in the majors since. Milton may well have recovered strongly. He was very solid at Albuquerque, with a 2.83 ERA and 1.00 WHIP ratio. His appearance here means that Weaver, who was also brought up recently from the minors, will miss a turn in the rotation. At the same time, this is a great opportunity for Milton’s comeback.

Andrew Miller has something of a different story. It includes injuries, to be sure, but he has never really gotten out of the starting gate. Considered one of the top prospects in the Detroit Tigers' organization, he went to Florida, along with another big prospect, Cameron Maybin, in the deal that sent Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Motown.

The 6'6" left-hander, who is among several mammoth starting pitchers for the Marlins, had been 5-5 for the Tigers in 2007 and showed no improvement last year, going 6-10 with a 5.87 ERA. In his two starts this season, he gave up eight runs in 9-1/3 innings, then went on the disabled list with a right oblique strain. His last start was five days ago for Double-A Jacksonville, and he gave up five hits and a run in six innings against Mississippi (a Braves farm club).

The Marlins insist there is going to be a benefit to Miller someday soon; they just hope and pray that he doesn't turn out like Maybin, who was given the center field spot this season but was just sent down to the minors after hitting .202 with three RBi's. We can't trust Miller yet, and though Milton has not done anything on a major league level for a while, he's at least done it at one time. The Dodgers are not bad against lefites either (9-2 this season). We'll take the Dodgers in this game.

Our Pick: L.A. DODGERS

Charles Jay touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room. Check the latest MLB lines and odds now, and bet on futures and props, including race to 3 runs and winning margin.