Close Call in Baseball Betting Between San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres

Date/Time: Wednesday, July 22nd, 3:40 PM Venue: PETCO Park, San Diego, CA TV: CSN-BA Radio: KNBR 680 Opening Line: San Diego -112 The Giants (49-44) have discovered how tough it is to repeat as champion, especially when you have more than your fair share of injuries to deal with. It looked as though they were about to limp into the All-Star Break on a heavy losing streak, but the return of Hunter Pence to the line-up seemed to give this team a shot in the arm, as they went 4-1 in their last 5 games before the break. They then opened the second half by sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks, although they did slip back a little by losing the first game in this series. Despite having what would be considered a sub-par first half, the Giants are now only 3.5 games back of the Dodgers, but you can also bet that they feel the Padres breathing down their necks. Matt Cain (1-1, 5.06 ERA) will get just his 4th start of the season on Wednesday. It looked for a while as though the Padres (44-49) might be down and out in the division race, but they are on a bit of a hot streak that has pulled them right back into the heat of things. The Padres have now reeled off 5-straight wins, and have jumped over the D-Backs into third spot in the division. No-one in San Diego is getting too carried away just yet, as this is a team that have proven to be inconsistent all season long. A win in this series might go a long way towards convincing people that the Padres are ready to make a run at the top in the second half. They will start James Shields (8-3, 3.92 ERA) on Wednesday, and will be hoping that he can continue the run of form that has seen him pitch very well in his last 2 starts.