Laughter In The Dark: Good Match-Ups
Arizona Diamondbacks: 3 versus PIT; 3 versus WAS. For the fourth week in a row, two offenses get the Pittsburgh and Washington staffs in the same week, and the past three times you've bought into this trend, you've profited. Ian Snell is pitching very badly lately, so he doesn't scare Arizona, and while Mike Bacsik hasn't been bad lately, there's nothing in the Nationals rotation that should prevent the D-backs from scoring some runs.
San Francisco Giants: 4 versus WAS; 3 versus PIT. The Jints get an even tastier week, by dint of the extra game hosting Washington. These are the seven pitchers scheduled to face Barry Bonds and company: John Lannan, Bacsik, Tim Redding, Billy Traber, Matt Morris, Tom Gorzelanny and Paul Maholm. Now, the combined numbers of those seven guys aren't terrible: 4.11 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. But remove Gorzelanny, who's missed a start because of injury lately, and you get six pitchers with a 4.47 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. I'll take my chances with the Giants.