The Braves avoided a sweep in their last win over the Nationals, but they still trail them by 6 games in the NL East. <\/p>\n
Venue\/ Stadium: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California<\/strong> PITCHING MATCHUP:<\/strong>\u00a0Braves RH Tommy Hanson (12-5, 4.27 ERA) vs. Giants LH Barry Zito (9-8, 4.42)<\/p>\n Matchup<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Atlanta Braves vs. San Francisco Giants Preview<\/strong><\/p>\n However, the Braves are tied with the Cardinals for the Wild Card lead. The Giants are coming off a sweep over the rival Dodgers and now they have a 2.5 game lead over L.A. in the NL West. MLB lines have the Braves as slight away favorites with a total of 7.5 runs.<\/p>\n In their last games the Giants completed the sweep beating the L.A. Dodgers 8-4 and the Braves beat the Washington Nationals 5-1.<\/p>\n This season the Braves have an O\/U record of 54-65 with a run-line W\/L record of 62-62 and the Giants have an O\/U record of 64-56 with a run-line W\/L record of 62-62.<\/p>\n On the season the Giants are 35-26 at home and the Braves are 35-24 on the road.<\/p>\n The Braves have beaten the Giants in their last 4 games in San Francisco.<\/p>\n Tommy Hanson (12-5, 4.27 ERA) goes for the Braves tonight and in his last outing he gave up 3 earned runs in 6 innings in a no decision against the Dodgers. Barry Zito (9-8, 4.42 ERA) is on the hill for the Giants and in his last outing he gave up 4 earned runs in 4 innings in a no decision against the Padres.\u00a0\u00a0[dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n In his career Zito is 4-1 with a 2.03 ERA in 6 starts against the Braves. In his last 4 home starts he is 0-3 with an ERA of 6.86.<\/p>\n Hanson is 3-0 in his last 6 starts even though he has an ERA of 6.00 and is 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA in his last 4 starts against the Giants.<\/p>\n Jason Heyward and Chipper Jones have never had much success facing Zito, as they are a combined 2\/18 against him.<\/p>\n Hanson has to be careful with Joaquin Arias, as he is swinging a hot bat and is 9 for 16 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in his last 5 games.<\/p>\n In some betting trends for this NL match up the Braves are 18-6 in their last 24 games as a road favorite, 19-7 in Hanson’s last 26 road starts, and they have an Under record of 20-6 in their last 26 games.<\/p>\n The Giants are 5-1 in their last 6 games, 2-5 in Zito’s last 7 home starts, and they have an Over record of 5-0 in their last 5 home games.<\/p>\n
\nTime\/Date: 10:15 PM EST Thursday, August 23, 2012<\/strong>
\nMLB Odds From: Bovada<\/a><\/strong>
\nMoneyline: Braves -115 \/ Giants -105 <\/strong>
\nOver\/Under:\u00a0 7.5 runs<\/strong><\/p>\n