Free MLB Baseball Picks: San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres

It doesn’t occur commonly that players are named to the All-Star Game after missing the first 49 contests of the season, but Carlos Quentin’s campaign is off to a strong start. Quentin managed to hit two home runs in the San Diego Padres’ 7-6 win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, and he is 12-for-23 with five homers and nine RBIs in six games since making season debut May 28 after recovering from knee surgery.

Quentin got 3-for-4 in the series opener which isn’t so bad, helping to snap the Giant’s season-high four-game win streak. San Francisco, which dropped four games behind first-place Los Angeles, is praying for the return of third baseman Pablo Sandoval (hand) from the disabled list later this week. Sandoval continued his minor league rehab assignment on Tuesday, going 1-for-4 for Triple-A Fresno. When he returns, Joaquin Arias will like slide over to second base and split time with Ryan Theriot, who has recorded a multi-hit game in four of his last six games.

San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres
When: 6:35 PM ET, Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California

The Giants opened as -135 favorites over several online sports book sites, read on with this Free MLB baseball picks if you want to properly place a bet.

Pitching Match Up: Madison Bumgarner (Giants LH 6-4, 3.04 ERA) VS Clayton Richard (Padres LH 2-6, 4.44 ERA)

For the first time since May 5 last Friday, Bumgarner managed to get his first win when he gave up two runs with a season-high 11 strikeouts over eight innings against the Cubs. He is 2-2 with a 2.2 ERA in nine games (eight starts) against the Padres. He allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings against San Diego on April 29.

Richard has gone 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA over his last four starts, and he gave up one run over 6 2/3 innings last Friday against Arizona. He’s 5-3 with a 3.35 ERA in nine starts against the Giants. Richard, who has a 42-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 71 innings pitched, gave up four runs over seven innings against the Giants on April 29.

Free MLB baseball picks Tips:
• Though Padres OF Will Venable (oblique) was absent Tuesday, he managed to avoid the disabled list.
• Perhaps this is not the season of the Giants since they have not homered in their last eight games, probably the most they’ve gone without a homer this season.