Pittsburgh at Washington

Jeff Karstens came over from the Yankees in the trade that sent Marte and Nady packing. Karstens promptly stepped into the rotation and pitched two scoreless games in his first two starts. That was the end of his good pitching. The Pirates went on to lose his last seven starts in '08, and Karstens pitched to a 5.70 ERA. He has taken the mound six times this season and the Pirates have logged just one win. That means after his brilliant start in a Pirates’ uniform, Pittsburgh is now 1-12 in his subsequent 13 starts. If that isn't bad enough consider this. Playing against the Pirates on a -1.5 runline would have resulted in a 12-1 record for you, as all 12 losses have been by two runs or more! Shairon Martis has been pitching his best of late with a 2.11 ERA over his last three starts and that should be plenty for the Nationals’ offense to make this a high-valued runline choice, which is my play here. I like the Nats on the runline.