Yesterday (April 1) it was best to have your baseball bets on the favorites and on the home teams. If you like betting the totals, the under ruled the day by far.

The home teams won 5 of the 8 games and the favorites picked up 5 of 8 as well. The only home dog to win was the Florida Marlins (+175) who beat the New York Mets 5-4.

The offensive output just wasn’t there yesterday. It’s early, so expect the bats to be a little soft. Two of the games pushed on the totals. Of the remaining 6 games, 5 went under the total. The only game to go over the total (by 1 run) was the Los Angeles Angels at the Minnesota Twins. The Angels picked up that game 9-1.

Perhaps surprisingly, the two biggest favorites of the day—Mets & Martinez at -195 and Mariners & Hernandez at -190—both lost. And in both games, the bullpens were to blame. Although you could blame Martinez for giving up 4 runs in 3.1 innings, but in the end the bullpens gave up the winning runs on both games.

There’s no soft way to put, or Putz, it. The Mariners bullpen lost the game tonight. Could this be a sign of things to come?

Felix Hernandez (King Felix) pitched very well, going 7 innings and only giving up a lone run while striking out 3.

However, once he exited, the game took a turn for the worst. O’Flaherty came in and promptly gave up two runs over three hits. The M’s stormed back in the bottom of the 8th to take the lead. All is well with closer J.J. Putz coming in right? Wrong.

Putz instantly gave up the lead by surrendering a 2-run jack. M’s lose.

MLB bettors need to be cautious when Hernandez is on the mound in 2008.