MLB Baseball Betting: Philadelphia Phillies at Miami Marlins
The Miami Marlins are still in second place in the NL East though after losing two of three to the New York Mets over the weekend their lead has shrunk to one half game. The Mets are in third 5 games back of the first place Washington Nationals and 1/2 game back of the Marlins. Miami now faces a golden opportunity to increase their advantage over the next few days as they play the lowly Philadelphia Phillies in a three game series while the Mets face a tough challenge from the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies have lost 7 of 10 and are well off the pace in the NL East. They’ve got an 11.5 game advantage over the hapless Atlanta Braves but are now 8.5 games back of the third place Mets. They do have a four game series against the Braves in Atlanta coming up this weekend but it might be too little too late in terms of getting back into the divisional race.
The Marlins will start right hander Jarred Cosart who hasn’t pitched since April, at least at the Major League level. He spent some time on the DL and then was sent to Triple A New Orleans. Now he’s back in the rotation for the time being as a fill in for Wei-Yin Chen who will miss at least one start. Cosart was very ineffective before heading to the DL so there’s every reason to think he’ll show some improvement here. At any rate, the weak hitting Phillies are a perfect matchup for his return. The Phillies are hitting .241 and averaging just 3.6 runs per game. They’re #29 in the Majors in runs scored and #28 in team batting average.
Miami faces a tough pitching opponent as the Phillies will send right hander Jeremy Hellickson. Hellickson has been solid though not spectacular this season but has looked very sharp lately–on the season the Phillies have split his 20 starts including 8 on the road. In his last three starts they’ve won two with Hellickson putting up a 2.70 ERA and a 0.900 WHIP while striking out 16 against only 2 walks.
Hellickson is a very good pitcher and with the trade deadline looming might be ‘auditioning’ for a ticket out of town. The Phillies have split 10 games with Miami this season and have won 2 of 3 in Florida.
BET PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES +130 OVER MIAMI MARLINS
