MLB Baseball Betting: Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies

The Washington Nationals aren’t playing particularly well at the moment with 6 losses in their last 10 games but give them credit for doing what they have to do when they need to do it. With Miami and the Mets closing in on their NL East lead it was apparent that this three game series with the pesky Philadelphia Phillies was important. The Nationals responded, winning the first two games of the series and they can go for the sweep here. After this series they’re heading to New York for a crucial three game set with the Mets over the weekend. The Phillies were flirting with .500 at one point but they’ve lost 7 of 10 and are 7.5 games behind third place Miami. They don’t have to worry about falling into last place as they lead the lowly Atlanta Braves by 11 games.

The Nationals will start lefthander Gio Gonzalez who is not having a ‘season for the ages’. Overall, Gonzalez has a 4.25 ERA with a 1.308 WHIP, a 4.44 road ERA with a 1.329 WHIP and a 4.29 L3 ERA with a 1.227 WHIP. The Phillies have gone 11-15 in his starts overall with a brutal 3-10 -9.8 units record on the road. They’ve also lost 2 of his last 3 starts. Truth be told, he hasn’t pitched badly of late. He was pulled from the 8/16 game at Colorado after just 3 innings but had only given up 2 ER runs at the time. He gave up 3 ER in 5.7 innings on 8/21 at Atlanta and pitched 6 innings allowing just 2 earned runs in a home game against colorado on 8/26.

The Phillies will start Adam Morgan who is having a worse season than Gonzalez. Morgan has a 6.69 ERA with a 1.617 WHIP, a 6.30 ERA with a 1.575 WHIP at home and a 5.79 ERA with a 1.643 WHIP in his last three games. Overall, the Phillies are 3-12 when he gets the ball including 2-6 at home. They’re also 1-2 in his last three starts. Washington hits left handers much better than Philadelphia does–Philly puts up 3.6 runs per game and hits .243 against southpaws while the Nationals hit .266 and put up 5 runs per game against lefties. The price is a little steep but the Nationals should take this one.

BET WASHINGTON NATIONALS -180 OVER PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES