Friday evening baseball and we will see the St Louis Cardinals take on the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. First pitch is scheduled for a 7:05 PM (Eastern) start time and the game will be televised locally. Current Betting Odds, according to Sportsbook.ag, have St Louis listed as the favorite.
Current Odds
St Louis -116
Philadelphia +106
Over/ Under: 7.5 O -120
Analysis: The St. Louis Cardinals didn’t play their best game on Thursday but what they did on the field was good enough to get a win. Carlos Beltran had two hits including the game winning home run, Yadier Miolina had three hits, and Allen Craig and David Freese had hits as the Cardinals scored four runs on seven hits. Beltran has had great success against Halladay, batting .326 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 46 at-bats. He also enjoys hitting at Citizens Bank Park, where he has 12 homers. Jaime Garcia (1-0, 1.86) takes the mound for the Cardinals. Garcia has been stellar this season, allowing four runs in 19 1-3 innings over three starts. He pitched seven scoreless innings against Milwaukee on Sunday, but the bullpen faltered in an eventual 4-3 loss. He's 2-3 with a 2.30 ERA in six career starts against Philadelphia, including a loss in the 2011 playoffs. . Cardinals RHP Edward Mujica got the final four outs on Thursday for his fifth career save.
The Philadelphia Phillies were in their game on Thursday until their final at bat as they couldn’t get a man home from third base and took the loss. On Thursday Ryan Howard had three hits and Chase Utley and Freddy Galvis each had two hits as the Phillies scored three runs on 13 hits. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are a combined 3 for 26 (.115) against Garcia in their careers. Roy Halladay began to resemble his former Cy Young-winning self in his last start. The Philadelphia Phillies hope he continues his ace-like ways as they try to end a losing streak. Halladay won Cy Young Awards in 2003 and 2010, and finished second in 2011, but he fought injuries last year and had struggled mightily through his first two starts this season. He had been tagged for 12 runs and 12 hits, not lasting past the fourth inning in either outing. Halladay turned it around Sunday in a 2-1 win over Miami, allowing one run and five hits in eight innings. He nearly halved his ERA (14.73 to 7.63) and earned career victory No. 200 - the first pitcher to reach that milestone in a Phillies uniform since Steve Carlton in 1978.
Pick: This game may get rained out, but I'll play it anyway. Besides calling for thunderstorms tonight the wind will be a huge factor as it is blowing out to left at 20 MPH. Now we put this powerful St Louis lineup in there vs a struggling Roy Hallady. The Cards may get 8 runs on their own in this one. Ok Maybe not, but they will get a big chunk of it. The Card offense is putting up 5.53 rpg and Hallady has a 7.63 ERA n the year so far and an 8.239 ERA in his last 7 starts dating back to last year. He did have a good showing in his last start, but that shouldn't count as it was vs Miami's pop gun attack. Jamie Garcia has looked really good in the early, but this Philly offense has been solid at home, averaging 5.1 rpg, while hitting .269 and with the win blowing out you can expect them to hit a dinger or 2. Provided this game gets played we could get around 10 runs scored in this one.
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Baseball Betting Tips from Chuck Edel & Johnny Detroit
Chuck Edel is a well respected gambler / handicapper who appears on numerous radio shows and is frequently featured in the Las Vegas Review Journal. He sits down with Johnny Detroit and goes over some of his personal MLB betting tips.