MLB Odds: Reds and Leake Try to Even Series in Philadelphia
Cincinnati is the surprising leader in the NL Central, while Philadelphia has been surprisingly mediocre in the NL East. The two squads face off Friday in Game 2 of their series.
If you thought back in early April the Phillies would be in third place and the Reds would be leading the at this point of the baseball season, please take one step forward.
I sure didn't, but that's life currently for the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds who continue their four-game series Friday evening (7:05 p.m. ET). The mound at Citizen's Bank Park will find rookie right-hander Mike Leake (10-6, 3.38) facing the Phils' Joe Blanton (5-7, 6.27).
The very early MLB betting numbers for this one reflected a toss-up. Bookmaker.com gave an early slight nod to the Reds as the slightly chalkier team while Pinnacle saw the Phillies just on the minus side of even. By Friday morning, the books were all in agreement that siding with Philadelphia would cost you a few extra pennies.
The total started at 9½ and remains there.
The lines were much the same for Thursday night's series opener, a pick 'em and 9½ on the scoreboard. Brad Lidge blew the save in the ninth, but Philadelphia came through with the 4-3 win thanks to a 12th-inning homer from Brian Schneider.
The lines were also about the same when the identical pitching matchup took place a little more than a week ago in Cincinnati, also Game 2 of that series. Leake closed as a the 120 favorite with that same 9½ total. Blanton ended up pitching much better than his season numbers while Leake had one of the worst starts of his very new career.
Blanton worked into the eighth and allowed three runs, turning the game over to his pen with a 6-3 lead. Leake was charged with all Philadelphia runs up to that point. A Joey Votto three-run blast in the ninth sent it to extra innings, and sent both Blanton and Leake to the no-decision bin.
Philadelphia plated three in the 10th off Arthur Rhodes to win the game and square that series 1-1, and the Reds won the rubber game the following day.
Leake's season has taken a statistical dive since June 10. He's made two pretty good starts on the road (at A's and Cubs) and laid three stinkers in front of the home folks over his last five trips to the hill. One of the biggest changes is Leake surrendering the long ball more frequently, seven over his last 28 1.3 frames compared to four his first 73 IP.
The oddity is the two he gave up to the Phils on June 29 came off the bats of Brian 'Babe' Schneider and Wilson 'The Hammer' Valdez. That would seem to me to be either an amazingly lucky coincidence or a very bad sign for Leake as he begins to make his second trip through lineups.
Taking care of the home plate umpire chores tonight will be Laz Diaz. He has no doubt caught the ire of home fans this year in his previous 17 plate assignments with visiting clubs 11-6. He's got a small 9-7-1 'over' lean on his season ledger.
There is a slight chance of a passing storm, 30 percent, Friday evening in the Philly area. The game should begin in the upper-70s, humid and a southeast breeze (out to right).
Dusty Baker sends another rookie hurler on the mound when the series continues Saturday. Travis Wood (2-0, 3.86) gets the call for the Reds, possibly his last start for a while with Cincy expected to have Edinson Volquez back after the break. Wood will go up against Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay (10-8, 2.33).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
Cincinnati is the surprising leader in the NL Central, while Philadelphia has been surprisingly mediocre in the NL East. The two squads face off Friday in Game 2 of their series.
If you thought back in early April the Phillies would be in third place and the Reds would be leading the at this point of the baseball season, please take one step forward.
I sure didn't, but that's life currently for the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds who continue their four-game series Friday evening (7:05 p.m. ET). The mound at Citizen's Bank Park will find rookie right-hander Mike Leake (10-6, 3.38) facing the Phils' Joe Blanton (5-7, 6.27).
The very early MLB betting numbers for this one reflected a toss-up. Bookmaker.com gave an early slight nod to the Reds as the slightly chalkier team while Pinnacle saw the Phillies just on the minus side of even. By Friday morning, the books were all in agreement that siding with Philadelphia would cost you a few extra pennies.
The total started at 9½ and remains there.
The lines were much the same for Thursday night's series opener, a pick 'em and 9½ on the scoreboard. Brad Lidge blew the save in the ninth, but Philadelphia came through with the 4-3 win thanks to a 12th-inning homer from Brian Schneider.
The lines were also about the same when the identical pitching matchup took place a little more than a week ago in Cincinnati, also Game 2 of that series. Leake closed as a the 120 favorite with that same 9½ total. Blanton ended up pitching much better than his season numbers while Leake had one of the worst starts of his very new career.
Blanton worked into the eighth and allowed three runs, turning the game over to his pen with a 6-3 lead. Leake was charged with all Philadelphia runs up to that point. A Joey Votto three-run blast in the ninth sent it to extra innings, and sent both Blanton and Leake to the no-decision bin.
Philadelphia plated three in the 10th off Arthur Rhodes to win the game and square that series 1-1, and the Reds won the rubber game the following day.
Leake's season has taken a statistical dive since June 10. He's made two pretty good starts on the road (at A's and Cubs) and laid three stinkers in front of the home folks over his last five trips to the hill. One of the biggest changes is Leake surrendering the long ball more frequently, seven over his last 28 1.3 frames compared to four his first 73 IP.
The oddity is the two he gave up to the Phils on June 29 came off the bats of Brian 'Babe' Schneider and Wilson 'The Hammer' Valdez. That would seem to me to be either an amazingly lucky coincidence or a very bad sign for Leake as he begins to make his second trip through lineups.
Taking care of the home plate umpire chores tonight will be Laz Diaz. He has no doubt caught the ire of home fans this year in his previous 17 plate assignments with visiting clubs 11-6. He's got a small 9-7-1 'over' lean on his season ledger.
There is a slight chance of a passing storm, 30 percent, Friday evening in the Philly area. The game should begin in the upper-70s, humid and a southeast breeze (out to right).
Dusty Baker sends another rookie hurler on the mound when the series continues Saturday. Travis Wood (2-0, 3.86) gets the call for the Reds, possibly his last start for a while with Cincy expected to have Edinson Volquez back after the break. Wood will go up against Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay (10-8, 2.33).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
