Today the Phillies begin life without Ryan Howard, who was lost in the last game scampering back to second and rolling his left ankle pretty badly.
The x-rays were negative, which is fantastic for the Phils, and they will hope for the best from the league’s best power hitter. They certainly will need him to recover quickly if they are to continue to make a run at the Braves in the East. The lead in the division is currently 3 full games for the Braves, who got the win last night.
PHI -210 (Halladay) @ FLA +180 (S West).
Roy Halladay takes the ball for the Phils and should shut down the Marlins offense enough to keep the Phils in the game tonight in South Florida, even without the Big Piece. Ibanez (if healthy) will bat in the three hole tonight and be protected by Jayson Werth, who finally busted out of his month+ long slump and has been giving the Phils a little bit of what they had hoped to get from him all season. Raul bent back his wrist trying to play a ball out of his reach in the last series with the Nats. The Phillies will need him today if they plan on getting some runs and competing on the road in another huge division series.
The Doc gets the ball today (13-9, 2.21era 7.5:1 (k:bb)) in Florida and the Doc should pitch very well. In his last trip to Florida (in front of the normal 17 fans stuffing the Marlins’ stadium), Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game on May 29th. Roy out-dueled JJ and took the 1-0 win, then fell deeper into the get-no-support club that is the Phillies. Both Halladay and Hamels have really struggled to get significant support.
Oddsmakers expect him to dominate, too, giving him -210 juice today. I completely agree that the Phils are the favorite today with Roy on the hill, but he’ll be far from perfect, and I would be surprised to see the Phils put up big scoring numbers with all of the big missing pieces. Who would have thought in April that come August, the Phils would begin a series versus the division rival Marlins as a small ball team, loaded with pitching, speed and defense? Not me. Interesting stat here as well: The Phillies have only had EIGHT games this season in which their preseason roster has played together. Eight. Yet they still are nearly 10 games over .500, have added the best available arm at the deadline, and only find themselves one series sweep from being the lead dog once again.
The Marlins look to Sean West to keep the train rolling as they attempt to make a serious run at the division lead themselves. This will be West’s first start of the season. He does have one start previous versus the Phils, where he lasted a whopping 4 innings, allowed 7 hits and 3 runs (2 earned). In 2009, West gave the Fish 103.1 innings, posted an 8-6 mark in 20 starts and allowed 62 runs (4.79ERA).
FLA +1.5 +115 is the play here. As much as I hate to say it, the Phils should struggle to score again in one of Halladay’s starts. This time he doesn’t even get help from the rbi king in the National League. If the Phils have Ibanez in the lineup and can get on base, drive up West’s count, steal some bases and cause some havoc, they should be able to manufacture a few and get Doc the dubya. I’m not so sure the Marlins are going to go away nicely.
The x-rays were negative, which is fantastic for the Phils, and they will hope for the best from the league’s best power hitter. They certainly will need him to recover quickly if they are to continue to make a run at the Braves in the East. The lead in the division is currently 3 full games for the Braves, who got the win last night.
PHI -210 (Halladay) @ FLA +180 (S West).
Roy Halladay takes the ball for the Phils and should shut down the Marlins offense enough to keep the Phils in the game tonight in South Florida, even without the Big Piece. Ibanez (if healthy) will bat in the three hole tonight and be protected by Jayson Werth, who finally busted out of his month+ long slump and has been giving the Phils a little bit of what they had hoped to get from him all season. Raul bent back his wrist trying to play a ball out of his reach in the last series with the Nats. The Phillies will need him today if they plan on getting some runs and competing on the road in another huge division series.
The Doc gets the ball today (13-9, 2.21era 7.5:1 (k:bb)) in Florida and the Doc should pitch very well. In his last trip to Florida (in front of the normal 17 fans stuffing the Marlins’ stadium), Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game on May 29th. Roy out-dueled JJ and took the 1-0 win, then fell deeper into the get-no-support club that is the Phillies. Both Halladay and Hamels have really struggled to get significant support.
Oddsmakers expect him to dominate, too, giving him -210 juice today. I completely agree that the Phils are the favorite today with Roy on the hill, but he’ll be far from perfect, and I would be surprised to see the Phils put up big scoring numbers with all of the big missing pieces. Who would have thought in April that come August, the Phils would begin a series versus the division rival Marlins as a small ball team, loaded with pitching, speed and defense? Not me. Interesting stat here as well: The Phillies have only had EIGHT games this season in which their preseason roster has played together. Eight. Yet they still are nearly 10 games over .500, have added the best available arm at the deadline, and only find themselves one series sweep from being the lead dog once again.
The Marlins look to Sean West to keep the train rolling as they attempt to make a serious run at the division lead themselves. This will be West’s first start of the season. He does have one start previous versus the Phils, where he lasted a whopping 4 innings, allowed 7 hits and 3 runs (2 earned). In 2009, West gave the Fish 103.1 innings, posted an 8-6 mark in 20 starts and allowed 62 runs (4.79ERA).
FLA +1.5 +115 is the play here. As much as I hate to say it, the Phils should struggle to score again in one of Halladay’s starts. This time he doesn’t even get help from the rbi king in the National League. If the Phils have Ibanez in the lineup and can get on base, drive up West’s count, steal some bases and cause some havoc, they should be able to manufacture a few and get Doc the dubya. I’m not so sure the Marlins are going to go away nicely.
