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The Phils and the NL East.
LOS -109 (Padilla) @ PHI -111 (Kendrick)
The smokin’ hot Phils and their red hot recall Kyle Kendrick, start a series fresh versus a familiar playoff foe in the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kendrick has been lights out of late, with the Phils taking his last 3 outings. In that trio of starts, Kyle has made it at least 6 innings in every start (7 once) and allowed a total of 4 earned runs in three consecutive quality starts.
He has had some control over those starts and his impressive 13:4 K:BB rate is clearly contributing directly to his success. Kendrick beat Ubaldo Jimenez on July 24th and defeated Anibal Sanchez in Florida on August 4th in absolutely dominant fashion, combining for a 17-4 shellacking of each more-than-satisfactory starter. Philadelphia (62-49; 6-1 in August and 14-3 since 7/22) looks to keep things going in nearly amazing fashion with three all-stars on the disabled list. But, the Phils keep finding ways to win games and have now dwindled this Braves lead to 1.5 and find themselves just 1 back in the Wild Card.
If Kyle Kendrick can continue his recent trend (and that’s a big if, sure) with the addition of Roy Oswalt, re-emergence of Werth and Ibanez, a white-hot Ruiz, and debut of Domonic Brown, the Phils may have this race exactly where they want it.
They face a familiar playoff opponent who they’ve had pretty great success against, beating the October versions in back-to-back seasons to claim both pennants. However, this week in August hardly brings those Dodgers to town. These Dodgers are 22-30 on the road. These Dodgers are buried 7 games back in the NL West and in 4th. Not to say that these Dodgers are not capable of putting together a serious run, as they are certainly loaded with some of the best young talent in the bigs and may very well be there in the end. It’s just that this Dodger team hasn’t really gotten going yet.
Padilla (5-9, 3.09, 0.97 WHIP) goes for the Dodgers here, getting an opening and appropriate -109 line. Padilla’s string of dominance has stretched much farther than Kendrick’s to say the very least. Padilla has given the Dodgers at least 6 innings in 7 of his last 8 outings. Padilla has not allowed more than 2 earned runs in any start since he took the hill at Fenway Park... on JUNE the 19th!
Vicente absolutely will pitch well against his former employer and locale of the Padilla Flotilla. Padilla will have his A-game as he has had since his return in mid-June. There’s no reason to believe he won’t. The track record speaks for itself.
Kendrick, though, gets the favoritism. And after digging, you’ll find it in Padilla’s 4.86 road ERA and one former start against the Phightin’ Phils. A 6 inning 7 hit, 7 run, 2 homer implosion and 10.50 ERA that sits at the end of his line versus the Phils.
The total here opened at 8.5. It makes perfect sense as these starters have pitched very well. I just get this feeling of offense after the day off for both clubs. Kendrick is an explosion waiting to happen. Can Padilla stay focused enough to overcome the Phils’ offense and their feisty fans?
Probably not. I’m on the Phils and would lean towards the over.
ATL -143 (Jurrjens) @ HOU +123 (Happ):
Atlanta got beaten last night in Houston and now have only a lead of 1.5. Today they face the former Phil, J. Happ who will look to help out his old squad. At +129, apparently the oddsmakers think Happ can get it done.
COL -160 (Jimenez) @ NYM +140 (Pelphrey):
As the days pass, the Mets fade into the distance. They look to Pelphrey to get things going in the right direction, but he is fighting for his job after a 9-2 start to the season. Outlook not good as Ubaldo and the surging Rockies come into Citi.
FLA +163 (A Sanchez) @ WAS -183 (Strasburg):
Sanchez goes for the first time since getting waxed by the Phils, but is a significant dog here facing Strasburg, on the road, in his first start back since short stint on the DL, against a red-hot Dunn and the Washington Nationals.
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Originally Posted by Eagle1958
