[rthoughton]

San Francisco +152 (Sanchez) @ Philadelphia -172 (Hamels); o/u8.5; PHI -1.5 +115


The San Francisco Giants will look to Jonathan Sanchez (14-10, 3.60) today to finally get a win in Philadelphia, in a series they really wanted to win with the Wild Card lead on the line here in mid-August. Sanchez has put together a better than 2:1 K:BB ratio on the season, posting 144 K’s thusfar. The Giants have had some difficulty, however, winning for Sanchez of late, who has been a bit of a gas can in his last 9 starts. He allowed 3 earned in 5.1 in his last outing, a 3-2 loss at home against the Padres, and in his start on August 8th in Atlanta was shelled for 4 earned in 4 innings in yet another loss.
In his last outing against the Phils, Sanchez pitched very well, striking out 6 in 5 innings, and allowing only one earned on only 3 hits and got the win. He also has put together a lifetime mark of 2-1 against the Phils in 26.2 innings and has struck out 33 and allowed only 10 earned. He did walk 5 Phils in his last start against them, and will really need to keep those totals lower if he is going to keep putting goose eggs up against this nearly unstoppable Phillie offense.

For the Phillies today in the 3rd game of the series while looking for the sweep of the formerly Wild Card leading San Francisco Giants, Cole Hamels (13-12, 3.33) will look to continue his phenomenal three game run. It’s just too bad that in his last two starts, the Phils have failed to win any of them. Check out these numbers in Hamels last three starts: 22.0 IP 17H 6ER 2BB 29K - (0-2)
Prior to his back-to-back 1-0 losses against the New York Mets, the Phils had won 5 consecutive Hamels starts. He is arguably pitching as good as any starter named Roy in the Phils’ current rotation. There is only one other pitcher in the League that has received less support than has Cole, and that other guy is now his teammate after getting shipped over from the Astros before the deadline.
Hamels has been absolutely dominant in the month of August. Here he gets a home start in front of the sell out crowd at Citizen’s Bank Park, which will also be the 100th consecutive sell out. I expect that the folks there to cheer on their Phils will witness another gem from their former NLCS and World Series MVP. Cole Hamels is dominating the opposition, and other than that 4 earned, 10 strikeout win at Washington, he has not allowed more than 3 earned runs in any start since the 26th of June. Cole has been stuck on 7 wins since getting it on the 11th of July. There is no way this silliness continues. Hamels is due for a victory today.
Phillies and the over for Thursday.

Day Game and NL playoff watch:
105pm WAS +180 (Lannan) @ ATL -210 (Lowe): Sure, Atlanta is nearly unbeatable at home, and clearly refuse to lay down after facing 2-0 deficits in each of the last two games which both resulted in wins. I hate this -210 line, though. It is ridiculous. Lannan has pitched very well for the Nats and have already lost this series. There is a good possibility that the Braves try to get some regs some rest. Im going to put something on the Nats and try to steal one early at a ridiculous line.

220pm SDG -155 (Latos) @ CHC +135 (Zambrano): This one seems really easy, and the line is very nice as well. Latos is one of the best pitchers in the game in 2010 and Zambrano, well, isn’t. The Padres are still rolling and look to have all but wrapped up a trip to the playoffs. I look for Latos to put on a show today in front of the day game bar-going Wrigley “fans.”

[rthoughton]

I wish the Phils weren't goose-eggings HAmels outings. I would love to hammer the RL here.