Join John Ryan as he shares his 10* graded play on the Philadelphia Phillies as they take on the Los Angeles Dodgers set to start at 10:10 PM ET, Tuesday. With the team healthy, can the Phillies take advantage of the slumping Dodgers?
The Phillies were able to fend off the Dodgers last night, as the team was able to walk away with a 3-2 victory. Philadelphia has won three games and look to add a fourth
tonight as they continue their series against the Dodgers.
Tonight, MLB odds makers have opened the Phillies as -160 favorites, and that number has grown to -165 at most MLB betting shops. Let's break down this matchup and decide where the best value lies.
The Phillies are truly the only team that can be in last place in the
division and 10 games from attaining the second wild card in the National League and still be
respected to have a shot at those goals. This marks the first time this season
that Halladay, Howard, and Utley will all play together this season and that certainly
brings a lot of hope to the Phillies team and their fans.
The Dodgers are fading fast,
losing six of their last seven games. Chad Billingsley was to make a start
Sunday, but is suffering from an inflamed throwing elbow. He was penciled in
for this start, but is nowhere close to being able to pitch. Instead, Dodgers
manager, Mattingly, will give the ball to Stephen Fife, who will make his MLB
debut. He was not that impressive in Triple-A ball posting a 4.53 ERA in 18
starts in Albuquerque.
Halladay will make his first
start since May 27 and states that he feels great. He pitched well in his rehab
assignment in Clearwater Thursday. In that start his fastball was back at the
93 MPH level and had heavy sinking movement. Something that was not present
when he was trying to pitch through an injury in May.
Halladay will not have a pitch
count assigned to him given the strong rehab start and his Sunday bullpen
session, but you can bet that Charlie Manuel will keep a close eye on their ace
and probably will limit him to six innings of work. I can only see him working
past the sixth if his pitch count is extremely low.
Halladay Pitch Sequences
Big Roy is a premier power
pitcher that uses several different fastballs to keep batters off balance. His
curve is one of the best in baseball by a right-handed starter, and this change
that he uses equally to both right-handed and left-handed batters can be
devastating.
He is one of the few power
pitchers in MLB that will use nearly identical pitch sequences to get both
right and left-handed batters out. More times than not, a right-handed batter
will use his curve mostly to right-handed batter and a change to left-handed
batters. The reason is that a curve or slider will break into a left-handed
hitter’s wheelhouse and not many starters have the confidence to throw that
style of pitch.
Halladay, though, can throw the
curve and get left-handed batters swinging over the top of the pitch and a pitch
that is rarely in the strike zone. The break is severe and late in the delivery
and what looks like a hanging middle-in curve can nearly end up bouncing off
the dirt.
He has allowed a .233 batting
average, .264 on-base-percentage, and .280 slugging-percentage to the current
members of the Dodgers in their respective careers. Matt Kemp is just 2-for-9
for a .222 batting average against Halladay.
MLB Pick: Take the Phillies
for a 10* Titan Play.