Philadelphia are on the hunt on the West coast again tonight as they take on the Dodgers
The Philadelphia Phillies continue their 10-game road trip tonight in Los
Angeles where they’ll face the Dodgers in the opener of a three-game set. Game
time for the matchup is 10:10 PM ET with the Dodger Stadium forecast calling for clear skies
and temperatures near 80 degrees.
The Phils are coming off a wild weekend in San Francisco that saw them
take two out of three in a rematch of last year’s National League Championship
Series. Even though Philadelphia will send Roy Halladay to the mound this
evening and the question for MLB bettors
is how much do the Phillies have left in the proverbial tank following 17 games
in 17 days.
Runs figure to be at a premium as Halladay (14-4, 2.55 ERA) faces Hiroki
Kuroda (7-13, 2.96 ERA). The ‘Doc’ has won his last three outings improving
Philadelphia’s record to 19-4 in games in which he’s started. He’s 3-1 in his
career against LA allowing seven runs in 30 innings (2.03) and is 6-3 on the
road (2.93) where he has put together a strong strikeout to walk ratio of 71 to
13.
It’s been a frustrating season for Kuroda who could easily be in
double-digits in the win department if he
had received just a little run support. A case in point is his last appearance
against Philadelphia on June 8 in which he allowed only one run but lost 2-0. To
further illustrate his frustration, Kuroda has given up 39 earned runs in his
13 losses while the Dodgers have scored 27. In his last three games, the
veteran right-hander has surrendered four runs in 19 1/3 innings (1.86 ERA) but
has a 1-2 record to show for it. Even pitching at home hasn’t helped as Kuroda
is 2-8 at Dodger Stadium this year.
Last add Kuroda; He’s 2-1 lifetime against the Phillies and has
been downright stingy, giving up three runs in 32 innings for an earned run
average of 0.86. However Halladay opened on the money line as a -160 favorite with the total holding at
six.
Over the weekend
The Phillies took two out of three in San Francisco but had their
nine-game winning streak snapped as Tim Lincecum and the Giants prevailed 3-1.
The victory spoiled Roy Oswalt’s return from the disabled list where he missed
37 games with back inflammation. He worked six innings but surrendered a season
12 hits in taking the loss, his seventh in eight games.
Philadelphia will
need to pick up the pace offensively especially Ryan Howard who is just 1 for
14 in his career against Kuroda is coming off a long weekend in which he went
1-12 and struck out eight times.
Hunter Pence is
hitting .382 with three homers and seven RBIs since being acquired from the
Astros but is just 3 for 14 against Kuroda.
The Dodgers took
two out of three from the Diamondbacks but lost Sunday’s series finale 4-3 as
Ian Kennedy outdueled Clayton Kershaw. Cody Ransom, who brought a .188 average
into the game, hit a two-run homer in the 7th off Kershaw to turn a
3-2 deficit into a 4-3 win. The Dodgers managed just six hits against three
Arizona pitchers.
Fade to Blue
The Dodgers have
been great fade material this season going
18-41 at home on the run line. That’s an especially attractive play with Kuroda
matched up against Halladay.
Another possibility
to consider is to go with the underdog. Kuroda who opened at +150 will be
facing a Phillies team that’s coming off an emotionally draining series and
could be primed for a letdown. However tread with caution if you plan to play
LA; the Phillies have won nine of 10 and own the best record in the majors at
74-39. They’ve also got an impressive 33-21 road record.
Harvey’s take: Even with a low opening total of six,
I’m confident that the ‘under’ is the way to riches tonight. Two of the first
three series meetings this season stayed below the closing total while the
other game pushed. The ‘under’ is 7-2 in Philadelphia’s last nine road games
and is 8-3 in LA’s last 11 games as an underdog.
Good Luck!