The Miami Marlins are one of the hottest teams in baseball,
and have been making good money for their financial backers on the MLB betting
lines. Can they keep it up when they visit Philadelphia for a three-game
weekend series with the Phillies starting Friday night?
Marlins vs. Phillies
series set-up
Miami just swept three games at home from Washington to
finish up a 21-8 month of May. Which was a welcome change after going 8-14 in
April.
Philly, meanwhile, just took two of three games from the New York Mets in New York to finish off a 5-2 road trip.
So in the tough and tight NL East Miami, at 29-22, sits in
second place, just a half-game behind the first-place Nationals, while Philly,
at 27-25, is in last place but only three games out.
Marlins vs. Phillies
Friday pitching matchup
Lefty Mark Buehrle (5-4, 3.26) gets the start Friday night
(7:05 pm Eastern) for Miami against Kyle Kendrick (1-4, 4.10) for Philly.
Buehrle is six-for-ten on quality starts this season, and
the Marlins are 6-4 in his starts, winning the last five in a row. In his most
recent outing Buehrle held San Francisco to two earned runs on eight hits in 7
1/3 innings of a 5-3 Miami victory. For the season the former White Sox hurler
has allowed 66 hits and walked 11 in 69 innings.
Buehrle started against the Phillies back on April 12 and
allowed three ER on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings of a 3-1 Marlins loss.
On the other side of this matchup Kendrick is five-for-six
on quality starts this season, but Philly is only 2-4 in his starts. In his
last outing he made sure he and the Phillies got a win, tossing his first
career shutout, holding St. Louis to squat on seven hits. So over his last
three starts Kendrick has allowed just
three ER on 15 hits in 22 innings.
Looking at Kendrick's numbers on the season his ERA and WHIP
are nothing to shout about, but they're a bit skewed because of two bad
appearances. Three weeks ago pitching in relief against the Mets Kendrick got
drilled for five runs in one inning, and back in April in a start against
Arizona he got clipped for seven runs in three innings. Take away those two
outings and Kendrick's ERA would be 1.67.
Kendrick hasn't pitched against Miami this year. Last year,
though, he made four appearances vs. the Marlins and was very effective,
allowing just three ER on 15 hits in 18 innings.
Marlins vs. Phillies
Friday betting odds and trends
As of early Friday morning most online sportsbooks were
listing Friday night's game at right around a pick 'em, with an 'over/under' of
8.5.
Philly can also be found at upwards of +195 on the run lines
at some of the various baseball betting outlets.
Philly is 31-20 on the 'over/unders' this season.
The Phillies are only 5-9 against left-handed starting
pitchers this year.
Marlins vs. Phillies
head-to-head
In the first meeting this season between these teams back in
April Philly took two of three games from Miami at Citizens Bank Park. Two of
those three games sneaked 'over' their totals.
Marlins vs. Phillies
injury report
Philly is still playing without both Ryan Howard and Chase
Utley, their two big left-handed bats. Over in the other dugout Miami is
without SS Emilio Bonifacio and his .351 OPB and 20 stolen bases, as he spends
time on the DL with a thumb injury.
Marlins vs. Phillies
free MLB pick for Friday
This should be a fun series to watch. Both teams come in
playing good ball, and there's also the divisional rivalry thing. We're not
exactly sure who's going to win Friday night's game, but we like what these two
starting pitchers have been doing. So we'll add the 'under' on this game to our
list of free MLB picks for Friday.