MLB Baseball
2012-04-24 - Philadelphia Phillie at Arizona D-Backs
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Tuesday 24 April 2012 - First Pitch 9:40pm ET
2:40am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Arizona Diamondbacks (9-8) once again moved above 0.500 as they took Game 1 of this three games series against the Philadelphia Phillies (7-10), but the latter will feel they can level the series tonight.
Arizona really took advantage of Kyle Kendrick last night as they put season high numbers in terms of hits (16) and runs scored (9), but they may find it a little more difficult this time. The Diamondbacks had really been struggling at the plate before yesterday, totalling just 16 runs in the previous 6 games and averaging less than 0.200.
Tonight they will face Vance Worley who is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA this season and he is coming into this one having limited the San Diego Padres to just 4 hits in 7 innings pitched while not giving up any runs.
Worley has only allowed 1 run in his last 13 innings pitched on the road and he also pitched 3 scoreless innings against Arizona in the one and only time he has faced them in his career last August.
The problem for Worley may come from his own team and whether they can put up enough runs, something that has been an issue all season. The absence of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard has been telling, although they may have received a confidence boost yesterday as they put up 5 runs in the final inning despite the game being lost. Hunter Pence also missed the game last night with a sore shoulder and he is listed as questionable tonight.
Another bonus for the Phillies may come from facing Josh Collmenter who is 0-1 with a 10.22 ERA this season. Collmenter gave up 11 runs from the first 7 innings he pitched this season, and he is coming into this one having allowed 4 runs in just over 5 innings pitched against the Atlanta Braves last time out.
The pitcher as only faced Philadelphia once before, giving up 2 runs from 8 hits in just under 7 innings pitched last season.
Head to Head
Arizona have now won 6 of their last 8 home games against Philadelphia thanks to the 9-5 win last night.
Prediction
I am going to back the Philadelphia Phillies to square the series tonight as I feel they have the edge on the mound and may be able to restrict the Diamondbacks to the point of securing a low-scoring win.
The Philadelphia bats will also have felt a little better about themselves after scoring 5 runs in the final innings yesterday and they should be able to get something going against Josh Collmenter.
Vance Worley has pitched well on the road over the past year since making his debut and I think he can limit an Arizona team that had been struggling to a 2.67 runs per game average in their previous 6 games before last night.
I am going to take the Phillies as the pick 'em in this contest as they have not been scoring heavily so any kind of win for them will do me fine.
The Pick :
Arizona D-Backs 2-3 Philadelphia Phillies
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the Philadelphia Phillies @ 1.95
