MLB Baseball
2012-05-19 - Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillie
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Saturday 19 May 2012 - First Pitch 7:15pm ET
12:15am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Philadelphia Phillies (21-19) took game 1 of this Inter-League series with the Boston Red Sox (18-21), but don't be surprised that there is not so much interest in this series rather the one between the City's basketball teams in the NBA Eastern Conference Semi Finals.
The first game would have been overshadowed as it was taking place at the same time as game 4 of the basketball series taking place literally across the road from Citizens Bank Park.
Philadelphia have won 6 games in a row after taking game 1 of this series 6-4 last night. In that game, they made a fast start by scoring 4 runs in the 1st innings and never letting that advantage go. The Phillies will send Joe Blanton to the mound and hope he can continue where he left off in his last outing.
Blanton is 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA this season and he allowed just 1 run in over 7 innings pitched against the Houston Astros in his last outing to improve to 3-0 and a 2.10 ERA from his last 4 starts overall.
The pitcher is 3-3 with a 4.70 ERA in his last ten starts against Boston, but he is just 1-3 from eight starts since 2007 and he has a 5.44 ERA in those games. Blanton will be facing Boston for the first time since being tagged for 9 runs in 4 innings pitched at Fenway Park back in June 2010.
Boston will counter by sending Jon Lester to the mound. Lester is 2-3 with a 3.71 ERA and he comes into this one after throwing the full 9 innings in a 6-1 win over the Seattle Mariners. The pitcher is also 2-0 against the Phillies from three starts, all coming at this ballpark, and he has only allowed 1 run in 21 innings pitched against them.
Lester may need to put forth another such effort as the batting line up could be depleted tonight. David Ortiz, Cody Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia are all banged up and their statuses are unknown for this game.
Head to Head
Philadelphia have improved to 4-1 in the last 5 games in the series against the Boston Red Sox thanks to their win in game 1 last night.
They are now 3-1 in their last 4 at home against Boston, although they were 2-6 in their previous 8 games before that.
Philadelphia are 10-9 at home this season, Boston are 9-10 on the road.
Prediction
I am going to back the underdog Philadelphia Phillies to grab the win today, although they will need Joe Blanton to continue his hot form of late as Jon Lester has had a big Indian sign over them in his three career starts against the Phillies.
The Boston Red Sox may also have a few issues with their batting line up today as injuries looks set to limit them tonight.
With the way Blanton has been pitching, Philadelphia 'should' have a chance to win this game, although it could be a tight low-scoring game between them.
The Pick :
Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 Boston Red Sox
