Philadelphia Phillies (32-30) at New York Yankees (41-23)
7:05 PM EST ESPN
Starting Pitchers
PHI: J. Moyer (6-6, 5.03)
NYY: A. Burnett (6-4, 3.86)
FREE Expert MLB Picks
The last time the Phillies were in New York, the Mets shut them out in three straight games. Now after dropping Tuesday’s three-game series opener 8-3 to the defending champion Yankees, Philadelphia will look to end that streak by evening the series at a game apiece on Wednesday night.
With Tuesday’s win the Yankees, won their ninth straight home game—the club’s best streak in its second-year ballpark — and have moved a half game ahead of Tampa Bay for the lead in the AL East. Philadelphia meanwhile, drops its sixth game in its last eight outings and drops four games back in third place of the NL East leading Braves.
In a move to have the Yankees face the soft-throwing Moyer after seeing Roy Holladay on Tuesday The Phillies have once again adjusted their rotation bumping righty Kyle Kendrick’s start back a day. Kendrick’s new opponent in his Thursday start will be Andy Pettitte. It’s a difficult assignment for the inconsistent hurler, who has never faced the Yankees in his major league career. Veteran lefty Jamie Moyer will now work on five days’ rest and take Kendrick’s scheduled start on Wednesday. Moyer is coming off the worst start in his career, as he gave up nine runs in one inning of work against the Red Sox on June 12. Moyer is not as bad as his last appearance made him out to be, but he has not performed well against the Yankees lifetime, with just 10 wins in 36 starts. Burnett’s season hasn’t been going quite as well either, so Moyer may have caught a small break with this switch.
Burnett pitched 6 2/3 innings on Thursday night, allowing four runs off eight hits in a 4-3 loss to the Orioles. The right-hander allowed two in the first and retired 10 straight batters before Scott Moore led off the fifth with a home run. Burnett was out-dueled by opposing pitcher Jake Arrieta, who was making his major-league debut, and struck out five while walking one. The loss was Burnett’s second straight and fourth overall. The 33-year olds strikeouts are down this year with only 60 K’s in 84 innings pitched. Living some to wonder if he has passed his prime. Burnett is 5-8 with a 4.75 ERA in 17 appearances in his career against Philadelphia.
The Phillies haven’t looked like a World Series team in the last month. They have nine wins since May 16, fewer than every team in baseball but the lowly Orioles and pitiful Pirates. The slump is due in large part to a lack of offense. After entering Tuesday night hitting .256—lower than he has hit this late in a season at any point in his career—with just one hit in his last 12 at-bats. Chase Utley turned things around a bit going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Meanwhile slugger Ryan Howard has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, including a 1-for 2 performance in game one.
The Yankees starters as been solid, going 8-0 between May 30 and June 13. All five starters also had at least six wins. That made the Yanks only the fifth team since 1920 to have five pitchers with at least a half-dozen victories apiece through the team’s first 62 games.
The odds makers have the Yanks as 1-1/2 favorites with a run total of 10.
My thought here is that Burnett will outlast and out pitch Moyer giving New York the advantage and the win, OVER.
Click Here for more FREE Expert MLB Picks
Philadelphia Phillies Betting Trends:
- Philadelphia is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games
- Philadelphia is 1-7 SU in its last 8 games on the road
- Philadelphia is 1-5 SU in their last 6 games when playing NY Yankees
- Philadelphia is 2-4 SU in their last 6 games when playing on the road against NY Yankees
New York Yankees Betting Trends:
- NY Yankees are 7-1 SU in their last 8 games
- NY Yankees are 5-0 SU in their last 5 games at home
- NY Yankees are 5-1 SU in their last 6 games when playing Philadelphia
- NY Yankees are 4-2 SU in their last 6 games when playing at home against Philadelphia
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.