PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES @ CINCINNATI REDS
Baseball : North America : MLB
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011, 7:10PM US
(12:10AM GMT)

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PREVIEW

The Phillies opened up this 4 game series yesterday and started with a 3-2 win over Cincinnati with a strong showing from Cole Hamels. Tonight, they start their ace, who is hungry to get back in the win column.

The Phillies send Roy Halladay to the hill tonight. The right-handed hurler is 15-5 with a solid 2.56ERA but has not won his last 2 starts, which is not something he is used to. His last start saw him pitch just 5 innings against the Nationals, which earned him a no-decision and he had his game pushed an extra day to allow Cole Hamels to come back. Halladay is a solid pitcher, a hungry ace who cannot be happy with the lack of wins in recent weeks. He can be relied on to give it his all tonight.

Halladay owns a 1-1 record against the Cincinnati Reds in regular season. He got a no decision in his last match against them, where he allowed 3 runs. Halladay has owned the Reds in the postseason though, with an excellent showing in the NL Division Series last year where he threw a no-hitter.

The Cincinnati Reds counter with Bronson Arroyo, who is 8-10 with a 5.02ERA. Last week, Arroyo got his team the win via 8 scoreless innings of work against Florida, but that was his first win in over 2 months. A look at his ERA explains why that was the case.

Arroyo has not done well against the Phillies over his career. He has a poor 1-6 record against them, with a 7.13ERA. He allowed an ugly 9 runs on 10 hits in just over 2 innings of work when he faced Philadelphia in late May. He might well get spanked again tonight.

TEAM STATS

Philadelphia Phillies
Overall 84-46, Streak W1

Cincinnati Reds
Overall 67-67, Streak L1

BETTING VERDICT

I'm going to suggest a bet on the Phillies, which has a bit of value in it considering the difference in quality between the 2 pitchers. A bet on the Runline might very well win too but I'll keep it simple.

The Pick :

Philadelphia Phillies

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the Philadelphia Phillies to win @ 1.56 (Pinnacle)