MLB Baseball
2012-04-16 - Philadelphia Phillie at San Franciso Giants
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 16 April 2012 - First Pitch 10:15pm ET
3:15am (British Standard Time)
Preview
At the start of the season, this game looked like putting together two of the better pitchers in the MLB, but it hasn't panned out like that at the start of the 2012 campaign. The San Francisco Giants (4-5) will look to get better production from Tim Lincecum as they take on the Philadelphia Phillies (4-5) and Roy Halladay in the opening of a 3 game series.
Both teams were expected to be amongst the contenders in the National League this season, but both are dealing with issues affecting different parts of their ball clubs.
The Phillies were expected to miss the presence of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the batting line up and that has been the case as they have scored more than 4 runs just twice from their first 9 games this season.
On the other hand, San Francisco look set to miss Brian Wilson, their famous closer, for the rest of the season as he goes in for surgery on his pitching arm. They will be hoping Tim Lincecum can at least provide a better platform for success in this third start of the season than he has in the first two games he has pitched in.
Lincecum has only been give 1 loss to his record, despite being pulled when allowing 6 runs in under 3 innings pitched in an eventual 17-8 loss for the Giants against the Colorado Rockies. The former Cy Young winner has given up 11 runs in under 8 innings pitched so far this season as he has struggled with his control from the mound.
The Giants will find it tough to overcome another slow Lincecum start as they face Roy Halladay in his third start to the season with the star pitcher allowing just 1 run from 7 hits through 15 innings so far this season. Halladay was given 7 runs of support in a win over the Miami Marlins and has a 2-0 record with a 0.60 ERA.
This will be the first time he has pitched against the Giants since the National League Championship Series back in 2010, although he did lead the Phillies to a 2-4 win here. However, Halladay is just 1-3 from 5 career starts against San Francisco and a 5.97 ERA.
Lincecum is 5-2 from 12 starts against Philadelphia and a 2.71 ERA, winning both meetings against them last season.
Head to Head
Philadelphia won the season series 5-4 between these teams in 2011, but both road teams won the individual series during the season.
The Phillies took 3 of 4 games played in San Francisco, outscoring the Giants 15-6 in those games.
Prediction
I am going to have a small interest that Philadelphia can win this opening game of the series between the teams on the run line, especially after seeing the struggles that Tim Lincecum had in a loss to the Colorado Rockies.
Lincecum hasn't got the velocity on his fastball that we have been used to seeing from him, while the Giants bullpen will be feeling a little more pressure knowing their inspirational leader Brian Wilson is out for the season in all likelihood.
Obviously, I am a little concerned with the lack of runs that Philadelphia have produced more often than not this season, but they should be given a chance to cover, even in a low scoring game, behind the pitching of Roy Halladay.
After putting in 8 runs yesterday, the Phillies should feel confident they can at least get the scoreboard moving enough to provide their ace with his third decision of the season.
The Pick :
San Francisco Giants 2-4 Philadelphia Phillie
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the Philadelphia Phillies - 1.5 Runs @ 2.50
