National League Baseball for July 16, 2016
Another full card of baseball action:
NEW YORK METS AT PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES:
Bartolo Colon held the Philadelphia Phillies to just 3 runs and the Mets got a 3 run home run from Neil Walker to give them the 5-3 win over New York in the opener of this three game series. That kept the New York media off of ‘suicide watch’ as they’ve just about given up on the New York Yankees for this year. Walker stated emphatically after the game that the Mets are a ‘playoff club’. That remains to be seen. The Washington Nationals got another win thanks to a masterful performance by Stephen Strasburg so at the close of action for Friday they held a 6 game lead over both the Mets and Miami Marlinsf. The Phillies are 13 games out of first but just 7 back of the Marlins and Mets. If the season ended after Friday’s action the Mets would be a playoff team. Maybe. They’d be tied with the Miami Marlins for the second wild card spot in the National League which would necessitate a one game playoff. Actually, it would be like a game of ‘musical chairs’ with five teams vying for two spots.
At this point, it’s starting to look like the only thing the Phillies have to look forward to is the Frank Sinatra bobbleheads on ‘Italian Heritage Night’. Philadelphia definitely has hope for the future and the local fans are starting to pick up on that–the TV ratings for the Phillies’ games are up significantly over last year. The Phillies are just 7 games out of the second wild card spot in the National League but the team doesn’t seem to be committed to making a run. In fact, they’ll likely be sellers at the trade deadline with pitcher Jeremy Hellickson the most likely bargaining chip.
For today, however, the Phillies look to have a solid pitching edge. Jerad Eickhoff has been somewhat erratic this season but has looked sharp in his 9 home starts putting up a 2.40 ERA and a 1.050 WHIP. He’ll be opposed by Logan Verrett who the Mets are hoping will fill Matt Harvey’s spot in the rotation. He’s struggled in the role, however, and the Mets are starting to look for a trade.
BET PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES -110 OVER NEW YORK METS
PITTSBURGH PIRATES AT WASHINGTON NATIONALS:
The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t have a chance on Friday as human wrecking ball Stephen Strasburg ran his record to 13-0 on the season. They hope to be more competitive on Saturday as they get Gerritt Cole off the disabled list to make the start. Cole looked sharp before suffering a triceps strain and the Pirates are hoping that he’ll regain that form. He’ll face the Nationals’ Trevor Roark who has put up solid numbers this season but they haven’t always translated into Nationals’ wins. Overall, Roark has a 3.07 ERA and a 1.225 WHIP but the Nats are just 10-8 in his 18 starts. At home he’s got a 2.64 ERA and a 1.224 WHIP but the Nats are 5-4 in these games. They’ve finally started to put it together in his last three starts–all wins–with Roark putting up a 2.57 ERA and a 1.238 WHIP.
Tough game to handicap. Cole is certainly a capable pitcher but we’d rather go with the proven commodity of Roark. We’ll wait and see how Cole performs but for this game we’ll lay the very reasonable price with the home team.
BET WASHINGTON NATIONALS -115 OVER PITTSBURGH PIRATES