Phillies ace Roy Halladay should have ownership papers on the Mets, considering his 5-0 record against them. Today in a 1:10 pm matinee, the reigning Cy Young ace will shoot for win No. 6 against New York when they play the second game of their three-game series at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Countering for New York will be left-hander John Niese.
With Halladay and Niese as starters, MLB Lines oddsmakers at offshore sportsbook BODOG.com as heavy -230 favorites with a posted total of 7 1/2-runs. Mets backers are getting +190 moneyline odds as the underdog. Halladay and Niese must be the starters for action to count based on these odds.
Not much can be said about Halladay that baseball bettors don't already know. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner is as dominant of a pitcher as there is out there. He was no different in this last start giving up five hits and a walk with 14 strikeouts against the Padres on Sunday to improve his 2011 record to 3-1 with a 2.41 ERA.
Through five starts Niese is 1-3, and after pitching 30 innings has a 5.10 ERA from giving up 17 earned runs, 18 total, on 32 hits of which two were out of the park. Niese has hit two batters and walked a dozen. His last outing, Sunday against Arizona, was promising by allowing three runs, two earned, over seven innings while giving u p six hits, walking two and striking out three.
On Friday the Phillies got a strong pitching performance by right-hander Vance Worley who shut out the Mets over six innings of work striking out five and getting the win over the Mets in the series opener. The 13 combined runs to cross the plate made big winners of OVER bettors too. Phillies backers were able to collect as -140 moneyline winners. The win was the second in a row for Philadelphia and the second straight loss for the Mets.
For my daily MLB Pick , I think betting Halladay and the Phillies is a great value at -230 odds.
