Phillies vs Rangers Baseball Picks
Philadelphia could not close the deal on A.J. Burnett’s first start as a Phillie last night as the bullpen gave up two runs in the later innings in the loss. In this game offense was much harder to come by as the Phillies were held to just 8 hits.
Philadelphia Phillies (1-1) vs Texas Rangers (1-1)
Wednesday April 2
GlobeLife Ballpark at Arlington – Arlington, TX
8:05PM
Probable Starters:
PHI: Kyle Kendrick (L)
TEX: Robbie Ross (R)
Moneyline: Texas -161, Philadelphia +151
O/U: 9.5
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Philadelphia
The good thing is that the middle of the order – Utley, Byrd and Howard – are off to good starts.
They are doing a little more mixing and matching than you would think with Cody Asche out of the lineup after hitting a homer in the opener, all for the sake of Jayson Nix. Still a 1-1 start is not bad.
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With Cole Hamels on the disabled list everyone moves up a slot so it is Kyle Kendrick getting the start in this first series. He was not very good at the end of last season and is hoping to prove that he has turned things around and can help the Phillies through the injury to Hamels.
The key thing is that he is healthy. He has not fared well against the Rangers big sluggers in the past though, Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre have him him hard.
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Texas
The Rangers responded late to avoid dropping to 0-2 on the young season. I know it is a super small sampe size at this point but the fact that Alex Rios and Adrian Beltre are off to hot starts is great.
They still need Prince Fielder to be a presence though as he is currently ahead of those two in the three spot and is their primary lefty power source. After being abused in the opener the bullpen was very sharp yesterday in relief of Martin Perez – they only gave up one hit over three plus innings.
The bullpen is going to be a factor in their success this season.
Robbie Ross has shown a lot of promise in the minors but this is the first season he has been with the club that he is being expected to start after a couple of years contributing in the pen.Expectations are medium because he had a very strong spring but really he it getting a chance because they need him.
He might have some degree of advantage because most of these hitters have never seen him before.
I am not sure how the oddsmakers are making the Rangers such heavy favourites in this one. They have not looked especially strong so far and the pitching matchup looks more or less even to me. Go with Philly to win the series, the value is just too good to ignore based on what we have seen so far.
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: Philadelphia 5 – Texas 3
