Phillies vs Rangers Baseball Picks
Philly got the opening day win but they can not be pleased with the way Cliff Lee got knocked around. Looking more at the positive side the offense exploded with 14 runs and everyone got into the action.
Philadelphia Phillies (1-0) vs. Texas Rangers (0-1)
Tuesday April 1
Globe Life Park at Arlington – Arlington, TX
8:05PM
Probable Starters:
PHI: A.J. Burnett (R)
TEX: Martin Perez (L)
Moneyline: Texas -123, Philadelphia +114
O/U: 8.5
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Philadelphia
The biggest surprise was the contribution of 3B Cody Asche at the bottom of the lineup, he was one of three Phillies that went deep.
The strength of this team is supposed to be starting pitching but with the players they have scoring runs should not be a problem either, this is a good omen for a lineup with question marks.
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There is no way around hit Cliff Lee got hit hard yesterday. He even gave up a walk which is a rarity.
The Phils will turn to A.J. Burnett in game 2 and hope he can pitch a little deeper into the game and more effectively too. On the bright side the Phillies late game duo of Antonio Bastardo and Jonathan Papelbon breezed through the final two innings plus without giving up a hit.
That’s very encouraging.
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Texas
The opener was a barn burner but the Rangers were on the losing end.
They know that pitching is going to be in demand until Yu Darvish was back and fortunately they have the kind of lineup where yesterday won’t be the last time they put up double digits. It was especially nice that Alex Rios had such a strong start.
If he can be a consistent run producer in the 5 spot it makes Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre ahead of him that much more dangerous. Shin Soo-Choo was an 0hfer though.
Texas will look to rebound with Martin Perez. Last year as a rookie he showed he belongs in the Majors but is far from dominant. One challenge he has though is that he does not go very deep into games.
I know it is early in the season but they don’t want to wear out their bullpen so he is going to have to give them 90+ pitches at least.
They are counting on Alexi Ogando in relief and he was lit up yesterday too.
Not much went right for Texas in the opener but at least a few offensive players got untracked. I think it is going to be the same on day two with just a little less fireworks between the two clubs.
Look for Burnett to out pitch Perez and the bullpens to play it about even. Awesome value on Philly to get to 2-0.
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Philadelphia 7 – Texas 5
