New York Mets (4-2) vs Philadelphia Phillies (2-4)
The Mets have taken advantage of their schedule to get off to a nice start.
They are just behind the Braves in the National League East standings and if they can get another series win in Philadelphia they will really be pleased with themselves.
Monday April 8
Citizens Bank Park – Philadelphia, PA
7:05PM
Probable Starters:
NYM: Matt Harvey (R)
PHI: Roy Halladay
Moneyline: Philadelphia -114, New York +104 at SBO
O/U: 7.5
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New York
The key has been starting pitching, in part due to the performance of tonight’s starter Matt Harvey.
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The offense has been OK too, scoring a couple of runs in 9th on Sunday to steal a win against the Marlins.
The expectations for Harvey were high coming into this season and they jumped a notch after a stellar opening performance. It is quite possible that Harvey possesses the best “stuff” in the National League. He mows down hitters like they were minor leaguers and had had only 1 bad start in the early part of his career.
He had one start against Philly last year and pitched well overall but longballs to Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins got him.
Philadelphia
Things went from bad to worse for Philadelphia as their first home series of the season yielded another series loss, this time to the Royals. The pitching that was supposed to be the reason they stood a chance this season has not been as good as advertised.
It is only the second week of the season but this series pretty meaningful because the Phillies are already looking up at the Mets in the NL. East Standings [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Making matters more troubling for the Phillies is that they don’t know what to expect from tonight’s starter Roy Halladay. He was fanning hitters left and right in his first start but when they made contact they were hitting him hard.
Halladay has been very successful against New York over his career with a 9-2 record and nice ERA.
He owns David Wright who he has struck out 12 times in 24 ABs
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: New York 6 – Philadelphia 4
With all the speculation around Halladay and the way he threw in the opener I think you have to side with the Mets today. Getting the underdog value to boot makes them one of the better plays as a bunch of new series open today.
If Halladay struggles again the Phils may be in big trouble in this season – even Cole Hamels got roughed up yesterday.