The woeful Philadelphia Phillies (29-57 SU, -18.60 Units) have shown at least a little bit of life on this road trip to end the first half of the season. They've got an uphill battle to fight for sure on Saturday night against the San Francisco Giants (43-42 SU, -3.54 Units).
ODDS ANALYSIS
To say that David Buchanan has been bad this year is an understatement. He only started five games for the Phils, all of which came in April. It wasn't all his fault, but he got hung with the loss in all five games which he pitched. The end result was a loss of 5.00 units for bettors.
PITCHING MATCHUP
As we already mentioned, Buchanan has been a wreck at the big league level. He has stats you really only see in video games at 0-5 with an 8.76 ERA. He actually has more walks (15) than strikeouts (12), and his WHIP of 1.91 is higher than some pitchers' ERAs.
Ryan Vogelsong will take the ball in the penultimate game of the first half of the year for the Giants, and that could be bad news for them as well. He was already lit up by these Phillies in June, allowing five runs in 6.2 innings of work in a game which he was saddled with a loss.
The righty hasn't been great since then, including when he only pitched four innings and allowed one run against the Nationals in his last start on July 5. Vogelsong needed 71 pitches to get through those four frames, and if he is on the mound that long per inning in this one, he won't last all that long, even against a dreadful offense.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"As far as I'm concerned, just like what our plan has been for a long, long time, and that's to give opportunities to young men who could be a part of our future. Cesar Hernandez has been one of our best players on the field right now in a variety of ways – running the bases, playing defense, playing with energy. He can switch hit. He can run. He's doing a lot of things that we want to see out of our young players." – Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. on Cesar Hernandez, the heir apparent to the injured Chase Utley at second base
SITUATIONAL BETTING
You never like seeing a big, fat question mark at the ends of games, even if you're playing against the Phillies. The Giants currently have said question mark there.
Santiago Casilla, who is just 21-of-25 this year in saves, has been shut down for at least a few days to more or less just get his mind right after some bad performances, and we aren't sure where that leaves the San Fran pen.
Sergio Romo and his 4.97 ERA? George Kontos and his zero career saves?
Either way, we would hate to be a part of it.
PROP TALK
We're going to give these Phillies kids this much; at least some of them can play. Maikel Franco has been awesome since coming up to the bigs, blasting 10 homers with 34 RBIs in 51 games.
The aforementioned Hernandez has been on fire in the last month or so, and his average is up to .294. He's on pace for 30 steals or so and could score 75-80 runs if things break his way in the second half. Don't discount these kids.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Of course, the rest of the Philadelphia lineup is in shambles aside from these two, and it shouldn't be surprising that we are going to pick against the Phils with Buchanan on the mound at any cost.
Don't be surprised if this is a higher scoring game, though. Neither of these starters exactly exude confidence, and both could be run relatively early.
San Francisco 8, Philadelphia 5
The baseball betting odds for this Saturday game will first be available at BookMaker Sportsbook. BookMaker is going to have multiple betting options available for this televised baseball matchup. Live wagering during commercials offers an adjusted moneyline, individual inning run totals and next hitter results. Log in and start gambling during the game now!
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The game between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants will start at 10:05 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 11, 2015 at AT&T Stadium in San Francisco, CA. You can watch the contest live on the MLB Network.
