Giants vs Phillies | Predictions

San Francisco Giants vs Philadelphia Phillies
7:05 PM Wednesday August 18 – ESPN
FREE Expert MLB Picks

Pitching Probables: Matt Cain vs. Joe Blanton

This is a huge series for both teams and the Phillies took round one last night beating up Barry Zito early. San Francisco has a definite edge on the mound in game two with starter Matt Cain. Cain, despite great stuff, never seems to mount winning streaks. He is 9-9 on the year and the team is 12-12 when he takes the bump. Armed with this info it would seem that he is due for a victory as he hasn’t won in his last two starts. Cain also benefits from the fact that Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are still out of the lineup. Howard is only 2 for 10 lifetime with both hits homers and Utley bats .500 with half of those hits leaving the yard. Knowing this it is not suprising that Cain has never beaten Philly with an ugly ERA – 7.20 – in four starts.

The Phillies have been red hot and are now in the lead in the Wild Card race and they can really enhance their pursuit of the playoffs with another victory over their closest WC competition – San Francisco. Despite the ugly stats Joe Blanton has been showing improvement lately. He has thrown quality starts in 7 of his last 10 and the Phillies have won 3 of the last four times he started. Lets face it, with Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and now Roy Oswalt someone has to fill the back of the rotation, right?. Blanton doesn’t have great numbers in his career against San Fran but most of that is from when he was with Oakland. In his lone start against them with Philadelphia he went 7 innings giving up only a couple of runs with 5Ks and no BBs. He lost that duel 2-0 to Tim Lincecum last year. He just needs to keep the Phils in the game because even though they are down a couple of big bats they still have a better lineup than the Giants.

Prediction: I must admit a bias, I am a Phillies fan. Now that that is out of the way I just can’t bet against them right now. They are at home and on a roll.

Philadelphia is -103 and the O/U is 8.5.

Score Prediction:
Philadelphia Phillies – 5
San Francisco Giants – 4

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San Francisco Giants Betting Trends:

• The total has gone OVER in 5 of San Francisco’s last 7 games
• San Francisco is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games on the road
• San Francisco is 14-7 SU in its last 21 games on the road
• The total has gone UNDER in 4 of San Francisco’s last 6 games on the road

Philadelphia Phillies Betting Trends:

• The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Philadelphia’s last 6 games
• Philadelphia is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
• Philadelphia is 16-2 SU in its last 18 games at home
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Philadelphia’s last 5 games at home