MONDAY FIRST 5 INNINGS PLAY (YTD 2-4)

[jimmythegreek]

Philadelphia/Arizona over 4.5 -115:
The Phillies (32-45) have dropped 6 straight series and have lost 28 of their last 36 games overall. They look to avenge a sweep at the hands of Arizona (36-42) from a couple weeks ago at Citizens Bank Ballpark. The Diamondbacks return to Chase Field after a 10 game road trip that concluded in Colorado and saw the snakes go 7-3. Yesterday the Rockies salvaged a split thanks to a walk-off 2 run HR by Mark Reynolds off of Silvino Bracho in the bottom of the 9th at Coors. Carlos Estevez picked up the win in relief pitching a perfect 9th. Trevor Story, Carlos Gonzalez and Charlie Blackmon also hit homers in last night's victory, while Paul Goldschmidt went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI in a losing effort. San Francisco took 2 out of 3 this weekend over Philadelphia, including an 8-7 final from AT& T Park yesterday. Conor Gillaspe hit a game winning RBI double off of loser Severino Gonzalez making a winner out of Cory Gearrin in relief. Angel Pagan went 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI in the win. 

The D-Backs send Robbie Ray (4-6 4.59) to the hill this evening. The 24 year old southpaw has split his last 4 decisions but lost his last time out in a 5-2 defeat to Toronto. Ray yielded 4 ER in just over 5 IP despite striking out 8 and walking just 2. He faces a Phillies lineup hitting just .232 collectively with just 70 HR and averaging just 3.3 runs per contest. With nobody hitting north of .300 on the squad, Oduble Herrera (.298 8 27) who went yard yesterday, lead the Phils in batting as well as stolen bases with 11 in 16 attempts (68%). Maikel Franco (.240 12 37) leads the club in power and production and has hit safely in his last 3 before a slump that dropped him from clean-up to 6th in the batting order. Freddy Galvis (.219 7 30) drove in 5 runs last week against Minnesota, but otherwise has been a major disappointment. Despite hitting .333 in his last 6 games, he is second behind Ryan Howard with 63 K in just 278 at bats. Speaking of Rhino (.153 11 24) his nightmarish season continues going 0 for his last 18 despite a current 3 game hitting streak. At 36-years-old, the writing is on the wall for Howard, and he's sadly become irrelevant as of late during Philly's struggles. Cameron Rupp (.270 7 18) has done a nice job behind the plate over Carlos Ruiz (.226 3 9) with a 5 game hitting streak (.319) including 3 HR in his last 4 games. 

Philadelphia counters with Vince Velasquez (5-2 3.65) who comes off the DL tonight recovering from a biceps injury. The 24 year old sophomore hasn't won since May 17th and has yielded 12 ER over his last 13 IP (8.31). He faces an Arizona lineup hitting a respectable .268 overall which ranks 3rd in the NL. In addition they score nearly 4.6 runs per contest and have some power evident of their 92 HR. Jean Segura (.311 5 32) leads the snakes in batting, along with 46 runs and 13 steals in 18 attempts (.722). Segura hit .385 last week and has scored 11 runs over his last 7 games. Paul Goldschmidt (.301 14 52) has heated up considerable after a very slow start thanks to a 5 game hitting streak (.526) with 6 RBI over the series at Coors Field despite homer less over the last week. Still needs to cut down on his whiffs as usual, with 77 in just 272 AB's overall. Jake Lamb (.285 15 51) leads the club in HR and is tied with Goldscmidt in RBI. From the hot corner, Lamb is batting .360 over the last week with 2 HR and 8 RBI. Yasmany Tomas (.257 12 30) has hit safely in 7 of his last 8 (.276) and has seen more playing time after injuries displaced David Peralta and Chris Owings recently. 

Chase Field has been quite the hitters delight over it's existence and we get a pretty nice price despite two teams heading in opposite directions at the dish. Despite the retractable roof being closed in the heart of the summertime with the park undergoing hundreds of millions in repairs and upgrades, the ball has some significant jump off the bats especially to dead center field at just 407. There's a lot of outfield territory down and outside the lines to cover and both corners are just about 330 feet. With Ray seemingly up and down as of late and Velasquez looking to pick up a win in more than a month due to inconsistency, both of these offenses should get some early opportunities to put some offense up. Although both starters have the endurance to go deep, they could see limits if either team can string together at least one productive inning. Best of luck however you play!

[Guest ChrisHarvard]

GL Jimmy.

 

I am on Velasquez at +130. What can I say? The Phillies are God awful. But, I think this kid is for real.

 

We'll see.

[Guest ChrisHarvard]

Velasquez with 0 ERs.

 

Sorry mate, I can tell you put in the time on this game.

 

I hate to see you come out on the wrong end.