Baseball Betting: Philadelphia Phillies at Miami Marlins

Added on Aug 14, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

The bottom feeders of the NL East go at it in South Florida on Tuesday as the Miami Marlins host the Philadelphia Phillies. Both teams entered the season with postseason ambitions–in fact, many considered Philadelphia ‘the team to beat’ in the division. The Marlins, meanwhile, debuted a brand new ballpark and brought in mercurial manager Ozzie Gullien. It’s been a downward spiral since then for both sides–now their hopes and dreams have degraded to the point where their only goal for the season is to avoid the carrion and filth in the NL East basement. At the moment the Phillies have a 1.5 game advantage for that dubious distinction but these teams will battle to stay out of the fetid sewer of the divisional cesspool as if they were rabid jackals fighting over a discarded piece of gristle.

Philadelphia Phillies at Miami Marlins
August 14, 2012 4:10 PM Pacific

Men react to profound disappointment and futility in different ways and that is also true for baseball teams. Some teams wallow in the misery and simply ‘pack it in’ for the year while others continue to battle and compete hoping to savage a shred of redemption for their toils. The Philadelphia Phillies, to their credit, have chosen the latter path and have been arguably more competitive in the month of August than at any point in the season. Philadelphia’s big struggles this season have come when they step up in class but they’ve done well against opponents with losing records. Year to date they’re 24-17 against sub .500 opponents and in the second half of the season they’re a stellar 6-1 +4.4 units.

The Marlins have shown some signs of life here and there but overall they’re a team that is looking toward the offseason. What was supposed to have been a big year for the franchise with a new stadium and manager deteriorated like a feral pig carcass overrun by maggots and ants. They’ve since started to unload some contracts and now will try to rebuild the team during the offseason. Right hander Josh Johnson will get the start today and he’s pitched well under these trying circumstances but even though he’s a far superior pitcher to Philadelphia starter Kyle Kendrick that really doesn’t matter here. No matter how impressive your ERA it is impossible to escape the cold, cruel hand of fate. We’ll gladly take the road team playing better baseball with more spirit than the down and out homeside and get a nice underdog price in the process.

Bet Philadelphia Phillies (Kendrick) +140 over Miami Marllins (Johnson)