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Tampa Bay Rays vs. Philadelphia Phillies Game 5

October 27, 2008

Lifting the William Penn Curse

by Mike Rose

Philadelphia,PA(RushPRnews/Betus)10/27/08-The Philadelphia Phillies are just one game away from giving its city their first major championship since 1983 and lifting the curse of William Penn. They’ll try to put away the little engine that could known as the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth game of the World Series on Monday night, and BetUS Sportsbook will have all of the MLB betting action for baseball bettors.

In Game 4, Rays RHP Andy Sonnanstine was in trouble all night, and finished giving up five runs (three earned) over four innings. He was done in by a 3-run homer by 1B Ryan Howard in the 4th. Phillies starter Joe Blanton was solid in his six plus innings of work allowing just two runs while striking out seven. He also helped his own cause by blasting his first career homer in the 5th.

The struggles continued for the 3-4 hitters in the Tampa Bay lineup, as Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena combined to go 0-7 in Game 4 and are now 0-29 in the series. Sonnanstine recorded a hit in his only at bat, and it’s never a good sign when you’re an AL team and one of your pitchers has more hits in a series than the heart of your order does.

Manager Joe Maddon will hand the ball to the greatest pitcher in Rays franchise history, LHP Scott Kazmir. “Kaz” was the tough luck loser in Game 1 of this series, as he gave up three runs over six innings, and struck out four. In four postseason starts, the lefty has given up 10 runs in 21.2 innings, but hasn’t lasted longer than the 6th inning in any of his outings.

The last time he pitched into the 7th came way back on July 21st and he only made it to the 8th inning once this year. MLB bettors went 19-8 in Kazmir’s 27 starts this year, earning $905 of baseball profit.

In an effort to close out the World Series, Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel will hand the ball to his ace, LHP Cole Hamels. The lefty has been fantastic in his postseason starts, going a perfect 4-0 for baseball bettors with all four outings staying ‘under’ the closing ‘total’. In Game 1, the ace of the Philadelphia staff was fantastic, allowing just two runs over seven innings. Opposing batters are only hitting .178 against him in the playoffs.

Since August, Hamels has only allowed more than three runs once. In total, the ace of the Philadelphia staff went 14-10 with a 3.09 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 33 regular season starts. Phillies bettors went 19-14 in those starts, losing $407 on the season.

Oddsmakers set the Phillies as chalky –180 favorites to close out the series in Game 5. The ‘total’ currently sits at 7.5 under -125.

It’s difficult to fathom anything but another low scoring ball game. The playoffs have been a haven for ‘under’ games all around. ‘Under’ bettors are 17-12 in 29 postseason games overall. In spite of the higher scoring affair last night, the ‘under’ is 2-1-1 so far in this edition of the Fall Classic. The Phillies are 9-4-1 towards the ‘under’ in their L/14 playoff games overall. In the L/14 meetings between these two teams, the ‘under’ has gone 7-4-3.

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