Sports Betting Overview The Atlanta Braves are charging towards first place in the NL East, and the baseball betting world can see the progress. It can be easy to look at the MLB standings and feel a bit sorry for a young Atlanta Braves team that has to chase the best team in baseball. But the Braves are no slouches themselves, and the MLB scores they are posting have been more and more impressive. What helps the Braves in this game is that they get to face Cliff Lee. For all of the fanfare that surrounded Lee’s arrival in Philadelphia, he has been struggling as of late and could be a weak spot in the Phillies line-up as they face off against the Braves in this important series. The Phillies are living off the efforts of pitcher Roy Halladay but, just like last season, the Phillies are having problems manufacturing runs. The Phillies are in the top half of the baseball rankings in pitching, but the bottom half of the rankings in hitting. Even with their pitching, the Phillies are sometimes inconsistent. The Phillies are second in team ERA in all of baseball. What team are they trailing? The Phillies are trailing the Atlanta Braves. There are some very strong points on the Phillies’ pitching staff, and some very weak points. Most notable by its absence is the Phillies’ bullpen. Aside from closer Ryan Madson, the Phillies’ bullpen is awful. Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves have won nine of its last 10 games. As the Braves enter this series against Philadelphia, the team is on a four-game winning streak which was a sweep of the Colorado Rockies. The consistent, and improving, Tommy Hanson takes the mound for the Braves in this game. Hanson is 10-4 on the season with a 2.52 ERA. At this pace, Hanson is easily looking at his best season as a pro. In his last five starts, Hanson is 5-0 and has only allowed seven earned runs. Hanson is usually done by the fifth or sixth inning, but then he can turn the game over to the efficient Atlanta bullpen. That is a luxury the Philadelphia pitchers do not have. Philadelphia Phillies Cliff Lee had a rough start to 2011, but he has been extremely hot as of late. He is 5-1 in his last six starts, but he has only allowed seven earned runs in that stretch. The most impressive part about Lee’s last six games is that six of those seven earned runs came in one game. Prior to Lee’s most recent start, a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays where he gave up six runs, he had a streak of five consecutive wins where he allowed one earned run total. But Lee has been inconsistent. At the end of May he had two starts where he allowed a total of 10 earned runs. The Phillies really have no idea which Lee will take the mound in this game. The Bottom Line The Braves are hitting the ball well and Cliff Lee has become an unknown factor. Tommy Hanson has been lights out for the months of June and July, and he knows how to pitch to a Phillies’ batting order that sometimes struggles to score runs. This could be a great pitching duel, or it could be a blowout. Either way, it will be an Atlanta win. Pick: Atlanta Braves
