The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets meet in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday night in baseball futures in a game that can be seen on ESPN. It is the last game of a six-game home stand for the Mets. The Phillies are putting the pressure on Atlanta in the National League East and they could be the baseball betting choice in this game even though the pitching matchup may favor New York.
Baseball futures will likely favor the Mets since they are at home. The Phillies are scheduled to go with Kyle Kendrick on Sunday and the Mets will probably go with Mike Pelfrey. The Phillies have gotten better outings from Kendrick recently. He is 7-5 with a 4.60 ERA this season. He had gone 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA in three starts before he allowed six runs in 3 1/3 innings Tuesday against the Dodgers. Kendrick has done okay in his career against the Mets going 2-2 with a 3.34 ERA.
The Phillies are still below .500 this season on the road and that is the main reason they are not in first place. In the past few seasons the Phillies have excelled away from home but this year has been a little bit of a struggle. The Phillies still have time to get over .500 on the road though and with a strong starting pitching staff they could end up with a winning road mark. The Phillies are 10th in the league in runs scored and they have been finding a way to score even without injured starters Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. They should get Utley back soon and Howard should not be far behind. The Phillies have been relying more on pitching lately with starters Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and new addition Roy Oswalt. If they could get Kendrick to be decent in the fourth spot it would really help their cause.
The Mets have fallen out of the playoff picture. The Mets still think they have a chance in the Wild Card race but the numbers simply don’t look good. The Mets do have a pitching staff that is in the top 10 in the league in ERA but their offense is simply not good enough. David Wright is in a big slump and without his bat they are really bad. The Mets have been better at home than on the road though and that is why they are favored vs. the baseball betting odds in this matchup against Philadelphia.