The Philadelphia Phillies could struggle against the baseball online sports betting odds for the next week or so as two of their starters were placed on the disabled list. The Phillies will be without second baseman Chase Utley and third baseman Placido Polanco. Philadelphia is trailing the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets in the National League East and they have not been at their best vs. the offshore sports betting odds this season.
Online sports betting odds are usually not impacted a great deal by injuries but usually it is just one player at a time that gets hurt. The Phillies will be without two of their starters. Utley has a sprained thumb while Polanco has an elbow injury. Utley was hurt on Monday in the game against Cincinnati while Polanco has been battling his injury for a while. Polanco has missed the last three games and his injury could require off-season surgery. Polanco is third in the league in hitting at .318 and he has been the best defensive third baseman in the National League this season. Polanco was in the running to be the starting third baseman for the National League as he is neck and neck with New York’s David Wright. Utley was hitting .277 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs. He is leading all second baseman in All-Star votes for the National League. He has been the starter in the All-Star game in each of the last four years.
A team simply can’t replace two starters in their starting lineup, especially when they are both All-Stars. The Phillies called up infielders Brian Bocock and Greg Dobbs from Triple A but neither has done much this season. The injuries to Utley and Polanco are just the latest for the Phillies this season. They are already without catcher Carlos Ruiz who might return this weekend. J.A. Happ has been out all season, setup man Ryan Madson is out and lefty specialist Antonio Bastardo is still out.
The Phillies are 10th in the league in offense but it is very likely those numbers will go down without Utley and Polanco in the lineup. The Phillies will have to hope to survive until the All-Star break and then get some of their players healthy for a second half run vs. the offshore sports betting baseball odds.