The Philadelphia Phillies will visit the New York Yankees Tuesday night in a rematch of the 2009 World Series. The game features an intriguing pitching match-up, with New York starting CC Sabathia and Philadelphia starting Roy Halladay. The game is the first of a three-game series and will start at 7:05 PM ET.
The Yankees are the baseball betting lines favorites at -135 while the Phillies are +115 and the over/under is 7.5.
The Yankees look to be in good position to spank the Phillies given all of their recent struggles.
The New York Yankees (40-23, 22-7 home) ended a nine-year World Series draught last year against the Phillies by defeating them in six games. They appear to have all the momentum going into this series and will look to move past Tampa Bay to take sole possession of first place in the AL East. The series will be played at Yankee Stadium, where New York has won eight straight. They have won six of their last seven games.
Yankees catcher Jorge Posada is expected to start for the second time since breaking his foot on May 19. He made his return from injury on Sunday against Houston and hit a grand slam in the fifth inning. Third baseman Alex Rodriguez may return Tuesday night after missing the last three games with a sore right hip.
A strong series against the Yankees may be just what the Philadelphia Phillies (32-29, 16-16 away) need to get out of its slump. They have lost 14 of their last 20 games and their offense has been almost nonexistent. Since May 22, the Phillies are last in the majors with 48 runs scored. Chase Utley (.153 batting average in that span), Ryan Howard (.230), and Jason Werth (.164) have all contributed to the slump.
New York will be starting CC Sabathia (6-3, 4.01 ERA). He went 0-1 with a 3.29 ERA in last year’s World Series and gave up three home runs to Utley. He is 1-3 with a 4.74 ERA in six career starts against the Phillies, including three in the postseason.
Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay (8-4, 1.96 ERA) will look to continue his dominance of the Yankees. He is 18-6 with a 2.81 ERA in 35 starts against New York, limiting major league batting leader Robinson Cano to a .208 average and Yankee captain Derek Jeter to a .242 average. Additionally, he has struck out Jeter more times (24) than any other pitcher. He leads the majors with five complete games and is fourth in ERA.
