Currently, the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants are number 1 and number 2 (respectively) for the NL Wild Card. If the Phillies can complete a three-game sweep over the Giants on Thursday night, they will gain a sizable three game lead for Wild Card lead.
The Phillies are the baseball money line favorites at -180 while the Giants are +155. The total is 8.5 runs.
The Philadelphia Phillies (68-21, 40-20 home) began the series with San Francisco with identical records. They have dominated the first two games, winning by scores of 9-3 and 8-2. The Phillies are a major league-best 20-5 since July 21.
Former NL MVP Jimmy Rollins came on strong in Wednesday’s game, hitting a three-run homer and a triple. Second baseman Chase Utley went 2 for 4 with a double to break a 0-7 slump since returning from thumb surgery.
The San Francisco Giants (67-54, 30-31 away) have lost three in a row and four of their last five. They have been plagued by problems with their starting pitching rotation, which normally ranks among the leagues best. They have failed to get a win from their starting pitcher for 14 consecutive games, and their starters are 0-9 with a 5.97 ERA over that stretch.
The Giants are hoping Jonathan Sanchez (8-8, 3.60 ERA) can reverse the trend. He gave up one run in five innings of a 5-1 win against Philadelphia at the end of April.
Cole Hamels (7-9, 3.33 ERA) will start opposite of Sanchez. He has not been the beneficiary of good run support in recent outings, getting just one run of support in each of his last two starts. He is 1-2 with a solid 1.81 ERA in his last seven starts.
