Pittsburgh at Philadelphia (05/11/2015)

Away:  Pittsburgh [15-16 SU]
Home:  Philadelphia [11-21 SU]

Featured Lines

Game Time: 7:05 PM
Stadium: Citizens Bank Park

Recent Meetings:
N/A

Team Leaders:

Pittsburgh:
Home Runs: N/A
Batting Avg: N/A
Stolen Bases: N/A

Philadelphia:
Home Runs: N/A
Batting Avg: N/A
Stolen Bases: N/A

I want to lay the -1.5 tonight with Cole on the rubber.While the Pirates are 0-2 this season vs. the Reds when Cole is on the mound,they are 4-0 vs. everybody else in Coles starts. Cole has a 2.27 ERA and a 1.12WHIP on the season. He almost has a 2:1 groundball:flyball ratio on the seasonas well. He has not allowed a homerun in these 4 starts I'm talking about andhe should have an easy time vs. the Phillies who have only hit 3 homeruns inthe last 7 days.

Williams takes the mound for the Phillies and this guy is adisaster. He has a 1.61 WHIP on the season, a 5.18 ERA, and other than his 1ststart of the season vs. the Nationals, he has gotten touched up in his last 5starts. He has almost a 2:1 flyball/groundball ratio and only has 15 K's in23.2 IP. He is 1-4 career vs. the Pirates and 3 of the 4 losses have come by 3or more runs. McCutcheon is 3-for-6 career vs. Williams with a pair ofhomeruns.

So from a pitching perspective, we have the much betterpitcher in this game, no question about it. Cole is a Top 10 pitcher in the NL.He is solid vs. both righties and lefties and ranks among the NL Top 10 in K'sper 9 innings pitched.

Pittsburgh has taken 14 of the last 21 vs. the Phillies andare 6-1 in their last vs. the Phillies when playing @ Philly. Looking at theirlast 7 wins vs. the Phillies overall, 6 of those 7 wins have come by 2 or moreruns.

After taking the last 2 games vs. the Cardinals over theweekend, I think the Pirates are poised to go on a run. I like them heretonight to win comfortably. Lay the -1.5 w/ Cole on the rubber.