Free MLB Picks for July 16th 2009: Mike Rose Says Florida Marlins a Solid Bet

Florida Marlins vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Free Pick: Florida Marlins (-120) - Thu July 16th 2009 7:10p
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Grizzled veteran Jamie Moyer will be in search of his 9th win of the season when he gets the starting nod for the 18th time Thursday night. The southpaw has gotten some tremendous run support his L/3 times out (6.0 RPG), and because of it, sports a 3-0 mark with a 6.06 ERA & 1.35 WHIP during that stretch. He suffered a setback his last time out before the break where he coughed up eight hits (2 HR) and six ER’s through five innings against the Cincinnati Reds. He’s been at his worst under the bright lights at night (3-6 with a 7.09 ERA), but he’s 12-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 14 career starts vs. the Florida Marlins (1-1 in ‘09).

Christopher Volstad enters his 19th start of the ‘09 MLB betting season off his best start of the year where he notched his first career shutout against San Francisco. He limited the Giants to just five hits while striking out six and walking none through his nine innings of work. Consistency has been his problem thus far as he has a couple three inning outings to his name this year. He’ll be looking to improve upon his 3-5 home mark in this start. He outdueled Moyer in his May 25th start against the Phillies, and is 1-0 having allowed just 10 hits and five ER’s in 13.2 innings against them this year.

The road team dominated the first six meetings between these teams in the first half of the season (5-1), so I’m looking for the home teams to balance that ledger out starting tonight. Moyer’s been the beneficiary of major run support of late, but I don’t foresee that happening again tonight against Volstad who went into the break on top of his game. He’s had relative success vs. Philly in his career, and I look for him to inch his team even closer to the champs tonight with another solid outing. The Fish take G1!!!