2008 MLB Playoffs Betting: Milwaukee vs. Pittsburgh Odds & Picks: October 5th

Philadelphia Phillies (-115) - Sun October 5 ‘08 1:05p
The Milwaukee Brewers kept hope alive with a 4-1 victory yesterday, but we look for the Philadelphia Phillies to dash those hopes today by wrapping up this series in four games and advancing to the NLCS. Joe Blanton proved to be a nice mid-season acquisition for the Phillies, as he went 4-0 personally in a Philadelphia uniform and the Phils went 9-4 as a team in every game that he started. More importantly, Blanton may be pitching his best ball of the year right now, as he closed the regular season with three consecutive Quality Starts. This stretch began with a very nice starts against these Brewers on September 14, during a 4-game Phillies sweep that helped propel the team to the division title and delegate the Brew Crew to a wild card spot. Blanton allowed three runs and just five hits in seven innings of that 7-3 victory. While Blanton appears to be in peak form now, the same can certainly not be said for Jeff Suppan of Milwaukee, who failed to record a Quality Start in any of his last five starts, and who has a brutal 10.12 ERA and 2.44 WHIP in his last three outings. As if that is not bad enough, Suppan was lit up by these Phillies the last time he faced them, surrendering six earned runs and eight hits in just 3.2 innings. Now neither of these teams have done much hitting in this series, but we feel that Philadelphia is more likely to get to Suppan and the shaky Brewers bullpen here than Milwaukee is to get to a hot Blanton and a great Phillies pen. MLB Free Pick: Phillies -115 - Courtesy of LT Profits