Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia: Game 5 World Series Picks & Odds: October 27th 2008

GAme 5: Tampa Bay Rays @ Philadelphia Phillies o7.5 (110) MLB Odds - Mon October 27th ‘08 8:20p
While Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies is one of the best pitchers in baseball, Scott Kazmir of the Tampa Bay Rays has not been as good on the road as he has at home, and playing in this bandbox of a ballpark makes the Over attractive at this low number at plus odds.

Kazmir has a losing 4-6 record on the road, and he was not even that sharp when he faced the Phillies at home in Game 1, although he did somehow escape with a Quality Start. Kazmir allowed three earned runs in six innings that night, which is the cheapest Quality Start possible, and he allowed 10 baserunners while laboring through 110 pitches.

Furthermore, the Phillies are finally heating up offensively, as they blasted four home runs while scoring 10 runs last night, and pitching in this stadium can be disconcerting to any road pitcher that does not pitch here regularly, which is obviously true of any American League hurler.

Now granted, Hamels has been dominant in the post-season, and he figures to come up big in this series deciding game. However, we would not be surprised to see the Phillies score about six runs themselves tonight, meaning that the Rays would only need to score a couple of runs to go Over this rather low posted total.

That is certainly conceivable, and the plus odds that the bookmakers have attached to this low Over makes it that much more attractive.

MLB Baseball World Series Free Pick: Rays, Phillies Over 7.5 (+110) - Courtesy of LT Profits