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Cincinnati Reds (49-38) @ Philadelphia Phillies (44-40)

Date: Saturday July 10th, 2010

Time: 7:05 pm EST

Preview: The first place Cincinnati Reds will look to close out the first half of the season with a bang in Philadelphia. Cincinnati, winners of six of their last ten games are three games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the National League Central. The Reds have been winning games with their offense, ranking fifth in baseball with a .273 batting average. The Reds are led by All Star Joey Votto, who is batting .314 with 22 homeruns and 60 runs batted in. Brandon Phillips leads the entire National League with 65 runs scored. The pitching for Cincinnati has improved, moving to 19th in baseball with a 4.21 earned run average.

On Saturday the Reds will go up against former Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay. Halladay is 10-7 in 18 starts this season. The 33 year old from Denver is coming off a complete game win over Atlanta last week. In his last start against the Reds, he went eight innings, allowing 13 hits and 4 runs in a loss. Cincinnati will send Travis Wood to the mound in just his third start of his career. Wood went just 4.2 innings against the Mets in his last start. The Phillies have struggled without All Star second base men Chase Utley and third base men Placido Polanco. Despite their struggles, the defending National League champions are just 5.5 games behind the Braves for first place. Cincinnati comes in with a 22-19 road record, while the Phillies have won 24 of 42 at home.

Our prediction for this one: The Phillies blast the rookie, Halladay wins again. Phillies 11-4.

Baseball Betting: You can bet on this game and all the other MLB games at the US friendly sportsbook BetUS.com.