SPORTS BETTING

• Philadelphia Phillies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers Game 1 8:05 ET

  Posted on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT by North Shore Sports, INC

  
  

  The second round of the baseball betting postseason kicks off on Thursday night and Bookmaker Sportsbook is your official headquarters for all of the MLB gambling action. The Philadelphia Phillies (96-70, +$585) will look to continue their quest to defend their World Series crown against the Los Angeles Dodgers (98-67, +$1,463) in the National League Championship Series. The Phillies had to fight arguably the hottest team in baseball and Mother Nature in the NLDS, but when it was said and done, they disposed of the Rockies in four games. The Dodgers had a significantly easier time reaching the NLCS, knocking out the Cardinals in three games.
   
  Manager Charlie Manuel has to question whether his pitching staff really has the capability to pitch his Phillies to another championship this postseason. Even though LHP Cliff Lee proved to be a dominant force in his two outings, his other starting pitchers and his bullpen both struggled in the series victory over Colorado. The struggles out of the bullpen continued, and even though closer Brad Lidge ultimately nailed down Games 3 and 4 of the NLDS, no one else in Philly's pen was impressive. RHP Ryan Madsen was particularly ineffective, recording blown saves in the L/2 games of the series. He may have had a respectable 3.38 ERA in the series, but he allowed three inherited runners to score in his L/2 outings.
   
  On Thursday, Manuel will turn to the man that was arguably his most important pitcher in last year's World Series run, Cole Hamels. Hamels is the only pitcher remaining in the entire postseason to have a loss on his playoff resume, as he took the 'L' in Game 2 of the Colorado series after allowing four earned runs through five innings of work.
   
  Meanwhile, nothing really went wrong for the Dodgers at any point against the Cardinals. They proved that they can slug homers, play from behind, close out games, and take advantage of opportunities presented to them. Though Game 1 starter Randy Wolf got into some trouble in his 3.2 innings pitched in the NLCS, Los Angeles' arms were fantastic, allowing a grand total of just four runs. The bullpen only conceded two of those runs, and largely shut down a very potent St. Louis lineup.
   
  Manager Joe Torre kept his pitching rotation for the NLCS close to the vest, but he'll turn the ball over to LHP Clayton Kershaw on Thursday rather than hand the ball back to Wolf or one of his other starters. Kershaw's base numbers weren't impressive at all this season. He only went 8-8 and the Dodgers surprisingly went 15-16 in his 31 starts, but a closer look at his statistics show why Torre is showing faith in his young southpaw. Kershaw had a 2.79 ERA and opposing batters only hit .200 against him on the season.
   
  The oddsmakers have lined the hosts at -135 to take a 1-0 series lead in the NLCS, while the over/under has been posted at 7.5 over +100. You can find these odds and all of the great MLB World Series betting lines at Bookmaker.com, so login to your account today and start making money on all of the action!