Vinny Velasquez is back on the mound for the Phillies tonight against the Atlanta Braves. After a tremendous Spring Summer Camp, Velasquez got crushed by the Miami Marlins in his first start where he allowed 4 runs in 3 innings.

The Phillies will go up against highly touted Braves prospect Kyle Wright. Wright himself had a rough season debut and found himself scratching and clawing out of jams in 3-plus scoreless innings against the Mets last Sunday.

Here’s the lineup for tonight: 

New series starts tonight. #RingTheBell

📺: @NBCSPhilly
📻: @SportsRadioWIP
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— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 7, 2020

Just as the Phillies managed to do with the Yankees it will be important to at the very least, split this series with the Braves. Anything less could really put the team in trouble with the shortened season. Splitting the series would put the club at 5-6. Obviously, anything better would be ideal. Let’s just keep it close to .500 baseball.

Starting pitching hasn’t been much of a concern for the Phillies. Against the Yankees the starters threw 20 IP, 9 R, 6 ER, 20 H, 3 BB, 23 K. Aaron Nola fantastic, and the other three starters were solid against one of the best lineups in baseball.

Definitely an encouraging series from that standpoint. The bullpen, not so much. The bullpen has thrown 16.2 IP, 17 ER, 25 H, 7 BB. That’s good for a terrible 9.44 ERA and a 1.975 WHIP.

Regardless of all the stats and numbers, I do like the Phillies chances tonight with a solid bounce-back start from Velasquez and an offensive attack led by red-hot JT Realmuto.

ODDS & PREDICTIONS: 

Let’s talk money. It’s Friday, everyone just got paid. What can the Phillies do for you?

Things haven’t been great to start the season. While checking out Sports Betting Dime the Phillies so far this year are 3-4 against the ML and Spread and 2-3-2 against the O/U. They literally break down everything. From where you can bet to where you should put the money. This is just one of the charts they have up for this game.

Really, the Phillies and the Braves are both listed as C+ betting grades so far this year. I do believe, however, that the Phillies have been plagued by an inconsistent schedule and will start to become more consistent as the season goes on.

That being said here’s what I’m going with: 

• Phillies vs Braves o9.5 runs (Vinny and Wright will let them hit)
• Phillies +1.5 
• JT Realmuto and Ronald Acuna Jr. 1+ Hits Each +110

Ring that bell, baby.