Phillies @ Nationals Predictions 5/12/21: Phillies at -137

Washington and Philly square off tonight and Zach Rainey is here with his thoughts ahead of the encounter...

In case you missed it, the Philadelphia Phillies were involved in quite the game Saturday night.

I’m not a fan of either team and didn’t have a side in the contest, yet I couldn’t turn the channel. I had to know what happened next. Those are the types of games Major League Baseball needs to grow and improve its TV numbers. It typically does well regionally, but isn’t on the national stage the NBA or NFL is.

But I enjoyed myself. I about keeled over when I saw Pablo Sandoval enter as a pinch runner. If you’ve seen him, you get the irony.

The Phillies held a two-run lead going to the bottom of the ninth but gave it up and went to extras. They scored in the top of the 11th inning, but Atlanta tied it up in the bottom of the inning.

It looked like Philly was in for sure win when they plated three runs in the top of the 12th. But against all odds, again, the Braves scored four runs to earn an 8-7 win before riding that momentum to a 6-1 Sunday night in the last game of the series.

After a day off Monday, they defeated the Washington Nationals 6-2.

Top to bottom, I like Philly’s lineup. Bryce Harper is hitting close to .300 again, while J.T. Realmuto continues to be one of the game’s best hitting catchers with a .314 batting average.

Rhys Hoskins has given the Phillies another legitimate power threat in the middle of the lineup and currently leads the team in home runs with eight.

Jean Segura has been a nice addition to the lineup, as the 21-year old is currently hitting .359 in 82 plate appearances.

They will send Zack Wheeler to the mound tonight an are likely to look for him to go at least seven innings, as they used five arms out of the bullpen last night.

As for the Washington Nationals, they look to start turning things around when Jon Lester takes the hill tonight against Wheeler.

Lester has only made two starts this year and is 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA. One of those vintage Lester games where he gets smacked around in the first inning is due, and not having given up a home run to this point on the season, I think it could be any start now.

At the plate, Trea Turner continues to flat out hit, owning a .323 batting average and leads the team with eight home runs.

Starlin Castro, who feels like he’s been around the league for almost 20 years, is hitting a respectable .278, as is Josh Harrison, but too many times are the Nats caught with Kyle Schwarber up in a big situation. As you can probably tell by his .198 batting average, he doesn’t get it done.

I like the Phillies tonight -137. If that makes you a little nervous because of Philly’s bullpen, take Philly on the F5 at -167.