World Series Game 5 - Do or Die for the Phillies

Monday, November 2 - 7:55 PM ET

BetUS MLB betting odds: Phillies -155, Yankees +135, Total 8.5

BetUS Series price: Yankees -1800, Phillies +800

The Yankees will be sending high-priced right-hander AJ Burnett (14-9, 3.99 ERA) to the mound in an attempt to clinch the Series tonight, while Philadelphia counters with southpaw Cliff lee (17-13, 2.89 ERA), who was the winner of last year's Cy Young Award in the American League.

Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• NY has won 11 of its last 14 games
• NY has won five of its last seven road games
• NY has played its last five road games OVER the total
• PHIL has won seven of its last 11 games
• PHIL has played eight of its last 11 games OVER the total
• PHIL has played six of its last eight home games OVER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD BetUS sports betting trends:

• NY has won four of the last six meetings
• Six of the last eight meetings have gone UNDER the total
• NY has won six of the last seven meetings as the road team
  

They won't soon forget Cliff Lee's performance in Game 1 that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in this series, but if he doesn't come through with another outstanding effort in Game 5, that gem will have become a lot more forgettable. Lee went the full nine innings in the opener, allowing one run, which wasn't earned, and struck out ten Yankee hitters without giving up a walk.

That means he has gone 28 innings against the Bronx Bombers over the last couple of seasons and has yielded just five earned runs. Lee, who got off to an unfortunate start this season with no run support in Cleveland before landing with the defending world champions, has been so good in the post-season that it's ridiculous, as he has posted a 0.57 ERA and ratio of 10 strikeouts for every walk.

Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel was criticized by some for leaving Lee in the opening game for the eighth and ninth innings, because he wasn't able to come back with him for Game 4, but in reality, that was not going to happen anyway, as Lee has never pitched on three days’ rest. As he moves into this game the ledger shows that his teams (whether they are Cleveland or Philadelphia) have won 15 of their last 19 games that he's started.

He'll come in maybe expecting to carry more of the load, and one of the reason is that his big hitter, Ryan Howard, cannot put his bat on the ball, it seems. In the last three games of the World Series, Howard is now one-for-12 and has struck out eight times. We're thinking it may be something of a relief for Howard to be squaring off against the right-handed Burnett, because in the regular season, although Howard batted just .207 against southpaws, he was a robust .320 with 39 homers against righties.

As it is, the go-to guys now are Chase Utley, who homered twice in Game 1 and homered again on Sunday night; Pedro Feliz, who is 4-for-8 in the last two games and hit a homer on Sunday; catcher Carlos Ruiz, who has a .469 on-base percentage in the post-season, and of course, Jayson Werth, who may have gone 0-for-3 against the Yankees last night but who has slammed seven home runs since the playoffs started. Listen - there is no lack of offense on the Phillies' roster and no excuse for not scoring runs, but their timing stinks.