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Hot Lines: Today's best MLB bets

Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies (-138, 8.5)

Pitching matchup

Cole Hamels (Philadelphia Phillies) vs. Vicente Padilla (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Cole Hamels (10-11, 4.32 ERA)

Hamels is far from his lights-out form of last postseason when he was named NLCS and World Series MVP. But if the fading fireballer can get the Phillies back to the World Series with a win in Game 5 he’ll be back in the hearts of Philadelphia backers.

Hamels has allowed eight runs in more than 10 innings of work in the playoffs and was knocked around for four runs in just over five innings against the Dodgers in Game 1 last Thursday. He struggled with his command, allowing two home runs and watching his pitch count surpass the century mark with 69 of those tosses for strikes.

Vicente Padilla (12-6, 4.46 ERA)

Padilla has the hot hand for the Dodgers. He hasn’t lost since joining Los Angeles in August and is 1-0 with a 0.63 ERA in two postseason starts. His most recent trip to the bump was a 7 1-3-inning no decision in which he gave up one run on only four hits for a 2-1 Los Angeles victory in Game 2.

Padilla is a former Phillies pitcher, who was with the club between 2000 and 2005. The Dodgers’ beat writers are expecting the always-vocal Philadelphia crowd to bombard the right-hander with barbs from the past. Padilla has been solid on the road, going 7-2 with a 3.60 ERA in both Texas and L.A. this season.

At the plate

The big bats continue to come through for the Phillies. And there is no bat bigger than Ryan Howard. The slugging first baseman hit a two-run home run in Game 4 Monday, giving him two home runs and eight RBI in the NLCS.

Shane Victorino and Chase Utley are giving the top half of the order some pop while struggling leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins sprung into action in Game 4 with a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth to give Philadelphia a 3-1 series lead heading into Wednesday. Even defensive catcher Carlos Ruiz is getting in on the act. He's hitting .500 (5-for-10) for the series.

The Dodgers are getting their production from the opposite end of the batting order. Los Angeles’ top hitters this series are the five, six and seven hitters James Loney, Ronnie Belliard and catcher Russell Martin, all of which are batting .333 or better in the first four games of the NLCS.

The power bats of Manny Ramirez, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp have been silenced for the most part. Those players have five RBIs between them but just two home runs, a total of 13 strikeouts and they’re all hitting .250 or worse against the Phillies.

Pick

Monday night’s loss was crushing for the Dodgers, who did all they could to get out of jams with the lead in the later innings.

Philadelphia scored a similar come-from-behind win over Los Angeles in Game 4 of last year’s NLCS, then went on to eliminate a deflated Dodgers team 5-1 in Game 5 to advance to the World Series.

Baseball bettors will see history repeat itself Wednesday night in the City of Brotherly Love.

Pick: Phillies -138