There's nothing more American than baseball betting during the Fourth of July weekend. With the United States celebrating its Independence Day, MLB has a full slate of action, including some must-watch, must-wager series in both the American and National Leagues.

One of baseball's best rivalries heats up in the birthplace of America. The New York Mets visit the Philadelphia Phillies in a battle of struggling NL East clubs. Both teams are trying to put a horrible June behind them.

Philadelphia has lost seven of its last 10 games including back-to-back defeats to the Atlanta Braves heading into Thursday's series finale. The Phillies’ offense has been the biggest issue during this slide; they mustered a .236 batting average and knocked in just over four runs per game last week. Sluggers Ryan Howard and Chase Utley continue to struggle without Raul Ibanez hitting around them in the lineup.

The Mets don't have much more to cheer about heading into the weekend; they snapped a five-game skid with a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night. New York's production at the plate has also been hurt by injuries. All-Stars Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Delgado remain on the disabled list, leaving third baseman David Wright to carry the club.

The Mets have won four of the seven meeting with the Phillies this season, but dropped two of three games in their most recent series.

Stealing headlines from the rest of the league this weekend is the return of Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ramirez will surely be under fire when the team takes the field at Petco Park to face the host San Diego Padres for three games.

Los Angeles didn't miss a beat with Ramirez serving a 50-game suspension for using a banned substance. The club has been one of the best offensive teams in the majors and got a major spark from Ramirez's replacement, Juan Pierre, in the past two months. Plugging Manny into the middle of the order should help improve on Los Angeles' .399 slugging percentage and home run total (59).

The Padres continue to stumble into July. They are dead last in offense and rank 25th in total team defense. San Diego got a scare when slugger Adrian Gonzalez sprained his right knee against the Houston Astros on Tuesday. Gonzalez, however, was back in the lineup Wednesday. His 24 home runs is the lone bright spot for the Padres this season – especially with ace Jake Peavy on the shelf with an ankle injury.

In the Big Apple, the New York Yankees are hoping to provide some fireworks of their own this Fourth of July weekend. The Bronx Bombers welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to the new Yankee Stadium for a three-game set.

New York has some momentum after sweeping the rival Mets last weekend and building on their current winning streak, which has stretched to seven games heading into Thursday's series finale with the Seattle Mariners. The Yankees' bats are red-hot, scoring seven runs per game and hitting nearly .300 during this streak. Alex Rodriguez has put his recent slump behind him, smashing four home runs and knocking in 11 RBI in his past six games.

The Blue Jays celebrated Canada's birthday by snapping a four-game skid with a 5-0 defeat of the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. Toronto's offense went stagnant during that slump, scoring one or fewer runs in three of those four losses. The Jays recently returned ace Roy Halladay to the rotation; however, the crafty righthander got little run support in his first game back. Halladay is scheduled to pitch Saturday and brings a 16-5 record and 2.79 career ERA versus New York into Yankee Stadium.


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