Dodgers and Phillies Series Preview

It's a rematch of last year's National League Championship Series! The Phillies won the series and all the games in Philadelphia. This season, the Dodgers are 8-8 on the road and the Phillies are 7-10 at home. Pitching match ups for the 3 game series are listed below with other notes.

Tuesday, 7:05pm. Clayton Kershaw (1-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. Chan Ho Park (0-1, 6.67 ERA). Kershaw in 2 starts against the Phils is 0-1, with am 8.10 ERA in 10 innings pitched. Kershaw on the road this season has 10.29 ERA in 3 starts. Park has 5 career appearances against the Dodgers. In those games he is 2-1 with a 4.74 ERA. Also, for his career, May is Park's best month in batting average against at .236 and WHIP at 1.33. Juan Pierre is a .480 career hitter against Park (12-for-25). Also, the game is a sell out- Dollar Dog Night.

Wednesday, 7:05pm. Randy Wolf (1-1, 2.95 ERA) vs. Jamie Moyer (3-2, 7.26 ERA). In 26 career starts at Citizens Bank Park, Wolfy is 8-7 with a 4.41 ERA. This will be Wolf's 2nd career appearance against the Phillies. In Wolf's last start, he gave up 1 earned run in 6 innings against the Nationals. In Moyer's last start he allowed 7 earned runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Metropolitans. In 10 career starts against the Dodgers, Moyer is 3-4 with a 4.80 ERA.

Thursday, 1:05pm. Chad Billingsley (5-1, 2.45 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (1-2, 6.17 ERA). Billingsley has a 1-1 record and 4.00 ERA in 3 career regular season starts against our Phillies. In three road starts this year, Billingsley has a 2-0 record and 1.74 ERA. Cole is 1-0 in 2 regular season starts against the Dodgers with a 2.57 ERA. Russell Martin is the only active Dodger to homer off of Hamels. Martin is 1-for-6 off of him in regular season play.

Chase Utley is a .339 hitter and has a 1.028 OPS against the Dodgers in his career. In 29 games, Utley is 38-for-112 with 7 homers against LA.

Raul Ibanez is batting .371 at home this season with a 1.251 OPS. In 17 home games, Raul is 23-for-62 and has 7 homers and 17 RBI.

Some Phils hitters who struggle against LA: Pedro Feliz- career .218 hitter in 99 career games...Ryan Howard- .214 career hitter against LA in 27 games...Jimmy Rollins- career .239 hitter in 53 games.

Scott Eyre has a career 1.11 ERA in 42 games against the Dodgers. Eyre has a 3-0 record and has struck out 29 in 32 1/3 innings pitched in those games.

Comments

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Eric B Needs to be Cut (and My Name is Rakim)

While the Phillies are on a hot streak this month, one player on the team is not. Eric Bruntlett is 1-for-12 in July. Since the start of May, Bruntlett's apex in batting average has been .167 on June 14th. Bruntlett's ineptitude can be tolerated no longer. Get rid of this guy NOW! Eric B. is the 2009 Endy Chavez. Remember Endy...the guy who in 2005 managed just 2 hits in his final 42 games played as a Phillie? That is about the sort of output the Phillies are getting from Bruntlett, and it's time to fix this void. Julio Lugo was designated for assignment last week by the Red Sox and is expected to become a free agent. The Metropolitans are rumored to be interested. Why wouldn't the Phillies be interested in a guy who could surely outhit Bruntlett? Lugo was hitting .284 through 37 games played this season with Boston. Suspended Lehigh Valley IronPig Pablo Ozuna is eligible to return next Wednesday. Ozuna is batting .294 through 51 games at triple A. Miguel Cairo is also...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog