Series Preview: Phillies at Pirates, 8/25-8/27

The Phillies (72-50) visit Pittsburgh this week for a 3 game series with the Pirates (51-71). Have a look below for pitching match ups and more key details.

Tuesday, 7:05pm. Joe Blanton (8-6, 3.86 ERA) vs. Ross Ohlendorf (11-8, 4.15 ERA). Blanton has a 2.31 ERA and a 6-3 record, dating back to May 26th. Blanton's career ERA in August of 2.77 is by far his best month (his next best month is June- 3.35, 3rd best month is July 4.33). Ohlendorf at home this season is 8-2 with a 3.01 ERA in 13 games. Ohlendorf since the all star break is 4-1 with a 2.72 ERA in 6 starts.

Wednesday, 7:05pm. Cole Hamels (7-8, 4.78 ERA) vs. Paul Maholm (7-7, 4.74). In two career starts against Pittsburgh, Colbert is 1-0 with a 6.55 ERA. Hamels in August this season is 0-3 with a 6.75 and .326 batting avg. against in 4 starts. Maholm is 3-1 with a 3.71 in 5 career starts against the Phillies. Jayson Werth is the only active Phillie with a homerun against the lefty Maholm. At home this year, Maholm is 4-2 with a 3.52 ERA in 12 starts.

Thursday, 7:05pm. "Jay" Happ (10-2, 2.59 ERA) vs. Charlie Morton (3-6, 5.21 ERA). Happ on the road this year is 6-1 with a 1.72 ERA and a .205 batting average in 15 games. The NL central has scored 1/3 of Happ's earned runs against him this season in just 4 of his 29 games. Morton has faced the Phillies just once and surrendered 5 earned runs in 2 innings. Morton gave up 10 earned runs to the Cubs in just 1 inning of work on August 14th...without that outing, Morton's ERA is 3.70.

Andrew McCutchen is batting .304 at home. He also has 5 of his 7 homeruns in Pittsburgh.

Shane Victorino in 16 career games against the Pirates, is a .382 hitter with a 1.041 OPS. Shane's batting average is 65 points lower on the road this season than it is in Philadelphia.

Matt Stairs is a career .344 hitter with a 1.063 OPS at PNC Park. He has 14 homers there in 79 games played. Stairs' last hit was on July 11th.

Miguel Cairo is back with the big club after hitting .287 over 78 games with triple A Lehigh Valley.

Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth, combined in August, have a .277 batting avg., 15 homeruns, 29 RBI and 27 runs scored.

Team ERA Phillies- 4.16

Team ERA Pirates- 4.49

Comments

Jealous Ones Envy

Joe Blanton continues to excel and prove his worth in the Phillies pitching rotation. In his latest outing on Sunday, Blanton threw 8 strong innings, striking out 6, while walking just 1 and surrendering 2 earned runs, improving his record to 7-4. This season in July, Joe is 3-0 over four starts with 22 K's, 5 walks and a 1.21 ERA. Over his last 6 starts, Joe's ERA is 1.94. As a member of the Phillies, Blanton has a 3.84 ERA after the all star break with a 5-0 record. The Phillies are 20-12 (.625 winning percentage) in games that Blanton has started, since being acquired last July. Combined this season against other National League playoff contenders St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles, Blanton has a combined 1.67 ERA in 4 starts with a 2-0 record. Blanton is on such a sizzling run that the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Tampa Bay Rays farm team, will host a Joe Blanton bobble head give away tomorrow. Bowling Green will host Joe's mother, father and sister for the event, as Joe...

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 71

Gene Kelly was the radio voice of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1950- 1959. Born in Brooklyn NY, Kelly pitched in the minor leagues after graduating from Marshall College in 1941. He would soon experience arm trouble, which ended his playing days. Kelly managed to continue a career in sports by turning to radio. When legendary announcer By Saam, who pulled double duty beginning in 1939 calling both Phillies and Athletics games, moved over to the A's side exclusively, Gene Kelly was the man who would fill the void and took over as the Phillies play-by-play man. The Phillies began broadcasting their games over the air in 1936, but until the 1950's, the broadcasters only attended home games and did not travel with the team. All road games were recreated, on the air, by the announcers who read a Western Union teletype account of the games from the studio in Philadelphia. During the decade of the 50's, Kelly was partnered with several different broadcasters, including Claude Ha...

Heroes- Fight of the Century

VS. It's a big day for your boy, Jay Ballz . No work, X-Men Origins: Wolverine premieres, our Phillies face the Metropolitans for the first time this season and tailgating for BOTH doesn't sound all that absurd to me. Anyway, I surveyed some qualified phans and got several opinions on how exactly a fight might go down if the mutant hero Wolverine faced off against Phillies hero Matt Stairs. Well known blogger, Chris, of I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake , kept it real and said the following- "Wolverine has adamantium ( indestructible metal substance) claws, so that's a great advantage. Stairs' Wonder Bat is neutralized there. See, the problem becomes Wolverine's ability to recover (he has a regenerative power) faster. Stairs is merely human. Sure, he has a goatee, and goatees are great, but they're great for saving sauce, not for defeating mutants. I think Wolverine takes it in a fight to the death in about 15 minutes because Stairs simply doesn'...

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