Skip to main content

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

Popular posts from this blog

Crawford's Chronicles: JP Crawford talks Spring Training

JP Crawford, image- Jay Floyd Entering this year as the widely regarded top prospect in the Phillies organization, J.P. Crawford will be taking time each week to provide insight directly from inside spring training in Clearwater, FL, right here on PhilliesNation.com. Crawford, 20, was named the top positional prospect in two leagues (Class A South Atlantic League and Class A Advanced Florida State League) last year, when he combined, in 123 games, to post a .285 average, 11 homers, 48 RBI and 24 stolen bases. He also represented the Phils organization in the MLB All-Star Futures Game last season. As the 2015 campaign approaches, the six-foot-two 180-pound lefty batter is expected to reach the Double-A level and continue to prove why the Phillies selected him in the first round of the 2013 draft. In this initial installment of our weekly check-in with J.P., he shares thoughts on a variety of topics, including his exclusion from big league camp, which member of the big leagu...

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'...

Phreestyle Battle & Notes

Unrelated to baseball, really...but it's fun and our Phils are off today. This new kid on the hip hop scene, Charles Hamilton , whose single Brooklyn Girl is ripping up radio and video count downs, was at PSU for a performance recently. A freestyle battle ensued, and as you'll see, the Penn State student held his own. Stay tuned for the ending. It's the best part. Here are some random Phillies-in-idle baseball thoughts and notes- Colbert Hamels is slated to make his Grapefruit League debut tomorrow vs. Team Canada. Shane Victorino is going to wear #50 on his jersey for Team USA, a nod to Hawaii Five-O. Brad Lidge is likely to not see game action till next week, after he throws some more bullpen sessions and works out the tightness in his forearm. Albert Pujols is declaring "respect for his country" as reasoning for sitting out of the Cardinals' exhibition this week against Team Dominican Republic. He told reporters, "I don’t want to play against them...