In a match up of first place teams, the Phillies (14-10) will host the Cardinals (17-8) in a four game series starting Monday night. The Cardinals are led by MVP first baseman Albert Pujols, while the Phillies are led by their own former MVP first baseman Ryan Howard. Howard's recent contract extension, that guaranteed him $125 million, has most of the baseball world anticipating Pujols to get a considerably larger payday.
The Phillies have activated Joe Blanton from the disabled list after weeks of rehab work to recover from his strained oblique muscle. Click here and here for PhoulBallz.com's exclusive coverage of Blanton's rehab stop in Lakewood, including loads of quotes from Joe.
Pitching match ups and other key details & stats from this series lie ahead.
Monday, 7:05pm. Jaime Garcia (2-1, 1.04 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (12-8, 4.05 ERA in 2009). Garcia, the 23-year-old rookie, has held opponents to a .176 batting avg. in 4 starts this year. Garcia is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in 2 road starts this season. Blanton is 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA in 3 career starts against St. Louis. In 23 starts at Citizens Bank Park, Blanton is 9-4 with a 3.71 ERA. Albert Pujols is 1-for-8 (.125 avg) with 2 walks against Blanton.
Tuesday, 7:05pm. Adam Wainwright (4-1, 2.13 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (2-2, 5.28 ERA). In 6 career games against the Phils, Wainwright is 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA. In 8 innings pitched at Citizen Bank Park, Wainwright has not allowed a run. Shane Victorino is 4-for-10 with a homer and 3 RBI against Wainwright in his career. Hamels is 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA in 6 starts against the Cardinals. Hamels has not faced the Cardinals since 2008, when he lost 2 starts against them. Ryan Ludwick is 4-for-8 with 2 homeruns against Hamels in his career.
Wednesday, 7:05pm. Brad Penny (3-1, 1.56 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (0-1, 7.61 ERA). In 21 career starts against the Phillies, Penny is 9-4 with a 3.41 ERA. In 3 career starts at Citizens Bank Park, Penny is 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA. Placido Polanco is 10-for-25 (.400 avg) with a homerun against Penny. Opponents are hitting .302 in 5 games against Kendrick this season. In 34 games at Citizens Bank Park, Kendrick is 14-7 with a 4.61 ERA. Skip Schumaker is 5-for-9 (.556 avg) with 2 doubles and a homer against Kendrick in his career.
Thursday, 1:05pm. Kyle Lohse (0-1, 5.28 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (5-1, 1.47 ERA). In his career against the Phillies, Lohse has a 2-2 record and a 3.73 ERA in 7 starts. In 8 regular season games at Citizens Bank Park, Lohse is 2-0 with a 3.83 ERA. In 2 road starts this season, Lohse has an ERA of 11.00. In 11 road games last season, Lohse's ERA was 6.10. Halladay threw a complete game and allowed just 1 run in his only start ever against St. Louis. In 2 home starts this season, Halladay is 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA. Halladay has completed 3 of his 6 starts this season.
Placido Polanco is a .242 career hitter against his former team, the Cardinals, in 30 games.
Jayson Werth has drawn a walk or gotten a hit in all of his 24 games played this season. In 9 games at home this season, Werth is batting .407 and has a .515 on-base %.
Last season in 5 games against the Cardinals, Ryan Howard was 9-for-18 (.500 avg) with 2 doubles, 2 homers, 3 walks and 10 RBI.
Skip Schumaker is a career .354 hitter with 3 homeruns in 24 games against the Phillies. Schumaker has 16 HR in his career. 18.75% of his HR have come against Philadelphia, while he's played only 5% of his games against them.
In 33 regular season games against the Phillies, Matt Holliday is a .294 hitter with 11 HR and a 1.011 OPS.
In 12 games against the Phillies, reliever Ryan Franklin has 2 saves and a 1.38 ERA. In 27 games at Citizens Bank Park, Franklin is 1-2 with a 3.31 ERA.
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