Skip to main content

Series Preview: Phillies at Blue Jays (Sort of)


Something you never thought you would see is finally here...Phillies road games in Philadelphia. Thanks to the well documented issues with the G20 summit in Toronto, this weekend's 3-game interleague series was moved to Philadelphia. The games will still be played as though the Blue Jays are the home club, with American League rules.

Fans in Toronto looked forward to this series with great anticipation, as it would have marked the return of all-time great Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay, who was traded to Philadelphia after last season. Halladay spent over a decade with Toronto, collecting 148 wins in the process.

The Jays won't have to wait long to see Halladay, as he'll start the series opener on Friday night. The Blue Jays will counter with righty Jesse Litsch to start the series.

Toronto won all three games in Philadelphia last year. Read on for information on the pitching match ups and loads more details.


Friday, 7:05pm. Roy Halladay (8-6, 2.43 ERA) vs. Jesse Litsch (0-1, 6.75 ERA). In 8 starts at Citizens Bank Park this year, Halladay is 4-4 with a 2.48 ERA. Halladay is 2-5 with a 3.36 ERA over his last 8 starts. In Halladay's 6 losses, the Phillies have combined to score a total of 9 runs. This will be Litsch's third start of the year, after recovering from Tommy John surgery. In 2 career games against the Phillies, Litsch is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA. Raul Ibanez is 4-for-9 (.444 avg) in his career against Litsch.

Saturday, 4:05pm. Cole Hamels (6-5, 3.75 ERA) vs. Shaun Marcum (6-3, 3.24 ERA). Hamels has a 5.06 ERA in 2 career starts against the Blue Jays. Hamels has posted a 2.91 ERA over his last 9 starts. In 7 starts at Citizens Bank Park this season, Hamels is 3-2 with a 2.96 ERA and has held opponents to a .219 batting avg. against. In 2 career starts against the Phillies, Marcum has allowed 4 runs in 7 innings (5.14 ERA). Marcum has posted a 4.33 ERA over his last 6 starts. Marcum has a 2.52 ERA at the Rogers Centre this season, and a 4.12 ERA outside of Toronto.

Sunday, 1:35pm. Jamie Moyer (8-6, 4.43 ERA) vs. Brett Cecil (7-4, 4.06 ERA). In 39 career games against Toronto, Moyer has a 15-9 record with a 5.41 ERA and 2 complete games. Excluding Moyer's awful outing against Boston on June 11th, he has posted a 2.48 ERA over his last 8 starts. In 6 starts at Citizens Bank Park this season, Moyer is 4-2 with a 3.00 ERA. Aaron Hill is 10-for-23 (.435 avg) with 3 homers against Moyer in his career. Cecil has lost his last 2 starts, allowing 11 earned runs in 11 innings. Cecil has a 3.11 ERA away from Toronto this season, compared to his 5.59 ERA at the Rogers Centre.


Chase Utley has a .330 batting average with 9 homers and 22 RBI in 33 games this year at Citizens Bank Park. Utley away from Citizens Bank Park this season- .228 avg, 2 homers, 12 RBI in 35 games.

In 11 career games against Toronto, Jayson Werth is a .351 hitter with a 1.462 OPS. Werth has posted a .395 avg. with 3 homers and 9 RBI over his last 12 games.

Shane Victorino has a .259 batting average this season batting in the leadoff spot. His average any other place in the lineup this season is .167.

DeWayne Wise, who was with the Phillies organization much of this year, before exercising an out clause in his contract, is now a Blue Jay and has gone 2-for-12 in 8 games thus far. Wise signed a minor league deal with Toronto, where he played in 2002, on June 5th and was promoted to the big club just 5 days later.

In 15 career games against the Phillies, Aaron Hill is 14-for-62 (.226 avg) with 4 homers. Hill has 27 RBI through 58 games this season, after having a career high 108 in 2009.

Toronto closer Kevin Gregg is 2-2 with 8 saves and 1 blown save with a 1.09 ERA in 22 career games against the Phillies. Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are a combined 4-for-41 (.098 avg.) against Gregg.

Phillies team batting avg.- .259
Blue Jays team batting avg.- .239


______________________________


Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stats to Ponder: Jimmy Rollins Edition

J-Roll has batted under .200 for a calendar month twice in his career. In April 2004, Rollins went 13-for-71, for a .183 average. The following month, Rollins went 30-for-107, which is a .280 average. And in August 2005, Rollins went 22-for-117, for a .188 average. The month that followed saw Rollins go 49-for-122 for a .402 average. Rollins is batting .171 so far in May 2009. Improvement is not far away for Jimmy. The Phillies are 10-2 in games this year which Rollins scores at least 1 run. The Phillies are 4-12 in games which Rollins does not score. Jimmy Rollins in 6 games against the Braves this year is batting .071 (2-for-28). In 2008 Rollins batted .284 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2007 Rollins batted .347 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2006 Rollins batted .367 against the Braves in 18 games. Jimmy Milestone Watch: 6 more RBI and Rollins will tie Scott Rolen for 25th all time in Phillies RBI leaders. 7 more triples and Rollins will tie Richie Ashburn for 4th all time i...

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...

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...