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

Drabek Preparing For Next Step

The transition has been easy for Kyle Drabek. In December, he was part of a package of young prospects that was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for ace pitcher Roy Halladay. Now, as though nothing has changed, he's right back where he was last season...the star prospect on the pitching staff of a team in the Double A Eastern League. Drabek has often stated that he wanted to stay in the Philadelphia organization, who drafted him in the first round of the 2006 amateur draft. The 22-year-old thought after the midseason trade rumors, that surrounded him possibly going to Toronto last year, passed with no action that all the turmoil was over and that he could simply relax and focus on getting to the big leagues with the Phillies. That wasn't the case, as the deal eventually came to fruition over the off-season. In the Blue Jays system this season, Drabek doesn't have to worry about being dealt. He only has to concern himself with opposing batters and working on his secondary pit...

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. ...

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...