Skip to main content

Series Preview: Braves at Phillies, July 5-July 7


The first place Atlanta Braves (48-34) come to town, to face the third place Phillies (42-38) for a 3-game series. Atlanta currently leads Philadelphia by 5 games in the National League East standings.

With a steady stream of injuries this year, the Phillies haven't been able to maintain their head lock on the top spot in the division. The team is aware that this head-to-head meeting with the division leader is their chance to bounce back. The Phillies will try to take a chunk out of that deficit in the standings by sending their ace, all-star Roy Halladay to the mound in game one. The Braves will counter with Derek Lowe, who is 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA in three starts against the Phillies in 3 outings this year.

Read ahead for details in the pitching match ups and loads more information, as the division rivals meet in this crucial series.


Monday, 7:05pm. Derek Lowe (9-6, 4.53 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (9-7, 2.42 ERA). Lowe has a 4.75 ERA and a 1-2 record over his last 5 starts. In his career against the Phillies, Lowe has posted a 7-3 record and a 3.26 ERA in 17 games. Shane Victorino is 2-for-20 (.100 avg) against Lowe in his career. The Phillies have scored just 12 total runs in Halladay's 7 losses. In 3 career games against Atlanta, Halladay is 2-0 with a 0.46 ERA. In his last 5 home starts, Halladay is 1-4 with a 3.34 ERA. Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, Omar Infante and Yunel Escobar are a combined 0-for-24 against Halladay in their careers.

Tuesday, 7:05pm. Jair Jurrjens (1-3, 5.59 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (6-7, 4.07 ERA). In 8 career starts against the Phils, Jurrjens has posted a 3-3 record with a 2.25 ERA and a .199 batting average against. In 3 road starts this season, Jurrjens is 0-3 with an 11.45 ERA. Wilson Valdez is 4-for-4 against the right-handed Jurrjens in his career. In 16 career starts against the Braves, Hamels is 8-5 with a 4.28 ERA. In his last 7 starts, Hamels is 1-5 with a 4.28 ERA. Hamels is 3-3 with a 3.59 ERA in 8 starts at Citizens Bank Park this season. Brian McCann is 11-for-33 (.333 avg) with a homer and 10 RBI against Hamels in his career.

Wednesday, 7:05 pm. Kris Medlen (5-1, 3.01 ERA) vs. Jamie Moyer (9-7, 4.13 ERA). In 12 road games this season, Medlen is 3-1 with a 3.40 ERA. In 8 career games against Philadelphia, Medlen has no decisions, a 5.11 ERA and a .380 batting average against. Injured Phillies Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley and Placido Polanco are a combined 8-for-10 (.800 avg) against Medlen. In 18 career games against the Braves, Moyer is 6-9 with a 4.76 ERA. Excluding Moyer's awful 1 inning/9 earned run outing against Boston on June 11th, he has posted a 2.74 ERA over his last 9 starts. In 7 starts at Citizens Bank Park this year, Moyer is 5-2 with a 2.94 ERA. Troy Glaus is 21-for-60 (.350 avg) with 5 homers against Moyer.


Yunel Escobar is a .214 career hitter in 46 career games against the Phillies. Escobar is 6-for-42 (.143 avg) against the Phillies' 3 scheduled starting pitchers in this series.

In 37 career games against the Phillies, controversial all-star Omar Infante is a .228 hitter with 3 homeruns. All 3 of those homers have come at Citizens Bank Park.

Braves' closer Billy Wagner has a 6-4 record with 35 saves, 5 blown saves and a 1.97 ERA in 81 career games at Citizens Bank Park.

Shane Victorino has a .261 batting average, batting first in the batting order this season. Victorino's average is .235 in all other places of the Phils' lineup.

Philies infielder Wilson Valdez is 8-for-21 (.381 avg) with 2 homeruns and 6 RBI in his last 6 games played. In 19 home games this season, Valdez is batting .188, compared to his .300 batting average away from Citizens Bank Park.

In 37 games at Citizens Bank Park this season, Jayson Werth is batting .306 with a 1.033 OPS. Of Werth's 13 homeruns this season, he has hit 10 of them in Philadelphia.

Braves team ERA- 3.67.
Phillies team ERA- 4.02.

_________________________________

Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hockey Taking Over CBP

The takeover has begun. As the holiday season approaches and winter becomes more imminent, January 2nd, the date of this season's NHL Winter Classic draws nearer. In 2012, Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park will play host to the annual regular season hockey contest that is broadcast on national television. The ballpark is otherwise home to Major League Baseball's Phillies. In the upcoming game, the Flyers will take on New York Rangers. It will be New York's first Winter Classic appearance, while the Flyers, who lost at Boston in 2010, will be seeing action in the annual event for the second time. This will mark the fifth year for the NHL's premiere regular season contest, which first took place in 2008 at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL's Bills. The process to convert the baseball playing field into an ice rink, in time for the week of hockey events set to take place at CBP, began this week. In addition to the January 2nd regular season...

Division Lead Back to 3 Games

Six shut out innings by the bullpen, a diving catch by Jayson Werth and two homeruns by Chase Utley won the game for the Phillies and got their lead in the NL East back to 3 games over the Metropolitans. It was a surprising effort from the bullpen as Scott Eyre, JC Romero, Jack Taschner, Chad Durbin, Ryan Madson and even Chan Ho Park shut down the Mets lineup in the extra inning victory. It was a risky play by Werth, who could have allowed the winning run to score if he hadn't made the catch on the ball batted by David Wright. It was clutch hitting by Utley, who, with his second homerun of the game, gave the Phillies an 11th inning lead that they would not let up. Huge win for the Phillies! ------------------------- Stats to ponder- Jimmy Rollins in the lead off spot this season- 49 games, .208 avg (47-for-226), .244 OBP, 1 HR, 29 runs. Jimmy Rollins batting any place else in the lineup this season- 7 games, .409 avg (9-for-22), .440 OBP, 3 HR, 6 runs. Carlos Ruiz against the Mets ...

Ryan Madson is acting questionable

I've seen similar types of "poking fun" entries on other Phillies blogs. When this picture came across my desk today, I figured, "Why not...?" Ryan Madson was out on the town (Manayunk) over the weekend and was photographed acting pretty with a purse slung over his shoulder and being chummy with a friend of mine. Can I really call him a friend, if he's actually my friends' friend , and I only prank called him once? Sure, why the heck not?!