Skip to main content

Series Preview: Brewers at Phillies, 4/18-4/20


As the core of Philadelphia's highly regarded pitching staff has shined in their most recent outings, it will be up to the team's often forgotten fifth starter Joe Blanton to keep things rolling as the Phillies (10-4) host the Brewers (7-8) for a 3-game series.

Blanton's struggles have been clear in the early going this season. His 10.45 ERA over two starts sits a great distance away from the combined 2.96 ERA of the other four starting pitchers (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels), over their 12 starts.

In the series opener, Milwaukee will counter with their top hurler, righty Shaun Marcum, who was acquired last off-season in a trade with Toronto. Marcum recorded a victory over the Phillies last year, while with the Blue Jays, as he allowed just 1 earned run and struck out 6 batters in 6 innings of work.

The Phillies won five of the six meetings between these two teams last season.

Read ahead for more details on the pitching match ups and plenty more statistical information on this series.


Monday, 7:05PM. Shaun Marcum (2-1, 2.55 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (0-1, 10.45 ERA). Marcum threw 7 scoreless innings against the Pirates in his last outing. In 3 career starts against the Phillies, Marcum is 2-0 with a 3.46 ERA. Ryan Howard is 2-for-3 against Marcum with 2 homeruns. Blanton's start was pushed back after the Phillies were rained out on Saturday. In 4 career starts against Milwaukee, Blanton is 2-1 with a 5.61 ERA. In 39 career regular season games at Citizens Bank Park, Blanton has a 14-6 record with a 4.12 ERA. Yuniesky Betancourt is 11-for-31 (.355 avg) with a 1.039 OPS in his career against Blanton.

Tuesday, 7:05PM. Randy Wolf (1-2, 4.32 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (2-0, 1.23 ERA). Wolf, a former Phillie, is 10-7 with a 4.24 ERA in 28 career starts at Citizens Bank Park. Carlos Ruiz is 5-for-8 (.625 avg) with 3 doubles, a HR and 3 walks in his career against Wolf. In 2 career starts against the Brewers, Halladay is 1-1 with a 5.54 ERA. Prince Fielder, the only active Brewer with a HR off of Halladay, is 3-for-6 (.500 avg) in his career against him. Righty opponents are batting .154 against Halladay thus far in 2011.

Wednesday, 1:05PM. Chris Narveson (1-0, 1.45 ERA) vs. Cliff Lee (2-1, 4.19 ERA). Narveson, a left-hander, allowed 4 earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in his only start against Philadelphia. In 19 road games (14 starts) last year, Narveson posted a 7-4 record with a 4.70 ERA. In Lee's only start against the Brewers, he allowed 7 earned runs in 6 innings pitched and took the loss. Lee threw a complete game shut out against the Nationals in his last start.


Rickie Weeks leads the Brewers in homeruns, with 4. Weeks is 1-for-12 (.083 avg) in his career against Blanton and Halladay. He has not faced Lee.

Milwaukee closer John Axford has an 8.44 ERA thus far in 6 appearances this season. He has an .067 batting average against in 4 career appearances against the Phillies.

In 22 career games against Philadelphia, Ryan Braun has 7 HR, 15 RBI and a .352 batting average.

Placido Polanco is a combined 10-for-22 (.454 avg) in his career against the Brewers' three scheduled starters for this series.

In 7 career games against the Brewers, Phillies reliever Jose Contreras has a 0.00 ERA.

Ben Francisco is a .125 career hitter in 7 games against Milwaukee. In 8 home games this season, Francisco is batting .345 and has a .992 OPS.

Brewers team batting average- .255
Phillies team batting average- .296

_______________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

You can also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Justin De Fratus Interview Excerpts- May, 2011

Armed with a 2-0 record, 3 saves and a 2.95 ERA in 15 games this season for the Double A Reading Phillies, Justin De Fratus continues to make strides toward his goal of reaching the Major Leagues. Ranked as a top 10 prospect within the Phillies system last off-season, the 23-year-old De Fratus was in camp with the Phillies during big league spring training. In 3 games with the Phils during the Grapefruit League season, De Fratus allowed 4 earned runs in 4 innings and took a loss. He did strike out an impressive 5 batters in those 4 frames, however. Drafted in the 11th round of the 2007 amateur draft, De Fratus stood out as a force in relief last year for both the High A Clearwater Threshers and the R-Phils. In 49 combined games at the two levels, De Fratus posted a 3-0 record with 21 saves and a 1.94 ERA. De Fratus continued his excellent 2011 by pitching for Team USA in the Pan-American qualifiers held in Puerto Rico, helping the Americans finish with a 9-1 record. He also posted out...

Bubby Rossman's long awaited MLB debut

Eight years after he initially signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and a five-year stretch playing away from affiliated ball, Bubby Rossman became a major leaguer on Wednesday. Added as a substitute for pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is restricted from travel to Canada for the Phillies' series in Toronto, due to his medical inability to be vaccinated from COVID-19, Rossman took the mound for the first time in the majors. Rossman, who was a 22nd round draft selection in 2014 had pitched in 200 professional games before his one-inning outing in the Phillies' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. In 27 appearances with Double-A Reading this year, the 30-year-old right-hander has performed well, tallying a 2-2 record with a save, a 3.32 ERA and a .200 batting average against.   The embedded video below features a media session with Rossman from prior to opening day this year, in which the California native discusses his journey through independent baseball and back to affiliated ball w...

Series Preview: Braves at Phillies, August 6-8

The Braves (62-46) travel to Philadelphia to begin a three-game series with the Phillies (49-59) on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. In the past month, the two clubs have faced each other in two separate series, with the Braves winning all six of the contests. Atlanta’s recent dominance over the Phils is the opposite of how things went last season, when the Phillies handed the Braves six losses toward the end of the 2011 season. Those defeats shut the door on Atlanta’s postseason hopes. Read ahead for notes on the pitching the match ups and additional statistical information on this series. Monday, 7:05 PM. Ben Sheets (3-1, 1.46 ERA) vs. Vance Worley (6-6, 3.63 ERA). In 9 career starts against the Phillies, Sheets has a 3-4 record with a 4.50 ERA. Ty Wigginton is 12-for-36 (.333 avg) with 2 doubles and 2 HR in his career against Sheets. The righty Sheets was the Brewers' 1st round draft pick in 1999. In his last 5 starts, Worley has a 2-1 record with a 4.06 ERA. In 9 home s...