Series Preview: Braves at Phillies, 5/6-5/8

The Phillies (21-9) look to continue a strong home stand, as the division rival Atlanta Braves (18-15) come to town for a 3-game series.

Roy Oswalt has returned to the Phillies after leaving the team for a week to be with his family, following the devastating tornadoes that ravage his home region in Mississippi. He is slated to start the second game of the series. He'll face 25-year-old righty Jair Jurrjens, who hasn't lost this season.

In the series opener on Friday, the Phillies will look to stay on a hot streak, as they've won 6 of their past 7 games, including a 3-game sweep of the Nationals this week. The Braves are on a roll of their own, fresh off a 4-game sweep of the Brewers in Atlanta.

Read ahead for a look at the pitching match ups and loads more details for this series.

Friday, 7:05PM. Derek Lowe (2-3, 3.72 ERA) vs. Cliff Lee (2-2, 3.66 ERA). Lowe was arrested recently and charged with DUI. In 7 career starts at Citizens Bank Park, Lowe is 4-2 with a 2.96 ERA. In a start earlier this season against the Phils, Lowe took a loss, while allowing 2 earned runs in 7 innings. Shane Victorino is 5-for-27 (.185 avg) in his career against Lowe. In 4 career starts against the Braves, Lee has a 1-2 record with a 6.98 ERA. In 8 career regular season starts at CBP, Lee is 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA. Brian McCann is 3-for-5 (.600 avg) with a walk in his career against Lee.

Saturday, 7:05PM. Jair Jurrjens (3-0, 1.52 ERA) vs. Roy Oswalt (3-1, 3.33 ERA). In 9 career starts against the Phillies, Jurrjens is 3-3 with a 2.56 ERA. Jurrjens has a 1.87 ERA in 5 career starts at Citizens Bank Park. Jimmy Rollins is 4-for-26 (.154 avg) in his career against Jurrjens. In 10 career games against the Braves, Oswalt has a 1-3 record with a 5.56 ERA. In 12 career regular season starts at Citizens Bank Park, Oswalt is 10-0 with a 2.23 ERA. Opponents are hitting .212 against Oswalt this season. Alex Gonzalez is 12-for-27 (.444 avg) with 2 HR against Oswalt in his career.

Sunday, 8:05PM. Pitcher To Be Announced vs. Cole Hamels (4-1, 2.66 ERA). The Braves played a double header on Wednesday, so it is unclear who will get the start on Sunday. Hamels has a 10-5 record with a 3.72 ERA in 20 career starts against the Braves. Dan Uggla is 6-for-40 (.150 avg) against Hamels in his career.

Nate McLouth is 9-for-49 (.184 avg) in 15 career games at Citizens Bank Park. McLouth was batting .421 with runners in scoring position this season, through Wednesday's game.

Jason Heyward is a .189 hitter in 16 career games against the Phillies. Through Wednesday, Heyward was batting .172 in night games this season.

Righty reliever Craig Kimbrel has a 1.42 ERA and a .053 batting average against in 6 road appearances this season.

Shane Victorino went 9-for-13 (.692 avg) in the Phillies' first series against the Braves this season. Victorino is a career .275 hitter in 92 games against the Braves.

Ryan Madson has an impressive 0.75 ERA in 12 appearances this season. Chipper Jones is 5-for-11 (.455 avg) in his career against Madson.

In 39 career games against the Braves, Raul Ibanez is a .247 hitter with 3 HR and 20 RBI.

Ryan Howard is a .317 hitter with 34 homers in 105 career games against the Braves.

______________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

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

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...

Former Player Proposes Marriage on the Field in Lakewood

Three's a crowd, Buster...Image- Jay Floyd For one New Jersey couple a unique meeting at the ballpark led to a new meaning for the term baseball diamond. Brian Parker spotted the woman of his dreams from the bullpen bench at Lakewood, NJ's FirstEnergy Park on July 9th, 2010. The right-handed reliever for the Orioles affiliate Delmarva Shorebirds wasn't summoned to pitch that night, but it didn't stop him from getting up and going through his usual warm up and stretching routines to inch closer to a young blonde Brick Township native that he felt drawn toward. "I was acting like I was staying hot, but really I was just trying to talk to her," Parker, a 19th round draft choice by Baltimore in 2007, stated. "I ended up putting my (phone) number on a baseball and we decided to hang out and throughout that whole next year it was back and forth trips between the both of us." The lady that caught Parker's eye was Kristin VanDeventer, who was ...

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. ...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog