Series Preview: Phillies at Cardinals, 5/16- 5/17

Fresh off a series loss in Atlanta, the Phillies (25-14) still sport the best record in the league and continue their road trip with 2 games in St. Louis against the Cardinals (22-19).

This brief series will pit one exceptional offense against one outstanding pitching staff. The Cardinals' offense has been the strength of the club for much of the season, leading the Majors in runs scored (210) and batting average (.284), while the Phillies' highly-regarded pitching staff has the second best ERA in the National League (3.12).

Philadelphia and St. Louis each won four of the eight games the teams played against one another last season.

Details on the pitching match ups for this series and plenty more statistics lie ahead.

Monday, 7:05PM. Cliff Lee (2-3, 3.78 ERA) vs. Jake Westbrook (2-3, 6.92 ERA). In his last 5 starts, Lee is 0-2 with a 3.54 ERA. In 2 career starts against St. Louis, Lee is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA. In 4 road starts this season, Lee has a 1-2 record with a 4.62 ERA. In 1 career start against Philadelphia, Westbrook allowed 4 earned runs in 5 innings and got a no decision. In 4 home starts, Westbrook is 1-2 with an 8.24 ERA. Placido Polanco is 8-for-27 (.296 avg) against Westbrook in his career.

Tuesday, 8:15PM. Roy Oswalt (3-1, 3.33 ERA) vs. Jaime Garcia (5-0, 1.89 ERA). In 28 career games against St. Louis, Oswalt has a 9-8 record with a 3.19 ERA. In 3 road starts this season, Oswalt is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA. Colby Rasmus is 4-for-9 (.444 avg) against Oswalt in his career. Garcia has a 0.39 ERA in 3 home starts this season. In 4 career games against the Phillies, Garcia has a 2-1 record with a 1.80 ERA and a .167 batting average against.

With a 0-for-5 day on Sunday, Jimmy Rollins ended his personal streak of reaching base via base hit or walk in 21 straight games. Rollins is .261 career hitter in 62 games against the Cardinals.

In 21 career games at Busch Stadium, Ryan Howard is a .388 hitter with 8 homeruns and 31 RBI.

Lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo has held opponents to a .146 batting average this season.

Former 1st round pick Colby Rasmus is a .207 hitter in 13 career games against the Phillies.

In 17 home games this season, Lance Berkman is batting .373 with a 1.100 OPS. Berkman is a career .292 hitter in 64 games against the Phillies.

Matt Holiday's .379 batting average is best in the National League. Holliday is a career .337 hitter in 137 games at Busch Stadium.

______________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

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

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?!

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog