Series Preview: Rockies at Phillies, 5/18-5/19

The Phillies (40-26) return home on Wednesday, to start a brief 2-game series with the Colorado Rockies (22-18) in what will be a clash of two first place teams.

In the series opener, the National League West leading Rockies will send lefty Jorge De La Rosa, who was never beaten the Phillies, to the mound. The 4-time defending East Division champion Phillies will counter with Cole Hamels, who allowed 7 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings in his only previous regular season start against Colorado in 2009.

Last year the Phillies won 6 of 7 meetings with the Rockies, including all 4 games played in Philadelphia.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and plenty more key statistics from this series.

Wednesday, 7:05PM. Jorge De La Rosa (5-1, 3.70 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (4.2, 3.19 ERA). In 6 career games against the Phillies, De La Rosa has a 0-3 record with a 8.78 ERA and a .321 batting average against. In 5 road starts this season, De La Rosa is 2-1 with a 3.82 ERA. Shane Victorino is 4-for-9 (.444 avg) with a homerun in his career against De La Rosa. In 78 career regular season starts at Citizens Bank Park, Hamels has a 3.40 ERA. In his last 4 starts, Hamels is 2-1 with a 3.41 ERA.

Thursday, 7:05PM. Jhoulys Chacin (4-2, 2.89 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (1-2, 5.50 ERA). In 3 road starts this season, Chacin is 2-1 with a 5.00 ERA. Chacin has a 2.20 ERA in 6 night starts this season. In his last 4 starts, Blanton is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. In 2 career starts against Colorado, Blanton is 1-0 with a 5.23 ERA. Carlos Gonzalez is 4-for-5 with a HR in his career against Blanton.

In 11 career regular season games against the Phillies, Carlos Gonzalez is a .385 hitter with a 1.004 OPS. In 19 road games this year, Gonzalez is batting .186.

Troy Tulowitzki has a .179 batting average with a .590 OPS through 14 games played this month.

In 5 career regular season games against the Phillies, Houston Street is 0-1 with 1 save and a 5.79 ERA. Street's 13 saves this year are second best in the National League.

Shane Victorino's batting average splits vs. lefties & righties- .400/.250.

Ryan Madson has a 3.04 ERA in 14 regular season games against the Rockies. Overall in 16 games this season, opponents are batting .161 against Madson, who has posted a 2-0 record and a 0.56 ERA.

After batting .161 in 24 April games, Raul Ibanez was batting .327 in 14 May games, through games played on Monday. Ibanez is batting .300 with 3 HR and 14 RBI in 19 home games this season.
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