Series Preview: Phillies at Mariners, 6/17-6/19

The Phillies (44-26), in the midst of a hot streak that has seen them win 7 straight games, will head west for a 3-game interleague series with the Seattle Mariners (35-34) that begins Friday night.

Philadelphia has been riding stellar pitching during the recent streak of success. Phillies starting pitchers have combined to post a 1.80 ERA over the past 7 games.

The M's, who are 1/2 game behind Texas for 1st place in the American League West division standings, hope to benefit from the promotion of highly regarded prospect, infielder Dustin Ackley. The 2nd overall draft selection in the 2009 draft, Ackley had posted a .303 average with 9 homers and 35 RBI through 66 games with Triple A Tacoma.

These two teams have not met since the Mariners took 2 of 3 games from the Phillies at Seattle's Safeco Field in 2005.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups as well as other key statistics from this series.

Friday, 10:10PM. Roy Oswalt (4-4, 3.14 ERA) vs. Michael Pineda (6-4, 2.72 ERA). Oswalt has posted a 2-2 record and a 2.90 ERA in 6 road starts this year. In his last 7 starts, Oswalt has a 1-4 record and a 3.92 ERA. Adam Kennedy is 7-for-17 (.412 avg) in his career against Oswalt. In 6 home starts, Pineda has posted a 3-1 record and a 2.06 ERA. In his last 4 starts, Pineda is 0-2 with a 4.07 ERA. The rookie right-hander Pineda has held opponents to a .208 batting average this season.

Saturday, 10:10PM. Vance Worley (2-1, 3.75 ERA) vs. Felix Hernandez (7-5, 3.30 ERA). In 3 road games this season, Worley has a 0-1 record and a 7.71 ERA. Worley posted a 4-2 record and a 2.62 ERA in 8 starts for the Triple A Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Hernandez is 3-1 with a 3.22 ERA in 6 starts at Safeco Field this season. In his last 4 starts, Hernandez is 1-2 with a 4.08 ERA. Placido Polanco is 7-for-18 (.389 avg) in his career against Hernandez.

Sunday, 4:10PM. Cole Hamels (9-2, 2.49 ERA) vs. Jason Vargas (4-4, 4.13 ERA). Hamels is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA and a .187 batting average against in 6 road starts this season. Adam Kennedy and Brendan Ryan are a combined 0-for-15 against Hamels. In 3 career outings against the Phillies, the lefty Vargas has no decisions and a 9.45 ERA. In his last 5 starts, Vargas is 1-2 with a 5.52 ERA. In 35 career games at Safeco Field, Vargas has a 12-10 record with a 3.33 ERA.

In 6 career games against Philadelphia, Ichiro Suzuki has a .321 average and a homerun. Ichiro has 5 consecutive multi-hit games heading into this series.

First baseman Justin Smoak, a key piece in the Texas trade for Cliff Lee last July, leads the Mariners in HR (12) and RBI (38). Smoak is batting just .233 since April.

Mariners closer Brandon League has a 1.72 ERA and is perfect in 11 save opportunities in 16 home games this season.

Ryan Howard has posted a .209 batting average in 29 road games this season. Also, in 48 night games in 2011, Howard has a .217 batting average.

In 21 career games at Safeco Field, Placido Polanco has a .241 batting average and a .575 OPS. Polanco is batting .352 against left-handers this season.

In his last 10 games, Chase Utley is 14-for-39 (.359 avg) with 4 doubles, 2 HR and 9 RBI.

_______________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

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

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog