Series Preview: Phillies at Cubs, 7/18-7/20

With some extra rest since his last start, in last Tuesday's MLB All-star Game, Roy Halladay is all set to begin the second half of his season and go after his 12th win of the season, as the Phillies (59-35) begin a series on the road in Chicago, taking on the Cubs (38-58) at Wrigley Field.

Former Phillie right-hander Rodrigo Lopez will take the hill for Chicago in the opener.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key stats for this series.

Monday, 8:05PM. Roy Halladay (11-3, 2.45 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Lopez (1-2, 4.02 ERA). Halladay has a 1-3 record with a 3.24 ERA in 4 career starts against the Cubs. In his last 10 starts, Halladay has posted a 6-0 record with a 2.68 ERA. Aramis Ramirez is 2-for-16 (.125 avg) in his career against Halladay. In 6 career games against the Phillies, Lopez has posted a 1-1 record and a 5.74 ERA. Lopez has a 4.66 ERA in 6 home appearances this season. Ryan Howard is 6-for-11 (.545 avg) with a HR in his career against RoLo.

Tuesday, 8:05PM. Cliff Lee (9-6, 2.82 ERA) vs. Matt Garza (4-7, 3.97 ERA). Lee is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 5 career starts against the Cubs. In 8 roads starts this season, Lee has a 2-5 record with a 4.73 ERA. Lefty batters are hitting .195 against Lee this season. Geovany Soto is 1-for-10 (.100 avg) in his career against Lee. In his last 3 home starts, Garza has a 1-0 record and a 1.54 ERA. Garza has held the Phillies to a .160 batting average in 2 career regular season starts against them.

Wednesday, 2:20pm. Vance Worley (5-1, 2.15 ERA) vs. Ryan Dempster (7-6, 4.68 ERA). In his last 5 outings, Worley is 3-0 with a 0.89 ERA. Worley has a 2.96 ERA in 6 games on the road this season. Dempster has a 5-4 record with a 4.90 ERA in 23 career games against the Phillies. In his last 4 home starts, the right-handed Dempster has produced a 1-1 record with a 1.27 ERA. Chase Utley is 7-for-11 (.636 avg) with a double and a homerun in his career against Dempster.

In 13 career games at Wrigley Field, Carlos Ruiz has posted a .189 batting average. Ruiz is batting .219 against left-handed pitchers this season.

Raul Ibanez is batting .333 with a .972 OPS in 11 July games. In 31 games batting 5th in the batting order this season, Ibanez has posted a .290 average, while he is batting .223 everyplace else in the order.

In 21 games at Wrigley Field, Ryan Howard has a .282 batting average with 7 HR and 20 RBI. Howard is batting .238 in 44 road games this season.

Geovany Soto is batting .200 in 37 home games this season.

In 20 career games against the Phillies, Kosuke Fukudome has a .211 batting average. In 46 home games this season, Fukudome has posted a .324 average.

Starlin Castro is batting .305 in 49 home games this season. In 10 career games against the Phillies, Castro is 18-for-40 (.450 avg).

Phillies team ERA- 3.12
Cubs team ERA- 4.69
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Image- AP

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