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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Kendrick & LaGrossa- Second Phils/Survivor Marriage

On Saturday, Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick married 3-time Survivor contestant and former Flyers employee Stephenie LaGrossa. The couple exchanged vows in front of 105 guests at the Silverado Resort in Napa, California. Their special day featured many personalized aspects, including cocktail hour snacks modeled in the fashion of mini Philly cheesesteaks, as well as the couple's two dogs, Bebe and Champ, serving as flower girl and ring bearer during the ceremony. The pets wore a white dress and a tuxedo, respectively. Kendrick is now the second Phillies pitcher to marry a former contestant of the CBS reality competition program, as lefty Cole Hamels wedded Heidi Strobel, who appeared on the sixth season of Survivor, in 2007. _________________________________________________________________ Be sure to follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter, for updates, stats and info, by clicking HERE . Photos- People.com

Michael Taylor Q&A

Michael Taylor is currently leading the Reading Phillies' offense and is near the top of the Eastern League in most stat categories (3rd in batting avg- .342, 3rd in HR- 14, tied for second in RBI- 55, 2nd in OPS.- .994, tied for 1st in runs scored- 49, tied for 1st in hits...). The 23 year old Taylor is 6 feet 6 inches tall and has quickly grabbed the attention of phans and media alike as a top prospect to watch. I spoke with Mike Taylor over the weekend, and here is that interview. With all the big stats and being among the league leaders in so many categories, do you think you're ready for the next step? It's kind of a difficult question. Do you have anything left to prove here? There's always something to prove. There's stuff to prove every game. I mean that's one thing that's very interesting about this game. It's such a numbers oriented game. You're only as good as your last "whatever statistical category that someone's valuing". ...

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal...

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