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
__________________________________________________________

Image- AP

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

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

Stats to Ponder: Jimmy Rollins Edition

J-Roll has batted under .200 for a calendar month twice in his career. In April 2004, Rollins went 13-for-71, for a .183 average. The following month, Rollins went 30-for-107, which is a .280 average. And in August 2005, Rollins went 22-for-117, for a .188 average. The month that followed saw Rollins go 49-for-122 for a .402 average. Rollins is batting .171 so far in May 2009. Improvement is not far away for Jimmy. The Phillies are 10-2 in games this year which Rollins scores at least 1 run. The Phillies are 4-12 in games which Rollins does not score. Jimmy Rollins in 6 games against the Braves this year is batting .071 (2-for-28). In 2008 Rollins batted .284 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2007 Rollins batted .347 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2006 Rollins batted .367 against the Braves in 18 games. Jimmy Milestone Watch: 6 more RBI and Rollins will tie Scott Rolen for 25th all time in Phillies RBI leaders. 7 more triples and Rollins will tie Richie Ashburn for 4th all time i...

Crawford's Chronicles: JP Crawford talks Spring Training

JP Crawford, image- Jay Floyd Entering this year as the widely regarded top prospect in the Phillies organization, J.P. Crawford will be taking time each week to provide insight directly from inside spring training in Clearwater, FL, right here on PhilliesNation.com. Crawford, 20, was named the top positional prospect in two leagues (Class A South Atlantic League and Class A Advanced Florida State League) last year, when he combined, in 123 games, to post a .285 average, 11 homers, 48 RBI and 24 stolen bases. He also represented the Phils organization in the MLB All-Star Futures Game last season. As the 2015 campaign approaches, the six-foot-two 180-pound lefty batter is expected to reach the Double-A level and continue to prove why the Phillies selected him in the first round of the 2013 draft. In this initial installment of our weekly check-in with J.P., he shares thoughts on a variety of topics, including his exclusion from big league camp, which member of the big leagu...

Phreestyle Battle & Notes

Unrelated to baseball, really...but it's fun and our Phils are off today. This new kid on the hip hop scene, Charles Hamilton , whose single Brooklyn Girl is ripping up radio and video count downs, was at PSU for a performance recently. A freestyle battle ensued, and as you'll see, the Penn State student held his own. Stay tuned for the ending. It's the best part. Here are some random Phillies-in-idle baseball thoughts and notes- Colbert Hamels is slated to make his Grapefruit League debut tomorrow vs. Team Canada. Shane Victorino is going to wear #50 on his jersey for Team USA, a nod to Hawaii Five-O. Brad Lidge is likely to not see game action till next week, after he throws some more bullpen sessions and works out the tightness in his forearm. Albert Pujols is declaring "respect for his country" as reasoning for sitting out of the Cardinals' exhibition this week against Team Dominican Republic. He told reporters, "I don’t want to play against them...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog