Skip to main content

Series Preview: Cardinals at Phillies, 9/16-9/19

With the Phillies' magic number to clinch a fifth consecutive National League East Division championship, they'll begin a four-game series with the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

Not only are the playoffs ahead, but the Phils, who currently possess the best record in baseball at 97-51, also have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and an all-time franchise single season record for wins in sight. The current Phillies record for wins, 101, was set in 1976, then tied in 1977.

The Cardinals, who are 5 1/2 games back in the Central division, will send lefty Jaime Garcia, who has held Philadelphia to a .171 batting average in 5 career appearances, to the mound for the series opener. The Phillies will counter with rookie right-hander Vance Worley, who took a loss for the first time in 15 starts his last time out against the Brewers.

St. Louis has won three of five meetings with Philadelphia this season.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups as well as more key stats on this series.


Friday, 7:05 PM. Jaime Garcia (12-7, 3.68 ERA) vs. Vance Worley (11-2, 2.92 ERA). In 5 career games against the Phillies, Garcia has a 2-1 record with a 1.17 ERA. Garcia is 2-2 with a 6.04 ERA over his last 5 starts. Ryan Howard is 2-for-12 (.167 avg) with a homerun in his career against Garcia. In 10 home starts, Worley is 6-0 with a 2.07 ERA and a .189 batting average against. Worley is 9-0 with a 1.62 ERA in 15 night games this season.

Saturday, 7:05 PM. Jake Westbrook (12-8, 4.61 ERA) vs. Roy Oswalt (7-9, 3.88 ERA). In 15 road starts this year, Westbrook has an 8-3 record with a 3.65 ERA. Westbrook is 3-1 with a 3.98 ERA in his last 5 starts. Hunter Pence is 6-for-11 (.545 avg) in his career against Westbrook. In 30 career games against the Cardinals, Oswalt has a 9-9 record with a 3.30 ERA. Oswalt is 1-2 with a 5.19 ERA in his last 4 starts. In 8 home starts this year, Oswat is 3-3 with a 3.83 ERA.

Sunday, 8:05 PM. Chris Carpenter (9-9, 3.80 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (14-8, 2.71 ERA). In 10 career starts against the Phillies, Carpenter is 6-2 with a 4.66 ERA. Carpenter is 5-2 with a 3.72 ERA in 12 starts since the All-Star break. In 14 home starts this year, Hamels is 7-5 with a 2.45 ERA. Hamels is 2-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 8 career starts against St. Louis. Albert Pujols is 3-for-20 (.150 avg) with a double and a HR against Cole Hamels in his career.

Monday, 7:05 PM. Kyle Lohse (13-8, 3.62 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (18-5, 2.34 ERA). Lohse is 2-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 9 career starts against the Phillies. In 15 road starts this season, Lohse has a 7-3 record with a 3.39 ERA. Raul Ibanez is 9-for-30 (.300 avg) with 3 HR in his career against the righty Lohse. In 3 career starts against the Cardinals, Halladay is 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA and a .198 batting average against. Halladay has a 3-0 record and a 1.29 ERA in his last 5 starts. In 33 career regular season games at Citizens Bank Park, Halladay is 20-7 with a 2.23 ERA.


Lance Berkman is a .299 hitter with 5 HR and 15 RBI in 19 career games at Citizens Bank Park.

Skip Schumaker is a .340 career hitter in 33 career games against the Phillies. Schumaker is batting .321 in 52 games since the All-Star break.

Yadier Molina's 12 homeruns this season are 5 more than his previous career high. Molina is 8-for-17 (.471 avg) in 5 games against the Phillies this season.

In 67 home games this season, Raul Ibanez is batting .292 with 13 homeruns. Ibanez on the road...63 games, .200 average, 5 homeruns.

Carlos Ruiz is a .319 career hitter in 30 games against the Cardinals. In 48 games since the All-Star break, Ruiz is batting .320.

In 39 games against the Cardinals in his career, Shane Victorino has a .304 average with 4 HR and 21 RBI. In 15 games this month, Victorino is batting .177.

Cardinals team batting avg- .271
Phillies team batting avg- .253

_______________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mike McGuire Living a Dream With Favorite Team

LAKEWOOD, NJ- Every young ballplayer grows up wishing he could play for his favorite team. Mike McGuire has an opportunity to do just that after signing with the Phillies organization in July. McGuire was a 43rd round draft pick taken by the Cleveland Indians in the 2008 amateur draft out of the University of Delaware. Early scouting reports liked McGuire's abilities, despite some arm trouble. He advanced as far as High A Level Kinston last season. While there, he posted an 0-3 record with a 5.46 ERA in 9 games, 8 of which were starts. The Indians weren't happy with McGuire's efforts this spring and released him. McGuire caught on with the Sussex Skyhawks of the independent Can-Am League, where he stayed in shape and pitched against other formerly affiliated minor leaguers. As a starter with the Skyhawks, McGuire went 3-4 with a 5.29 ERA in 8 outings. From there, just as all players in those independent leagues hope for, the 24-year-old McGuire got noticed. The Phillies wer...

Harry's Plaque Has Misprint

At the ballpark today for the first time since Harry Kalas was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame on Friday, I noticed an error in the text on his plaque. Verbage on the plaque reads like this... Voice of Phillies baseball on radio and TV for 39 seasons. Teamed with Richie Ashburn from 1971 until 1997. Harry was on the air for all of Mike Schmidt's 548 home runs, five Phillies no-hitters, seven National League Championship Series, three World Series, the first and final games at Veterans Stadium and the Citizens Bank Park 2004 opener. Received the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award in 2002 for "Major Contributions to Baseball" and was inducted into the broadcasters' wing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. His calls were legendary, especially his signature home run call, "Outta heeere." On October 29, 2008, he brought utmost joy to Phillies fans: "The 0-2 pitch, swing and miss , struck him out. The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 Worl...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...