Series Preview: Nationals at Phillies, May 21-23

A budding rivalry is set to continue as the Washington Nationals (24-17) visit the Phillies (21-21) for a three-game series beginning Monday night at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park.

Initially sparked up this year when the Nationals organization attempted to prevent Philadelphia fans from attending their team's games at Nationals Park, the rivalry's intensity reached considerably greater levels this month when lefty pitcher Cole Hamels admitted to intentionally hitting highly hyped rookie outfielder Bryce Harper with a pitch to welcome him to the big leagues.

Fresh off a series loss to Boston, the Phillies remain in last place in the National League East division which they have won for five consecutive season. The Nationals are in second place in the same division, 1 1/2 games behind Atlanta for the top spot. The challenge to catch the Nats and the Braves will only get tougher for the Phils, as they start a stretch of 6 straight series against teams with winning records, on Monday.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and plenty more statistical details from this series.

Monday, 7:05 PM. Gio Gonzalez (5-1, 2.22 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (0-3, 5.96 ERA). In his lone career start against Philadelphia, the former Phillies prospect Gonzalez earned a win with 7 innings of 1-run ball earlier this month. Gonzalez is 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA in 4 road starts this season. In 14 career games against the Nationals, Kendrick has a 2-3 record with a 5.19 ERA. This season opponents are batting .330 against Kendrick. Ryan Zimmerman is 10-for-22 (.455 avg) with 7 doubles and a HR in his career against Kendrick.

Tuesday, 7:05 PM. Jordan Zimmermann (2-4, 2.58 ERA) vs. Roy Halladay (4-3, 3.22 ERA). In 4 career starts against the Phillies, Zimmermann has a 0-3 record with a 6.00 ERA. Zimmermann is 1-3 with a 3.91 ERA in his last 4 starts. Halladay is 11-1 with a 2.28 ERA in 16 career games (15 starts) against the Nationals. In 4 home starts this season, Halladay has a 1-2 record with a 2.57 ERA.

Wednesday, 7:05 PM. Edwin Jackson (1-1, 3.31 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (6-1, 2.48 ERA). In his last 6 starts, Jackson has no decisions but has posted a 2.93 ERA. Jackson allowed 5 earned runs over 5 innings in his lone career start against the Phillies. Placido Polanco is 0-for-6 in his career against Jackson. In 21 career starts against the Nationals, Hamels has posted an 11-4 record with a 2.62 ERA. In his last 7 starts, Hamels is 6-0 with a 2.20 ERA.

Ryan Zimmerman has a .285 batting average with 13 HR and 61 RBI in 97 career games against the Phillies. Zimmerman is batting .244 in 12 road games this season.

In 8 road games, Bryce Harper has posted a .188 batting average. Harper has gone 10-for-31 (.322 avg) with 2 triples and 2 homers in his last 7 games.

Henry Rodriguez, who leads the Nats with 9 saves, has posted a 0-3 record with 3 blown saves and a 9.82 ERA in 9 road games this season.

Carlos Ruiz's .355 batting average ranks 3rd in the National League. Ruiz is a .309 hitter in 74 career games against the Nats.

Ty Wigginton is 8-for-49 (.163 average) with no extra base hits in May.

Shane Victorino's .282 batting average in 19 May games is much improved over his .228 mark in in 23 April games.

Nationals team ERA this month- 3.63 (7th in NL)
Phillies team ERA this month- 4.30 (13th in NL)

Nationals runs per game this month- 4.26
Phillies runs per game this month- 5.0
_______________________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

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...

Former Player Proposes Marriage on the Field in Lakewood

Three's a crowd, Buster...Image- Jay Floyd For one New Jersey couple a unique meeting at the ballpark led to a new meaning for the term baseball diamond. Brian Parker spotted the woman of his dreams from the bullpen bench at Lakewood, NJ's FirstEnergy Park on July 9th, 2010. The right-handed reliever for the Orioles affiliate Delmarva Shorebirds wasn't summoned to pitch that night, but it didn't stop him from getting up and going through his usual warm up and stretching routines to inch closer to a young blonde Brick Township native that he felt drawn toward. "I was acting like I was staying hot, but really I was just trying to talk to her," Parker, a 19th round draft choice by Baltimore in 2007, stated. "I ended up putting my (phone) number on a baseball and we decided to hang out and throughout that whole next year it was back and forth trips between the both of us." The lady that caught Parker's eye was Kristin VanDeventer, who was ...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog