Series Preview: Marlins at Phillies, June 1-3

Fresh off a successful 5-2 road trip, the Phillies (27-25) return home to host the Marlins (29-22) for a 3-game set at Citizens Bank Park. The rivalry between the two clubs has been considerably one-sided recently, with the Phils coming away victorious in 8 of their past 10 series against Miami.

While the Phillies are in last place in the National League's East division, they sit only 2 1/2 games behind the second place Marlins and 3 games behind the first place Nationals.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and loads more statistical information on this series.

Friday, 7:05PM. Mark Buehrle (5-4, 3.26 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (1-4, 4.10 ERA). In 4 career starts against the Phillies, Buehrle has a 3-1 record with a 4.88 ERA and a .294 batting average against. In his last 5 starts, the left-handed Buehrle is 4-0 with a 3.19 ERA. Hector Luna is 5-for-5 in his career against Buehrle. Kendrick is 0-3 with a 5.28 ERA in 4 home games this season. Kendrick threw a complete game shutout in his last appearance against St. Louis. Gaby Sanchez is 8-for-18 (.444 avg) with a double and a HR in his career against Kendrick.

Saturday, 4:05 PM. Ricky Nolasco (5-3, 4.26 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (8-1, 2.43 ERA). In 15 career games against the Phillies, Nolasco has a 6-4 record with a 3.55 ERA. Nolasco is 1-3 with a 7.06 ERA in his last 4 starts. Shane Victorino is 4-for-29 (.138 avg) in his career against Nolasco. Hamels has a 4-1 record with a 2.36 ERA in 5 home starts this season. In his last 9 starts, Hamels is 8-0 with a 2.22 ERA.

Sunday, 1:35 PM. Carlos Zambrano (3-3, 3.00 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (4-5, 5.05 ERA). Zambrano has a 4-4 record with a 4.26 ERA in 10 career games against the Phillies. Zambrano has a 1.75 ERA in 5 road starts this season. In 5 home starts this season, Blanton has a 3-1 record with a 3.90 ERA. In his last 3 starts, Blanton is 0-2 with a 10.26 ERA. Chris Coghlan is 7-for-14 (.500 avg) in his career against Blanton.

In 10 road games this season, Coghlan has posted a .105 batting average, while he is batting .134 overall in 30 games. Coghlan is a .322 hitter in 32 career games against the Phillies.

Heath Bell is 1-1 with 5 saves, 0 blown saves and a 3.77 ERA in 13 career games at Citizens Bank Park.

In 28 May games, Logan Morrison posted a .176 batting average. Morrison has a .275/.377/.529 line in 15 career games at Citizens Bank Park.

Jonathan Papelbon has a 4.09 ERA in 11 home games this season.

In 22 home games this year, Juan Pierre has posted a .222 batting average, which is drastically different than his .402 batting average in 23 road games. Pierre, a former Marlin, is a .290 hitter in 40 career games against Miami.

John Mayberry Jr.'s OPS is 200 points higher at home this year than it is on the road (.720/.520). Mayberry Jr. is a .314 hitter in 19 career games against Miami.

Marlins team batting average for May- .260 (6th in the National League)
Phillies team batting average for May- .282 (3rd in the National League)
________________________________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Heroes- Fight of the Century

VS. It's a big day for your boy, Jay Ballz . No work, X-Men Origins: Wolverine premieres, our Phillies face the Metropolitans for the first time this season and tailgating for BOTH doesn't sound all that absurd to me. Anyway, I surveyed some qualified phans and got several opinions on how exactly a fight might go down if the mutant hero Wolverine faced off against Phillies hero Matt Stairs. Well known blogger, Chris, of I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake , kept it real and said the following- "Wolverine has adamantium ( indestructible metal substance) claws, so that's a great advantage. Stairs' Wonder Bat is neutralized there. See, the problem becomes Wolverine's ability to recover (he has a regenerative power) faster. Stairs is merely human. Sure, he has a goatee, and goatees are great, but they're great for saving sauce, not for defeating mutants. I think Wolverine takes it in a fight to the death in about 15 minutes because Stairs simply doesn'...

Jealous Ones Envy

Joe Blanton continues to excel and prove his worth in the Phillies pitching rotation. In his latest outing on Sunday, Blanton threw 8 strong innings, striking out 6, while walking just 1 and surrendering 2 earned runs, improving his record to 7-4. This season in July, Joe is 3-0 over four starts with 22 K's, 5 walks and a 1.21 ERA. Over his last 6 starts, Joe's ERA is 1.94. As a member of the Phillies, Blanton has a 3.84 ERA after the all star break with a 5-0 record. The Phillies are 20-12 (.625 winning percentage) in games that Blanton has started, since being acquired last July. Combined this season against other National League playoff contenders St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles, Blanton has a combined 1.67 ERA in 4 starts with a 2-0 record. Blanton is on such a sizzling run that the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Tampa Bay Rays farm team, will host a Joe Blanton bobble head give away tomorrow. Bowling Green will host Joe's mother, father and sister for the event, as Joe...

...Got My Learn On

The weekend is just about here, but it's not feeling great so far. My college hoops team lost, and my mail included a huge image of Mets star David Wright on the cover of The Sporting News. "All Wright"? Um, I don't really believe it is. Aside from the non-appealing cover, it's the MLB preview issue, so allow me to share some things I learned from this week's magazine. 1- Former Phillie, and regular Sporting News columnist, Todd Jones has gone insane. Jones predicts that Jamie Moyer will win the NL Cy Young Award, and that Manny Ramirez will run for governor of California after the Dodgers win the 2009 World Series. 2- Ichiro Suzuki rocks the party that rocks the body. Metropolitans reliever Francisco Rodriguez compares Jose Reyes to Ichiro, saying they do many of the same things. I must have missed Ichiro performing rehearsed celebratory hand jives after getting a hit or scoring a run in a losing effort. And I know I missed Ichiro getting caught cheating on...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog