Series Preview: Giants at Phillies, July 20-22

The National League West division leading Giants (51-41) head to Philadelphia this weekend to take on the Phillies (41-52) in a 3-game series.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other statistical info on this series.

Friday, 7:05 PM. Tim Lincecum (3-10, 5.93 ERA) vs. Vance Worley (5-5, 3.47 ERA). In 10 road starts this season, Lincecum has a 1-6 record with a 9.00 ERA. Hunter Pence is 5-for-29 (.172 avg) in his career against Lincecum. In 2 career regular season starts against the Giants, Worley has a 2-0 record and a 2.25 ERA. Worley has a 2-2 record with 4.07 ERA in 7 home starts this season.

Saturday, 4:05 PM. Matt Cain (10-3, 2.56 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (11-4, 3.07 ERA). In 8 career regular season starts, Cain has posted a 1-4 record with a 3.42 ERA. Cain has a 1-1 record with a 3.37 ERA in his last 4 starts. Hamels has a 5-3 record with a 2.76 ERA and a .228 BAA in 9 home starts this season. In his last 4 starts, Hamels is 1-1 with a 2.48 ERA.

Sunday, 1:35 PM. Barry Zito (8-6, 3.75 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (8-8, 4.79 ERA). In 9 road starts this season, Zito has a 4-3 record witha 4.47 ERA. Zito has a 5.00 ERA in 3 career regular season starts at Citizens Bank Park. In 8 career regular season starts against the Giants, Blanton has a 2-4 record with a 5.00 ERA. Blanton has a 4-3 record with a 4.76 ERA in 9 home starts this year. In his past 5 starts, Blanton has a 2-2 record with a 3.95 ERA.

Giants reliever Santiago Casilla has 5 blown saves in his last 8 appearances. The right-hander has a 5.28 ERA in 18 appearances on the road this season.

In 6 games since the All-Star Break, Buster Posey is batting .545 with a home run and 10 RBI. Posey is batting .280 in 44 road games this year.

Melky Cabrera's .357 batting average is second best in Major League Baseball. Cabrera is a .226 hitter in 10 career games at Citizens Bank Park.

Juan Pierre is batting .225 in 39 home games this season. In 111 career games against San Francisco, Pierre has a .310 batting average.

In 41 home games this season, Jimmy Rollins has a .305 batting average with 8 doubles, 3 triples and 6 HR.

Jonathan Papelbon has a 2-2 record with 7 saves, 1 blown save and a 5.09 ERA in 17 home games this season. In 3 career appearances against the Giants, Papelbon is 3-for-3 in save opportunities with a 0.00 ERA.

Giants team batting average in July- .266 (5th in National League)
Phillies team batting average in July- .232 (14th in National League)

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Hockey Taking Over CBP

The takeover has begun. As the holiday season approaches and winter becomes more imminent, January 2nd, the date of this season's NHL Winter Classic draws nearer. In 2012, Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park will play host to the annual regular season hockey contest that is broadcast on national television. The ballpark is otherwise home to Major League Baseball's Phillies. In the upcoming game, the Flyers will take on New York Rangers. It will be New York's first Winter Classic appearance, while the Flyers, who lost at Boston in 2010, will be seeing action in the annual event for the second time. This will mark the fifth year for the NHL's premiere regular season contest, which first took place in 2008 at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL's Bills. The process to convert the baseball playing field into an ice rink, in time for the week of hockey events set to take place at CBP, began this week. In addition to the January 2nd regular season...

Division Lead Back to 3 Games

Six shut out innings by the bullpen, a diving catch by Jayson Werth and two homeruns by Chase Utley won the game for the Phillies and got their lead in the NL East back to 3 games over the Metropolitans. It was a surprising effort from the bullpen as Scott Eyre, JC Romero, Jack Taschner, Chad Durbin, Ryan Madson and even Chan Ho Park shut down the Mets lineup in the extra inning victory. It was a risky play by Werth, who could have allowed the winning run to score if he hadn't made the catch on the ball batted by David Wright. It was clutch hitting by Utley, who, with his second homerun of the game, gave the Phillies an 11th inning lead that they would not let up. Huge win for the Phillies! ------------------------- Stats to ponder- Jimmy Rollins in the lead off spot this season- 49 games, .208 avg (47-for-226), .244 OBP, 1 HR, 29 runs. Jimmy Rollins batting any place else in the lineup this season- 7 games, .409 avg (9-for-22), .440 OBP, 3 HR, 6 runs. Carlos Ruiz against the Mets ...

Ryan Madson is acting questionable

I've seen similar types of "poking fun" entries on other Phillies blogs. When this picture came across my desk today, I figured, "Why not...?" Ryan Madson was out on the town (Manayunk) over the weekend and was photographed acting pretty with a purse slung over his shoulder and being chummy with a friend of mine. Can I really call him a friend, if he's actually my friends' friend , and I only prank called him once? Sure, why the heck not?!

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