Skip to main content

Series Preview: Phillies at Braves, July 27-29

With their newly extended lefty ace in tow, the Phillies (45-54) hit the road and visit the Braves (54-44) to begin a three-game set on Friday night at Turner Field in Atlanta.

This week, the Phils signed their three-time All-Star and former World Series Most Valuable Player Cole Hamels to a six-year $144 million pact. Hamels was the team's 1st round draft selection back in 2002 and he'll start the series opener.

The Phillies will begin the road trip without third baseman Placido Polanco, who was placed on the disabled list with back inflammation, retroactive to July 23rd. International League hit leader Kevin Frandsen was promoted from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to fill Polanco's void on the big league roster.

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

Friday, 7:35 PM. Cole Hamels (11-4, 3.23 ERA) vs. Ben Sheets (2-0, 0.00 ERA).
In his last 5 starts, Hamels is 1-1 with a 3.19 ERA. Hamels has a 6-1 record with a 3.38 ERA in 9 road starts this season. In 13 career games at Turner Field, Hamels has a 5-3 record with a 4.06 ERA. Sheets is 2-4 with a 4.88 ERA in 8 career starts against the Phillies. Ty Wigginton is 12-for-36 (.333 avg) with 2 doubles and 2 HR in his career against Sheets. In 9 career starts at Turner Field, Sheets is 6-3 with a 3.92 ERA.

Saturday, 7:10 PM. Joe Blanton (8-8, 4.70 ERA) vs. Mike Minor (5-7, 5.49 ERA).
In 13 career games against the Braves, Blanton has a 2-5 record with a 4.87 ERA. Blanton is 2-2 with a 3.82 ERA in his last 5 starts. Brian McCann is 10-for-24 (.417 avg) with 3 HR against Blanton in his career. The lefty Minor is 3-2 with a 4.69 ERA in 8 starts at home this season. Opponents are batting .256 against Minor this season.

Sunday, 1:35 PM. Roy Halladay (4-5, 4.32 ERA) vs. Tim Hudson (9-4, 3.71 ERA).
Halladay is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA in 4 career starts at Turner Field. Halladay has a 3-2 record with a 4.36 ERA in 7 road starts this season. Chipper Jones is 8-for-16 (.500 avg) with 3 doubles and 2 HR in his career against Halladay. In 23 career starts against the Phillies, Hudson has an 8-8 record with a 3.54 ERA. Ryan Howard is 19-for-55 (.345 avg) with 3 doubles and 6 homers in his career against Hudson.


In 134 career games against the Braves, Chase Utley is a .280 hitter with 19 HR and 67 RBI. Utley is batting .222 in 10 road games this season.

Carlos Ruiz has posted a .373 batting average in 42 road games this year. Ruiz is a .277 hitter in 38 career games at Turner Field.

In 19 July games, Hunter Pence is batting .189 with 1 HR. Pence is batting .293 in 49 road games this season.

Chipper Jones is a .334 hitter with 47 HR and 146 RBI in 235 games against the Phillies. Jones is batting .318 in 31 home games this year.

Martin Prado has a .305 average with 9 HR and 34 RBI in 73 games against the Phillies. Prado is batting .204 in 13 games since the All-Star break.

In 16 career games against the Phillies, Craig Kimbrel has a 0-0 record with 7 saves, 2 blown saves and a 1.26 ERA.

Phillies team ERA in July- 4.63 (23rd in MLB)
Braves team ERA in July- 3.88 (17th in MLB)

______________________________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2021 Phillies Top Prospects Countdown: #22 SS Casey Martin

Please visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work, get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else.   A third round draft pick last year, Arkansas junior Casey Martin was quickly signed by the Phillies and consideration as one of the organization's top infield prospects quickly began.  The team's confidence in his ceiling is likely evident in the signing bonus he got, which was reportedly $1.3 million, which was considerably more than slot money dictated by his 87th overall draft position ($685K). The right-handed batting Martin tallied a .311/.393/.545 slash line with 30 homers, 24 steals and 112 RBI in 143 games through his college career at Arkansas.  Reports had him falling in the draft as a result of an injury to the hamate bone in his left hand prior to his 2020 season.  Prior to the procedure, Baseball America projected Martin as a top ten draft pick.

Slick fielding Sam is the Champion of the (PhoulBallz) world!

Phillies Ball(z)girl Sam Arnone was kind enough to answer some questions for the PhoulBallz site and all of you. Sam will be entering her 3rd season as a Phillies ballgirl and is a junior at Drexel University. Sam hails from the great town of Mt. Ephram, NJ. 1- Since the Phillies are the World Champions of baseball teams, are the Phillies ballgirls the world champions of ballgirl teams? - Of Course!!! There are not that many teams that have Ballgirls, so the competition is a little scarce. I would definitely put my team up against any other Ballgirl team with full confidence! 2- What is your routine to prepare for a day of on-field duties? - Before a game, I am always a little nervous. Once I am ready to leave my house and head to the ballpark I triple check my bag to make sure I have my glove and then I check again. I always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat because it keeps me full and gives me energy for the entire game. I guess I might have to find a new favorite sa

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal