Series Preview: Phillies at Marlins, May 20-22

The Phillies (21-23) hit the road this week, beginning a three-game series against the Marlins (12-23) in Miami on Monday night
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Looking to get back on the positive side of .500, the Phillies will kick off the series with two of their main stars ailing, as Ryan Howard is sidelined with right knee soreness and Carlos Ruiz left Sunday's contest against the Reds with a right hamstring issue.

The Phils have won four of seven meetings with Miami thus far this season.

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

Monday, 7:10 PM. Cole Hamels (1-6, 4.61 ERA) vs. Alex Sanabia (2-6, 5.00 ERA). In four road starts this year, Hamels is 1-2 with a 3.52 ERA. In 26 career starts against the Marlins, Hamels is 8-11 with a 3.24 ERA. In two career starts against the Phils, Sanabia is 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA. Sanabia is 1-3 with a 5.70 ERA in four home starts this season. Jimmy Rollins is 0-for-6 against the right-handed Sanabia.

Tuesday, 7:10 PM. Tyler Cloyd (0-0, 2.84 ERA) vs. Jose Fernandez (2-2, 3.48 ERA). Cloyd gave up just two hits and two earned runs in his lone MLB start this season against Arizona on May 10th. Cloyd was 1-4 with a 6.57 ERA in seven starts for Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year. In two starts against the Phillies this season, the rookie Fernandez is 1-0 with no runs allowed in 13 innings pitched. Fernandez has a 2.12 ERA with a .169 batting average against in three home starts this season. Fernandez, a righty, was the Marlins' 1st round draft pick in 2011.

Wednesday, 7:10 PM. Cliff Lee (4-2, 2.83 ERA) vs. Kevin Slowey (1-4, 3.44 ERA). Lee is 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA in five road starts this season. In his past three starts, Lee is 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA. In three career starts against the Phils, the right-handed Slowey is 1-0 with a 5.14 ERA. Slowey held the Phillies scoreless over seven innings on May 5th, to lock down a win. Ryan Howard is 3-for-7 (.429 avg) with a double and a home run in his career against Slowey.

In 12 road games this year, Freddy Galvis is batting .400 with two homers and three RBI. Galvis is a .294 career hitter in 10 games against the Marlins.

Michael Young is batting .211 in 16 games this month. In 21 games against the Marlins in his career, Young is a .289 hitter with five doubles and nine RBI.

Chase Utley is batting .308 with four home runs and 15 RBI in 21 road games this season.

Placido Polanco has a career .287 average with three doubles and four RBI in 28 games against the Phillies. Polanco is batting .239 in 20 home games this season.

Heading into action on Sunday, righty hitting opponents were batting .115 against Marlins closer Steve Cishek while lefties had tallied a .316 average.

Rookie outfielder Marcell Ozuna is 8-for-16 with four doubles a homer and eight RBI in four career games against the Phillies. Ozuna is batting .286 in eight home games.

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...

Sunday School: Phillies History Lesson 71

Gene Kelly was the radio voice of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1950- 1959. Born in Brooklyn NY, Kelly pitched in the minor leagues after graduating from Marshall College in 1941. He would soon experience arm trouble, which ended his playing days. Kelly managed to continue a career in sports by turning to radio. When legendary announcer By Saam, who pulled double duty beginning in 1939 calling both Phillies and Athletics games, moved over to the A's side exclusively, Gene Kelly was the man who would fill the void and took over as the Phillies play-by-play man. The Phillies began broadcasting their games over the air in 1936, but until the 1950's, the broadcasters only attended home games and did not travel with the team. All road games were recreated, on the air, by the announcers who read a Western Union teletype account of the games from the studio in Philadelphia. During the decade of the 50's, Kelly was partnered with several different broadcasters, including Claude Ha...

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'...

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