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.

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...

PhoulBallz Interview: Off-season check in with 1B Kyle Martin

Kyle Martin, image- Jay Floyd First base prospect Kyle Martin grew up in South Carolina as a Phillies fan, admiring slugger Jim Thome , so it was a dream come true for his entire family when the organization made him their 4th round draft choice this year. A lefty batting power threat, Martin quickly made his professional debut with Class A Lakewood. The transition to the minors seemed easy, as the 23-year-old tallied a .279 average with five home runs and 37 RBI in 65 games for the BlueClaws. I recently spoke with the University of South Carolina product about his remarkable 2015 as a whole and he ranked how playing in the Phillies organization ranks against playing for Team USA in this year's Premiere 12 tournament. Read ahead for that interview and click here for my previous feature on the six-foot-two 240-pounder. -Are you still enjoying downtime right now or have you reached the stage of your off-season where you are back to baseball activities and knocking the ru...

Michael Taylor Q&A

Michael Taylor is currently leading the Reading Phillies' offense and is near the top of the Eastern League in most stat categories (3rd in batting avg- .342, 3rd in HR- 14, tied for second in RBI- 55, 2nd in OPS.- .994, tied for 1st in runs scored- 49, tied for 1st in hits...). The 23 year old Taylor is 6 feet 6 inches tall and has quickly grabbed the attention of phans and media alike as a top prospect to watch. I spoke with Mike Taylor over the weekend, and here is that interview. With all the big stats and being among the league leaders in so many categories, do you think you're ready for the next step? It's kind of a difficult question. Do you have anything left to prove here? There's always something to prove. There's stuff to prove every game. I mean that's one thing that's very interesting about this game. It's such a numbers oriented game. You're only as good as your last "whatever statistical category that someone's valuing". ...

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