Series Preview: Phillies at Rockies, June 14-16

The Rockies (35-32) were dealt a poor hand on Thursday, when three of their regulars suffered injuries. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, the National League's second leading hitter, has been placed on the disabled list with a broken rib suffered on a diving defensive play in Thursday's contest against Washington. Outfielder Carlos Gonzalez was drilled with a line dive foul, while standing on deck in that game, while outfielder Dexter Fowler was hit by a pitch on his hand.

The Phillies (32-35) are no strangers to ailing stars, as the team currently has two All-Stars, second baseman Chase Utley and catcher Carlos Ruiz, on the disabled list with injuries of their own. Additionally, multi-time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay is out of action following shoulder surgery and starting hurler John Lannan has missed nearly two months due to a left quad issue.

Both clubs will try to persevere as they begin a three-game series at Coors Field on Friday night.

The Phillies won two of three meetings in Colorado last year.

Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key stats for this series.

Friday, 8:40 PM. Kyle Kendrick (6-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Juan Nicasio (4-2, 4.61 ERA). In nine career games against the Rockies (eight starts), Kendrick has a 3-2 record along with a 4.63 ERA and a .308 batting average against. In six road starts this year, Kendrick is 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA. The right-hander Nicasio has a 2-1 record with a 4.31 ERA in six home starts this season. Nicasio has recorded a win just once in his last eight outings.

Saturday, 4:10 PM. Jonathan Pettibone (3-2, 3.70 ERA) vs. Tyler Chatwood (3-1, 2.14 ERA). In four road starts, Pettibone has a 1-1 record with a 5.32 ERA. Pettibone is 0-2 with a 4.84 ERA in his last four starts. Chatwood is 1-0 with a 3.57 ERA in three home stats this year. The righty Chatwood allowed two earned run over five innings in his lone career start against the Phils last September. Michael Young is 5-for-6 (.833 avg) in his career against Chatwood.

Sunday, 4:10 PM. Cole Hamels (2-9, 4.45 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (4-3, 4.52 ERA). In six career regular season starts against the Rockies, Hamels is 3-1 with a 3.32 ERA. Hamels is 1-4 with a 3.48 ERA in seven road starts this year. Hamels has a 5.09 ERA in three career regular season starts at Coors Field. In his last outing against Washington (five innings, two earned runs), Chacin notched a victory after going seven straight starts without one. In five career games against the Phillies, Chacin has a 1-0 record with a 1.21 ERA. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are a combined 0-for-16 in their careers against Chacin.

In 11 career games at Coors Field, Phils catcher Humberto Quintero is a .364 hitter with three doubles, a homer and four RBI. Quintero is batting .150 in eight road games in the big leagues this season.

Injured catcher Carlos Ruiz is slated to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Saturday. Ruiz has been sidelined with a hamstring strain since May 20th.

Domonic Brown holds the National League lead in home runs with 19, while Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki are second and third with 18 and 16 respectively. Brown is batting .326 with four homers and 12 RBI in 12 games this month.

Ryan Howard is batting .289 in 12 games this month, but has not slugged a home run since May 29th. In 23 regular season games at Coors Field, Howard has a .286 average with six home runs and 19 RBI.

Rookie third baseman Nolan Arenado is batting .327 in 12 games this month. The 22-year-old is batting .250 with four homers and 13 RBI in 25 home games.

Former Phillies prospect Josh Outman is 2-0 with a 4.81 ERA out of the Rockies' bullpen. The lefty hurler was dealt to Oakland as part of the Joe Blanton trade in 2008. He was then swapped to Colorado prior to the 2012 season in a deal for Seth Smith.

In 87 career games against the Phillies, Todd Helton has a .360 average with 17 homers and 62 RBI. Helton is batting .221 in 27 home games this season.

Phillies bullpen ERA- 4.51 (28th in MLB)
Rockies bullpen ERA- 3.30 (12th in MLB)

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...

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

Drabek Preparing For Next Step

The transition has been easy for Kyle Drabek. In December, he was part of a package of young prospects that was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for ace pitcher Roy Halladay. Now, as though nothing has changed, he's right back where he was last season...the star prospect on the pitching staff of a team in the Double A Eastern League. Drabek has often stated that he wanted to stay in the Philadelphia organization, who drafted him in the first round of the 2006 amateur draft. The 22-year-old thought after the midseason trade rumors, that surrounded him possibly going to Toronto last year, passed with no action that all the turmoil was over and that he could simply relax and focus on getting to the big leagues with the Phillies. That wasn't the case, as the deal eventually came to fruition over the off-season. In the Blue Jays system this season, Drabek doesn't have to worry about being dealt. He only has to concern himself with opposing batters and working on his secondary pit...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog