Series Preview: Phillies at Braves, September 26-29

The Phillies (72-86) will close out their 2013 season with a four-game series against the postseason bound Atlanta Braves (93-65).

When the teams last met in Philadelphia earlier this month, the Braves were swept in a three-game set. The Phils have dropped four of six meetings at Turner Field, where this series will take place, thus far this season.

Read ahead for full details on the pitching match ups and loads more statistics from this series.

Thursday, 7:10 PM. Tyler Cloyd (2-6, 5.40 ERA) vs. David Hale (0-0, 0.00 ERA). In three starts this month, Cloyd has an 11.77 ERA. In six road starts, Cloyd is 2-2 with a 4.60 ERA. Hale, a 25-year-old Princeton product, threw five scoreless frames in his big league debut against the Padres earlier this month. Hale had a 6-9 record with a 3.22 ERA in 22 Triple-A games this season.

Friday, 7:30 PM. Cliff Lee (14-7, 2.93 ERA) vs. Kris Medlen (14-12, 3.24 ERA). In 14 career games against Atlanta, Lee has a 7-5 record with a 2.95 ERA. Lee sports a 7-2 record with a 2.52 ERA in 15 road starts this season. Freddie Freeman is 1-for-11 against Lee this year. Medlen has a 3-2 record with a 5.17 ERA and a .306 batting average against in 17 career games against the Phillies. In his last five starts, Medlen is 4-0 with a 1.03 ERA. Medlen, a righty, has a 2.45 ERA in 16 home games this year.

Saturday, 7:10 PM. To be determined vs. Mike Minor (13-8, 3.22 ERA). With arm fatigue experienced by righty hurler Roy Halladay earlier this week, the Phillies are slated to utilize their bullpen throughout Saturday's contest. Minor is 0-4 with a 4.15 ERA in four starts this month. In 16 home starts this year, Minor has a 6-4 record with a 3.65 ERA and a .223 batting average against. Chase Utley is 4-for-17 (.235 avg) with a homer in his career against Minor.

Sunday, 1:35 PM. Zach Miner (0-1, 3.08 ERA) vs. Julio Teheran (13-8, 3.09 ERA). The 31-year-old Miner has a 3.65 ERA and a .306 batting average against in seven road contests this year. B.J. Upton is 3-for-11 (.273 avg) with a double in his career against Miner. Teheran, 22, has a 2.66 ERA in 11 starts since the All-Star break. In 15 home games this year, Teheran has a 7-4 record with a 2.82 ERA. Jimmy Rollins is 4-for-6 (.667 avg) with a double and a home run in his career against Teheran.

In 27 road games this season, Darin Ruf is batting .217 with three homers and seven RBI. Ruf has a .333 average with three home runs and five RBI in 12 career games against the Braves.

Chase Utley is batting .347 with two home runs and 16 RBI in 21 games this month. In 15 games against Atlanta this year, Utley has a .310 average with two homers and nine RBI.

Domonic Brown, who hit 12 home runs in 28 May games, has hit 12 home runs in 81 games since then.

Atlanta closer Craig Kimbrel has 15 saves and a 1.11 ERA in 26 career games against the Phillies. Kimbrel has a 0.80 ERA in 34 home games this season.

Justin Upton, who leads the Braves in homers with 26 this season, has a .295 career average with seven homers and 16 RBI in 39 games against the Phils.

Outfielder Jordan Schafer has a .143 average with two homers and three RBI in 16 career games against the Phillies. The lefty batting Schafer sports a .167 average since the All-Star break.

Phillies team OPS in September- .698 (16th in MLB)
Braves team OPS in September- .640 (28th in MLB)

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...

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...

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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