Series Preview: Dodgers at Phillies, Aug 16-18

Chase Utley, image- Jay Floyd

When the Dodgers (65-52) come to town to take on the Phillies (56-63) in a three-game set, it will mark the return of one of the home organization's most beloved players when Chase Utley makes his first return to Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park since last August when he was traded to Los Angeles.

As a member of the Phillies, Utley became a six-time All-Star and helped the Phillies win the World Series in 2008. Over 13 season with the Phils, the team's 1st round draft pick from 2000 batted .282 with 233 homers and 916 RBI.

Utley will hope to help his current club maintain their lead in the National League Wild Card race when the teams open their series on Tuesday.

Read ahead for a complete rundown on the pitching match ups with loads more stats from this series.

Tuesday, 7:05PM. Kenta Maeda (11-7, 3.31 ERA) vs. Vince Velasquez (8-4, 3.94 ERA). Maeda, a 28-year-old righty, has a 7-2 record with a 3.28 ERA in 11 road starts this season. In five starts since the All-Star break Maeda has a 4.67 ERA. Velasquez has a 4-1 record with a 1.72 ERA in nine home starts this season. Velasquez has a 0-2 record with a 5.65 ERA in his last five starts.

Wednesday, 7:05PM. Scott Kazmir (9-6, 4.44 ERA) vs Jake Thompson (1-1, 8.68 ERA). Kazmir, a 32-year-old left-hander, has a 1-2 record with a 5.91 ERA in four starts against the Phillies. In 10 road starts this season, Kazmir is 5-0 with a 4.88 ERA. Thompson, who will be making his third big league start, earned his first win with the Phillies after allowing three runs over five innings against the Rockies last week. The 22-year-old righty was acquired by the Phils in last summer’s Cole Hamels trade to Texas.

Thursday, 7:05PM. Bud Norris (6-9, 4.26 ERA) vs. Jerad Eickhoff (8-12, 3.82 ERA). In 13 road appearances this season, Norris has a 2-5 record with a 6.14 ERA. In nine career outings against the Phils, the 31-year-old righty has a 1-4 record with a 3.60 ERA. Ryan Howard is 6-for-16 (.375 avg) with two doubles, two home runs and seven RBI in his career against Norris. Eickhoff, a 26-year-old righty, has a 5-5 record with a 3.05 ERA in 12 home starts. In his last four starts, Eickhoff has a 2-1 record with a 3.04 ERA.

Dodgers lead-off man Chase Utley is batting .278 with four homers and 22 RBI in 49 games on the road this season. In 756 regular season games at Citizens Bank Park, the 37-year-old has a .293 batting average with 127 home runs and 460 RBI.

Closer Kenley Jansen has a 3.18 ERA in 18 career games against the Phils. The 28-year-old right-hander has a 6.75 ERA in five games this month.

Rookie shortstop Corey Seager is batting .303 with six homers and 27 RBI in 52 road games this year. The 22-year-old is batting .350 in 23 games since the All-Star break.

Righty reliever Hector Neris has a 2.35 ERA in 60 outings this season. In 14 games since the All-Star break, the 27-year-old has a 0.63 ERA.

First baseman Ryan Howard is batting .367 with five home runs and 13 RBI in 18 games since the All-Star break and has a .917 slugging percentage in seven August games.

Reliever Edubray Ramos sports a 1-0 record with a 0.93 ERA in 10 home outings since joining the Phillies. The 23-year-old right-hander averaged a 9.2 K/9 mark in parts of five season in the minor leagues.

Dodgers team batting avg since All-Star break- .277 (2nd in MLB)

Phillies team batting avg since All-Star break- .229 (27th 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