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The Phillies enter the final weekend of the regular season clinging to postseason hopes as they travel to St. Petersburg to take on the American League East Division champion Rays in a three-game set. Losers of six of their last 10 games, the Phillies urgently need wins in order to qualify for the expanded 16-team playoff format.  The enter the weekend 1/2 game behind Miami for second place in the National League East and they trail San Francisco by 1/2 game for the last NL Wild Card spot.    Read ahead for a rundown of the pitching match ups and other key statistics for this series. Friday, 6:40pm.  Vince Velasquez (1-1, 5.46 ERA) vs. Charlie Morton (2-2, 4.64 ERA).   Velasquez notched a win in his last outing against the Blue Jays, going six innings while allowing one earned run on two hits.  Velasquez is averaging 12.1 K/9 in eight appearances this season.  Velasquez has allowed eight earned runs in 8 2/3 innings on the road this season....

Much is being made of the Phillies' upcoming seven-game series at Miami.  A potentially season-defining weekend that will feature two separate double-headers pit the Phils (21-18) against their pesky division rival, the germ sharing Marlins (19-19). The teams will meet for a lengthy series due to both clubs missing considerable time after the Marlins dealt with a coronavirus outbreak when the season got underway in July and the Phillies were the last team they faced.   If the Phillies can't secure a series win against a Marlins team that is in the midst of a rebuild, media types and baseball fans alike have been critical in stating that the big-budget Phils (2020 team salary was slated to be 6th highest in the big leagues while Miami was set to be fourth lowest) likely won't have a place in the postseason.   Read ahead for a rundown of the pitching match ups as well as some key statistics from this series.  Thursday, 6:40pm.  Jake Arrieta (3-4, ...

It's still early in the season, right?   With another opponent on the horizon, the Phillies will attempt to show that they aren't as bad as their 5-9 record would indicate.  Based on winning percentage, there's only one team (Pittsburgh) in the National League that has a worse record than the Phils. The Mets (9-11) come to town and will open a three-game series beginning on Friday at Citizens Bank Park.  Friday, 7:05pm.  Jacob deGrom (2-0, 2.45 ERA) vs. Spencer Howard (0-1, 7.71 ERA).  In 15 career starts against the Phillies the right-handed deGrom has a 7-1 record with a 2.23 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP.  In seven starts at CBP deGrom has a 3-0 record with two complete games.  Bryce Harper is 10-for-34 (.294 average) with two home runs in his career when facing deGrom.  The righty Howard, the Phillies' top ranked prospect headed into each of the past two seasons, made his big league debut last weekend, giving up four earned runs in 4 2/3 innin...