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After finishing off a series sweep in Colorado, the Phillies (71-39) travel further west to face the club that knocked them out of the post-season last year, the San Francisco Giants (62-49). In the opener of the four-game set, the Phillies will send lefty All-star Cliff Lee, who lost two games against the Giants in the World Series last year, to the mound. The Giants will counter with Madison Bumgarner, who let up 3 runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Phillies in last season's National League Championship Series. Both teams sit atop their respective divisions. San Francisco won 2 of 3 games when the two clubs met last week in Philadelphia. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key information on this series. Thursday, 10:15PM. Cliff Lee (10-7, 3.14 ERA) vs. Madison Bumgarner (6-10, 3.80 ERA). In 3 career regular season games against San Francisco, Lee has a 3-0 record with a 1.13 ERA. In his last 5 starts, Lee is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA. Lee is 2-5 with a 4.5...

The National League pennant chase just got a little more interesting. By now you've heard that the reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants executed a trade to land one of the biggest names on the trade market, six-time All-star Carlos Beltran . In recent days, the Phillies had been among the few teams rumored to be in the mix to make a trade for Beltran, but in the end, the team that was the National League runner up last year lost out to the team that knocked them from the post-season. Reports say the deal will be made official on Thursday, as Beltran has a full no-trade clause that he must waive. The deal is expected to send righty pitching prospect Zack Wheeler to New York. Giants manager Bruce Bochy was clear, on Wednesday, stating that the trade was done to improve the club's own offense and was not in an effort to prevent chief NL rival Philadelphia from acquiring Beltran. Beltran, who was batting .289 with 15 HR and 66 RBI this season with the Mets, will ...

In recent years, the Phillies have acquired elite talent, adding Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt in separate blockbuster trades. The packages of players sent away to make those deals all included highly ranked prospects. Fans and experts alike presume the Phillies have depleted their system of prospects with the amount top minor league players traded in those deals. That's far from true, as many individuals currently in Philadelphia's developmental system have proven worthy of high recognition. If the Phillies are going to put together similar groups of players to add a key contributor at the big league level again this season, they'll surely need to send away more ascending young talent. In order to understand what type of package the Phillies would be required to deal, it's important to look at what they gave up in those previous trades. Cleveland/Lee trade...July, 2009- RHP Jason Knapp, IF Jason Donald, C Lou Marson, RHP Carlos Carrasco. Knapp was the young...

As the second half of the season begins, the National League East division leading Phillies (57-34) travel north on the turnpike to take on the Metropolitans (46-45) at Citi Field. New York made headlines earlier this week, on the night of the All-star Game, when they dealt closer Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers for two players to be named later. The Metropolitans are expected to continue to be sellers as the non-waiver trading deadline approaches. Philadelphia is making news of its own, as this series begins, placing All-star third baseman Placido Polanco on the disabled list with a bulging disc in his back. The move is retroactive to July 5th, so Polanco would be eligible to return from the DL on July 20th. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key stats for this series. Friday, 7:05PM. Vance Worley (4-1, 2.20 ERA) vs. RA Dickey (4-7, 3.61 ERA). In 3 career outings against the Metropolitans, Worley has a 1-1 record with a 4.50 ERA. Worley has a 2-0 recor...

The financially strapped New York Metropolitans (23-26) will play host this weekend as the first place Phillies (31-19) come to town for a 3-game series. In the opener, the Phillies will send veteran right-hander Roy Oswalt, who has a 1.50 ERA in 2 starts since returning from the disabled list, to the mound. The Metropolitans will counter with lefty Chris Capuano, who served up 4 homeruns in 5 1/3 innings against the Yankees last weekend. Philadelphia has won 4 of the 6 meetings with New York this season. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key stats for this series. Friday, 7:10PM. Roy Oswalt (3-2, 2.77 ERA) vs. Chris Capuano (3-5, 5.36 ERA). In 14 career starts against the Metropolitans, Oswalt has a 6-5 record with a 3.33 ERA. In 4 road games this season, Oswalt is 2-1 with a 3.15 ERA. Carlos Beltran is 9-for-24 (.375 avg) with 2 doubles and a HR in his career against Oswalt. In 5 career games against the Phillies, Capuano is 0-2 with a 3.20 ERA. In 4 home st...

In case a 7 game win streak and being in first place are not enough to keep you Philadelphia phans smiling right now, due to concerns over losing Brett Myers or worries about Shane Victorino's hip, I've got a little something that should have you feeling better quicker than a hiccup. The New York Mess are 4 games back in the NL East, were just swept by the lowly Pirates and the injuries keep coming for them. JJ Putz has elbow trouble . Jose Reyes is dealing with a torn hamstring . Those are both on top of the injuries to Carlos Delgado, Angel Pagan and Ryan Church. Plus, just look at this picture of Carlos Beltran. Isn't it glorious?

Just dropping a little Jewelry here on a classic Phoul Ballz picture . A photograph is usually looked at ... seldom looked into . ************** The same gem applies to the picture below also.