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The Marlins (16-41) come to town to take on the division rival Phillies (27-30) in a three-game series that begins at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park on Monday night.  Right-hander Tom Koehler will open the series on the mound for Miami.  Koehler has yet to lock down a win thus far in his brief big league career.  The Phils will counter with righty Kyle Kendrick , who has been victorious in nine straight decisions against the Marlins. The Phillies have won six of 10 meetings with the Marlins this season. Read ahead for full details on the pitching match ups and other key stats from this series. Monday, 7:05 PM.  Tom Koehler (0-3, 3.22 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (5-3, 3.27 ERA).   Koehler, an 18th round draft pick by the Marlins in 2008, has allowed three earned runs in 2 2/3 career innings against the Phillies.  The Koehler has a 4.42 ERA in six road outings this season.  In six home starts this season, Kendrick is 3-2 with a 4.17 ERA....

The Phillies (52-62) have hit the road to begin a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins (52-63) on Monday night, as the two clubs, separated by a 1/2 game, battle to stay out of last place in the National League East division. Overall, the Phillies have lost their last five contests against the Marlins, who, much like the Phillies, are playing well below the high expectations of media and fans alike this season. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other statistical info on this series. Monday, 7:10 PM. Cole Hamels (12-6, 3.08 ERA) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (3-7, 4.33 ERA). In 11 road starts this season, Hamels has posted a 6-3 record with a 3.43 ERA. In 22 career starts against the Marlins, Hamels is 6-10 with a 3.68 ERA. The righty Eovaldi is 1-3 with a 3.77 ERA in 5 home starts this season. In 5 starts since the All-Star break, Eovaldi has a 2-2 record with a 4.57 ERA. Tuesday, 7:10 PM. Kyle Kendrick (4-9, 4.86 ERA) vs. Josh Johnson (7-8, 3.88 ERA). In 14 gam...

If you've kept tabs here, you'd know that Hanukkah marks the annual countdown on PhoulBallz.com where we list the top Phillies videos of the year. On this third night of Hanukkah, I bring you video #6 for 2010. Check out the media player below to have a look. This video shows all the key turning points from the Reds vs. Phillies game on July 9th, 2010. I was in Lakewood on this night, covering the Phillies' Single A affiliate the Lakewood BlueClaws. The 'Claws rolled to a 4-3 victory over the Delmarva Shorebirds with the rehabbing Carlos Ruiz leading the way, while the Phillies entered the bottom of the 9th inning trailing 7-1. As the Baby Phils' clubhouse filled up following the final out in Lakewood, the attention in manager Mark Parent's office turned toward a Big Phillies comeback. First, an RBI hit by Ryan Howard plated Shane Victorino to get the Phils within 5 runs. Then it was a 3-run homer by Greg Dobbs that scored Howard and Jayson Werth to close the g...

The Phillies announced today that both Placido Polanco and Chase Utley are headed to the disabled list with injuries. Polanco has been dealing with a left elbow issue since April, when he was hit in the elbow by a pitch from Braves pitcher Tim Hudson. Polanco may also have a loose bone fragment in the joint that would require off-season surgery. Utley, who injured himself sliding into second base in the 4th inning of Monday night's game against the Reds attempting to stretch a single into a double, was examined today and MRI results are pending, but the team has described Utley's issue as a sprain of the thumb on his right hand. Both Polanco and Utley are the leaders in National League All-star voting at their respective positions. The Phillies, who have been revaged by injuries this season, have had their proposed lineup 1-8 of Rollins, Polanco, Utley, Howard, Werth, Ibanez, Victorino and Ruiz together just five times through 74 games this season. They've also dealt with...

"Jay" Happ will continue his minor league rehab work with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs this coming Tuesday. The lefty hurler had his latest rehab outing for Double-A Reading on Wednesday night. Happ surrendered 3 runs over 5 innings and struck out 4 while walking no one. Velocity had been a concern, but Happ's arm strength appears to be building, the more he pitches, and velocity is returning. Happ, who has been sidelined since April with a forearm strain, is likely to be ready to return to the big leagues shortly after his next start, if things go well. Chad Durbin, who strained his hamstring fielding a ground ball in the 9th inning of Wednesday night's game, was placed on the disabled list today. Nelson Figueroa was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take his spot on the roster. Manager Charlie Manuel described Durbin's ailment as "pretty serious", but initial impressions are that Durbin may not require longer than 15-days to recover. Ryan...

Jimmy Rollins has been activated from the disable list and will lead off for the Phillies in Tuesday's series opener with the Indians in Philadelphia. Rollins has been out of action since May 22nd with a strained right calf. In 12 games played this season, Rollins is batting .341 with 2 homers, 7 RBI and 11 runs scored. Phans who have been aggressively damanding that the Phillies part ways with Greg Dobbs (.152 avg, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 runs in 42 games) have gotten their wishes. Today, the Phillies designated Dobbs for assignment to make room for J-Roll. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told reporters today that the decision to trim Dobbs from the roster was a difficult one and acknowledged that Dobbs' role on the team was not an easy one. Carlos Ruiz, who was hit in the head with a bat on Friday, has been placed on the disabled list. Initially, Ruiz showed no signs of a concussion, and was kept on the Phillies' 25-man roster, but further diagnosis on Tuesday showed that Ruiz did...

The Phillies' offense has been struggling. Dealt another knuckle sandwich in their series opener against the Metropolitans, the defending National League champs have now gone scoreless in 28 of their last 29 innings. New York threw R.A. Dickey on Tuesday, while Boston used Tim Wakefield on Sunday. The two pitchers, known for their knuckle balls, combined for 14 shut out innings against the Phillies, who have scored just 15 runs in their past 7 games, dating back to Roy Halladay's 2-1 loss at the hands of Zach Duke and the Pirates last Tuesday. Dickey spoke with Wakefield on the telephone prior to Tuesday's game, and the Red Sox veteran had some words of advice for the Metropolitans' interim starter. "His advice to me was that they were a free-swinging team, and I found that to be the case," Dickey told reporters following New York's 8-0 win over the Phillies. Wakefield also shared some tips on fastball locations to certain Philadelphia batters that induced...

The Phillies (26-17) begin a 9 game road trip on Tuesday night, when they head to New York to face the Metropolitans (22-23), who are in last place in the National League East division, 5 games behind the Phillies. On Sunday, against Red Sox knuckle baller Tim Wakefield, the Phillies could not muster a run over 8 innings. The Mets will follow up with their own knuckle ball pitcher, R.A. Dickey, in the series opener, while the Phillies will counter with Jamie Moyer. The Phillies won 5 of 9 meetings between the two clubs at Citi Field last season. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and loads more stats from this series. Tuesday, 7:10pm. Jamie Moyer (5-3, 4.30 ERA) vs. RA Dickey (0-0, 3.00). Moyer earned a win against the Mets on May 2nd, when he allowed 5 earned runs over 6 innings pitched. In 23 career starts against the Metropolitans, Moyer has a 9-5 record with a 3.86 ERA. David Wright is 21-for-50 (.420 avg) with 4 homers in his career against Moyer. Dickey, who will b...

As was expected, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins is headed to the disabled list with a calf injury. Rollins felt pain during warm ups prior to the Phillies' home opener on Monday and was quickly removed from the starting line up. The calf tear occurred just moments after the dramatic entry of the team from the street behind the ballpark, through Ashburn Alley and a crowd of people forming an aisle from the outfield wall toward the infield, and following the introduction of the roster & starting lineup, before the sell out crowd. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel appeared on Sirius XM MLB Radio today and confirmed Rollins' status and stated that no precise time frame was known for his return. Infielder Wilson Valdez will be called up to take J-Roll's place on the roster. Valdez is 10-for-22 (.455 avg) with 5 RBI in 5 games thus far for triple A level Lehigh Valley. General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr., speaking to the media today, stated the team expects a 2-4 week recovery fo...

Phans and media alike are fairly excited about the Phillies' Grapefruit League match up on Thursday. The Houston Astros are slated to start Brett Myers, while the Phillies plan to start Kyle Kendrick. That's a comical pitching match up for those who recall the famous prank that Myers once pulled on a young Kendrick during spring training. Roy Halladay is scheduled to pitch on Thursday also, but will compete in a minor league game instead of against Houston. There is simple reasoning behind that. The regular season schedule pits the Astros and Phillies against one another during the first week of the season, so rather than give Houston hitters opportunities to see Halladay and get used to his pitches before it counts, they are keeping Roy under wraps. The decision could also be telling as to where the team is leaning with the 5th starter, or their intentions to use the 5th starter in that first week or not, if the Phils aren't shy about the Astros seeing Kendrick. Carlos Rui...

It's Wednesday, March 3rd and if you didn't know before, I guess you'll know now...today, the exhibition season begins for the Phillies. Spring training games actually started on Tuesday, but since the lone game featured Phillies' division rivals, the Braves and the Metropolitans, it was about as painful to view as a Cannibal Corpse death metal song's imagery. As interesting as seeing Chris Coste in arch enemy colors was, and as grand as the butt smooching Rod Barajas did for Roy Halladay during an interview seemed, I could not have enjoyed watching a baseball game any less. Tonight REAL baseball begins, as the defending National League champions take on the Florida State Seminoles in the prelude to the preseason. No television for this game, but the 2010 Phillies will debut on television on Thursday, when they take on last year's World Series opponent, the Yankees, at 1pm on Comcast Sportsnet. "Jay" Happ, Phillippe Aumont, Jesus Sanchez and Yohan Flan...

The Phillies (88-63), whose magic number stands at 5, are in Milwaukee to begin a four game series against the Brewers (75-77). This time last year these two teams were battling it out over the wild card and were en route to a playoff battle with each other. Now it's just the Phillies looking forward to another October run. The Brew Crew is already out of any playoff contention, but is seeking their third straight winning season for the first time since 1983. Read on for notes on the pitching match ups and other details. Thursday, 8:05pm. "Jay" Happ (10-4, 2.77 ERA) vs. Jeff Suppan (7-10, 4.76 ERA). Happ leads all NL rookies in ERA. In 17 road games this season, Happ is 6-2 with a 1.91 ERA. In his career against the Phillies, Suppan is 3-6, over 12 starts, with a 6.13 ERA. At home this season, Suppan is 3-7 with a 5.92 ERA in 14 starts. Eric Bruntlett is 5-for-11 in his career against Suppan with a double a 2 RBI. Friday, 8:05pm. Cliff Lee (7-2, 2.65 ERA) vs. Manny Parra...

Greg Dobbs has been a key reserve for the Phillies in recent years. Currently sidelined with a strained right calf, Dobbs is trying to come back from his first ever stint on the disabled list. Dobbs played a rehab game with single A level Lakewood on Tuesday night and I had the chance to speak with him. Here is how that went down. How did the calf feel out there in your first rehab game? It felt good. First rehab back, yeah. It's a work in progress, we gotta go through these stages of just keep on strengthening, getting it stronger, getting into games and working the tolerance of it back up. Were you favoring the leg at all? I think maybe in the first at bat, just not knowing how it was going to react. I was a little ginger on it, but it reacted fine. It felt better as the game went along and I had a lot more confidence in it as the game went along as well. What is the game plan going forward in the coming days to get you back on the big league roster? I don't know. From what I...

Tuesday night the BlueClaws played their last home game of the season, and it turned out the be the biggest game of 2009. Faced with the next 3 games of the South Atlantic League Championship series on the road in Greenville, South Carolina, it was crucial for Lakewood to take a bigger lead in the series and not allow the Greenville Drive to tie it. Winning 2 of 3 on the road would surely be a much more difficult task than winning just 1 of 3 there. The BlueClaws won game 2 over the Drive by a score of 3-0, and the die hard Lakewood fans left FirstEnergy Park with great confidence that their team will lock down a championship on the road before the week is over. Jesus Sanchez threw an exceptional game, with 6 shut out innings for the BlueClaws. He allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out 5. It was surely the biggest game of his young career. Phillies phans may remember the righty Sanchez, a converted catcher, as a piece that came over from the Yankees in the 2006 Bobby ...

The Lakewood BlueClaws manager is former Phillie catcher Dusty Wathan. This season he's been an all star and has been voted best managing prospect in the South Atlantic League by the league's own managers. Now, Wathan sits two wins away from managing the BlueClaws to their second ever championship in his first season at the class A level. I spoke with Dusty after the BlueClaws' SAL Championship game 1 victory. Here is what he had to say. Dusty, can I get some comments on the game 1 win, and how close you guys are to completing the season long goal? One win closer. Still a long way to go, but solid game from the guys tonight. We've been swinging the bat well for the last week or so and they continued to do it tonight. Every run means something, especially adding those 2 in the eighth inning helped us out. Gave us a little breathing room. Was there an issue with Matthew Way's control in the game, or was there a fatigue or stamina issue? I don't think it was a fat...

I'll lead with the link to our article about the Harry Kalas Wall of Fame plaque misprint that was updated yesterday. Story is here . I notified the Phillies and apparently no one was aware of the error. Phillies VP of alumni relations Larry Shenk took blame, saying he was responsible for the copy that ended up immortalizing the broadcasting legend. He stated that replacing the plaque would take a lengthy amount of time, but the team would consider the fix. Cliff Lee has won his last 7 starts, after losing his previous 3. During the 7 game win streak, Lee has a 1.09 ERA and 48 K's in 58 innings with 4 complete games. Since July 29th, when the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee from the Indians, Lee is 5-for-13 (.385 avg) as a hitter, while Greg Dobbs, Eric Bruntlett and Matt Stairs are a combined 3-for-33 (.091 avg). Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton has a 7-6 record this season. In Blanton's six losses, the Phillies average 1.33 runs scored. Jamie Moyer has an 11-9 record. The Phillie...

The Philadelphia Phillies are movin' on up. Since losing the first two games of July, the Phillies are 12-1 this month and have improved to a season best 13 games over .500. The Phillies are the only team in the NL east above .500 and have a 6 1/2 game lead over the second place Braves. Let the Rookie of the Year talk prevail this week. The Blue Jays trade talk is stale at this point. If it happens, great...but if not, "Jay" Happ has been excellent! After Sunday's win over the Marlins, Happ is now 7-0 with a 2.68 ERA and 1.15 WHIP this season. Over his last 5 starts, Happ is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA. By comparison, other ROY contenders likely don't match up. St. Louis's Colby Rasmus has posted a .270 batting avg. with 11 HR and 34 RBI in 85 games this season. Washington's Jordan Zimmermann and Atlanta's Kenshin Kawakami aren't close at all. However, the Braves' Tommy Hanson, who is 4-0 with a 2.85 ERA over 7 starts thus far might be Happ's bes...

On Saturday, the Phillies signed Cole Hamels to a 3 year contract worth $20.5 million, thus avoiding arbitration with the star lefty. Greg Dobbs also signed a new 2-year deal, also avoiding arbitration. Many phans know a little about arbitration. It's one of those things we all hear about for a month or two of the year, we know there are hearings and some bargaining involved, but not everyone has a tight grasp on all the details. Players are eligible for arbitration when they (1) have as many as 3, but less than 6, years of major league service; (2) a player has filed for free agency, and their team makes an offer of arbitration and the player accepts; (3) the player is a "Super 2", meaning- the player is among the top 17% of players and has more than 2, but less than 3 years of service. There are minimal criteria (86 days of service in the previous year) and cutoffs (2 years, 140 days) to be a "Super 2". The requirements for teams in this process- (1) the team...

The offseason Stove continues to stay Hot. The competition made some moves this weekend. The Metropolitans signed Tim Redding this weekend to a one year $2.25 million deal. This signing by the Metropolitans bothered me more than the Mets getting JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez. Redding, the former DC Nats pitcher, really owned the Phillies early last season. The Phillies did really get to Redding in one of his 4 starts against them last year, but in April and May Redding made two starts and in those starts, Redding threw 13 1/2 scoreless innings. Tim Redding is one of those pitchers that baffles the Phillies offense. Take away the 5th inning against the Phillies on July 30th, and Redding has a 1.14 ERA against Philadelphia last season. Our Phillies should expect to see Redding four times in 2009 and, at 6-7 innings per outting, that's likely more innings than they'd face Franny and the putz. Also cookin' on the stove this weekend were the Braves, who were craving Asian food...

Your statement of the week is not really to ponder. It's an assertion that should just be printed out and shoved in the face of Charlie Manual. The Phillies' right handed bats off the bench are lacking, and the team needs help. Eric Bruntlett, who somehow gets starts at 3rd base, for the injured Pedro Feliz, against right handed pitchers instead of Greg Dobbs, is hitting a juicy .218 (41 for 188) this year. Bruntlett has 7 doubles, 2 homers and 13 RBI this season with a .601 OPS. Bruntlett has only 1 RBI since May 8th. Yes, ONE run batted in, in more than 3 months. Bruntlett has a .205 batting average vs. righties. By comparison, Dobbs, a lefty, has already set the Phillies' single season record for pinch hits in a season, with 21. Dobbs against righties is hitting .311. Another righty off the bench is So Taguchi. In 73 games, this year, So is batting .221 (17 for 77) with 5 doubles, no homers, 6 RBI and a .571 OPS. Taguchi has 1 extra base hit since May 26th. ...