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The Phillies (54-63) continue their road trip on Thursday when they head to Milwaukee to begin a four-game series against the Brewers (52-64). Both teams have struggled this year and find themselves placed distantly back in the standings as the season begins to approach its final month. The Brewers have dropped five of their past six contests, while the Phillies have been victorious in four of their past six games. In the series opener, the Phillies will send lefty Cliff Lee , who surrendered 6 earned runs in 7 innings of work against Milwaukee in a start on July 24th, to the mound. The Brewers will counter with right-hander Marco Estrada , who hasn't recorded a big league win since August 23rd, 2011. Read ahead for details on the pitching match ups and other key statistical info from this series. Thursday, 8:10 PM. Cliff Lee (2-7, 3.85 ERA) vs. Marco Estrada (0-5, 4.36 ERA). In 4 career starts against the Brewers, Lee has a 0-1 record with a 5.54 ERA. Lee has a 3.21 ERA i...

Both the Phillies (91-48) and the Brewers (85-59) have considerable leads over their nearest division rival and have shown no signs of slowing down as they approach the 2011 post-season. In fact, the two teams could meet in approximately three weeks once the National League playoffs get rolling. Milwaukee took 2 of 3 games when these teams met in Philadelphia back in April, but with the best record in the Majors, the Phillies will hope to prevent another series loss at the hands of the club that is considered their best challenger for the right to play in the Fall Classic. It will be a tall task, as the Brewers are proud owners of the best home record in all of baseball (50-19). In the four-game series opener on Thursday at Miller Park, the Phillies will send lefty Cole Hamels, who has posted a 2.31 ERA in his last four starts against the Brew Crew, to the mound. Milwaukee will counter with left-hander Chris Narveson, who will make his first start in more than two weeks, after being...

As the core of Philadelphia's highly regarded pitching staff has shined in their most recent outings, it will be up to the team's often forgotten fifth starter Joe Blanton to keep things rolling as the Phillies (10-4) host the Brewers (7-8) for a 3-game series. Blanton's struggles have been clear in the early going this season. His 10.45 ERA over two starts sits a great distance away from the combined 2.96 ERA of the other four starting pitchers (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels), over their 12 starts. In the series opener, Milwaukee will counter with their top hurler, righty Shaun Marcum, who was acquired last off-season in a trade with Toronto. Marcum recorded a victory over the Phillies last year, while with the Blue Jays, as he allowed just 1 earned run and struck out 6 batters in 6 innings of work. The Phillies won five of the six meetings between these two teams last season. Read ahead for more details on the pitching match ups and plenty more sta...

The first place Phillies (20-13) visit third place Milwaukee (15-19) for a three game series, starting Friday night. The Brewers have been plagued by inconsistency this season, as they've become one of four teams since 1900 to have scored 17 or more runs three times, and get shut out three times, within a 30-game stretch. The Phillies sport a .588 winning percentage on the road, which is second best in the National League, while the Brewers have a league worst home record of 4-11. Milwaukee defeated Philadelphia in 4 of 7 games between the two teams in 2009, but the Phillies won 2 of the 4 games at Miller Park last September. Read ahead for all the details on the pitching match ups for the series and other key info. Friday, 8:10pm. Jamie Moyer (4-2, 4.38 ERA) vs. Randy Wolf (3-2, 3.95 ERA). Moyer is 10-5 in his career against the Brewers with a 3.77 ERA in 24 games. In 3 road starts this year, Moyer has a 2-1 record with a 4.50 ERA. Prince Fielder is 2-for-11 (.182 avg) with a do...

Tied 1-1, the Los Angeles Dodgers come to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies in the 2009 National League Championship Series. Following an implosion by the Phillies' bullpen, in the 8th inning of game 2, that gave Los Angeles a win, ace pitcher Cliff Lee will get the start for the Phils, which could mean a night off for the team's relief corps, if Lee continues with his postseason dominance. Read on for details on the pitching match ups and other key notes for these games. Sunday, 8:07pm. Hiroki Kuroda (8-7, 3.76 ERA) vs. Cliff Lee (14-13, 3.22 ERA). Kuroda is 1-0 with a 0.95 ERA and a .100 batting avg. against in 3 games against the Phillies. Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins are a combined 0-for-19 off of Kuroda. Opponents are batting just .186 against Lee in two games this post season. Lee is 4-2 with a 2.21 ERA in 6 starts at Citizen Bank Park as a Phillie this year. Monday, 8:07pm. Randy Wolf (11-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (12-8, 4.05 ERA). In 27 career ...

Hey, Audrina Patridge...even though I am not sure why you are famous, you are considerably attractive and you are wearing a baseball jersey, so PhoulBallz.com readers will likely listen to what you have to say. As such, let me ask you something. Why do the Dodgers think they can achieve success with guys the Phillies let go years ago? Yeah, I don't know either. Surely, it is not ideal that the Phillies are still paying a portion of Jim Thome's contract this season, while he attempts to help last year's NLCS runners up get over that hump this season. And naturally we all miss the Wolf Pack, especially since many of us watched Randy Wolf come all the way up through the Philadelphia system, as well as Padilla's Flotilla. And who doesn't still have a place in his/her heart for Larry Bowa? Bowa will always be part Phillie. However, as dear as Phillies phans might hold certain times with those guys in their hearts, phans also know that their team is better off with those ...

Josh Outman was dealt to Oakland last July in the trade that brought Joe Blanton to town. At the time of the trade, Outman had a 3.20 ERA in 33 games for double A Reading. Outman went on to make his Major League debut for the A's last September, and posted a 4.56 ERA in 6 appearances for Oakland in 2008. This season in the Majors, Outman has thrown in 8 games, 6 of which have been starts, and has a 3.31 ERA (excluding his worst single outing, his ERA would be 2.82). Over his last four games, all starts, Outman's ERA is 2.42 with a strike out to walk ratio of 20:7. By comparison, in Joe Blanton's last four starts, his ERA is 6.56 (that is actually better than Joe's season ERA, which is 6.86) and he has a strike out to walk ratio of 17:12. Things like these Outman/Blanton differences jump out at me...especially when Phillies starting pitchers have a combined 6.24 ERA. What other starters have the Phillies let get away that would be an improvement over the average ERA by t...

The Phillies are World Series Champions and, thus, are world wide celebrities. This recognition isn't enough, I tell you. Some of the champs could very well be confused with other major celebrities around the globe...or at least around my house. Let's dig in... Two look-alikes in particular have been widely discussed. Geoff Jenkins even made a sign on the table covering at his autograph station at last year's Phillies Phestival that he is not Brett Favre or phormer Phillie Randy Wolf. ------------------------------------------------------- Jayson Werth may be on his way to Wrestlemania. Jay-Dub is aware that he resembles Heavyweight wrestling champion Adam "Edge" Copeland. Are you? -------------------------------------------- Carlos Ruiz's fame was boosted by TBS during the playoffs, but he might be ready for his own Comedy Central sketch show, as he looks very much like Carlos Mencia. Dee dee dee! -------------------------------------------------- And whi...