The Philadelphia Phillies (24-21) will travel down to Washington for a three game series to try and kick start their season. The Phillies took advantage of a late collapse by the New York Mets last year to win the NL East division, and had high expectations to repeat as division champs this season. Things haven’t gone as planned for the Fighting Phil’s however as an early injury to reigning National League MVP Jimmie Rollins, and a tremendous slump of another MVP Ryan Howard, has left them underachieving.
The Washington Nationals (19-26) on the other hand are struggling for consistency. However it looks that after a rough first two weeks of the season, which included a 9 game losing streak, the Nats have played around .500 baseball going 16-17. If The Nats can jump start their slumping (or maybe just bad) bats, they could find themselves back at .500 for the whole season. They will need to get through an extremely talented Phillies team to get there first.
Phillies last series
The Phillies are coming off of a three game interleague series with the Blue Jays where they
dropped two of three. Poor pitching allowed the Phil’s to give up 15 runs in 3 games and rain delays forced the team to wear out their bullpen. In the game last night a rain delay forced starters Kyle Kendrick and Shawn Marcum out after the first inning, which means the bullpen was on the hook for 8 innings of work.
The first and second games of the series for the Phillies only found their starters pitching 5 innings a piece. Leaving the bullpen on the hook for even more work early in the series.
Who’s Hot:
Jimmy Rollins- 8/14, 4 2B, 2 SB, 2 RBI (11/25 in his last 5 games)
Who’s Not:
Chase Utley-2/12, 1 2B, 3 K’s, 0 BB
Probable Starters:
Brett Myers (2-4, 5.91 ERA) vs. Tim Redding (5-3, 3.55 ERA)
Cole Hamels (5-3, 2.89 ERA) vs. Jason Bergman (1-1, 7.45 ERA)
Jamie Moyer (3-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. Shawn Hill (0-1, 4.08 ERA) *maybe
Keep the big 3 quiet
The Phillies may have a better collection of three elite batters then any other team in major league baseball. The combination of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins give them a battery of three potential MVP winners who can all hit for power and average. While they have
other solid position players, these three sluggers are the lifeblood of the team and with their success goes the Phillies season.
Utley is in the midst of a career season. Through 45 games this year he is batting .306, has 14 homers, 31 RBI’s and has an OPS of 1.024. The presidents favorite player is having his best power season yet despite his batting average being down from .332 the year before. Utley, who only hit 22 homers last season is currently on pace to hit 50 this year. This is all more impressive with the poor plate protection from the slumping Ryan Howard.
Howard was the NL MVP in 2006 after putting up Ruthian numbers. He batted .313 with 58 homers and 149 RBI’s, recording a 1.084 OPS. Howard has slipped since then, hitting only .268 last season while still putting up impressive power numbers, and this year hitting under the Mendoza line. If he can turn it around the Phillies will again have the most dangerous line up in the National League.
Jimmy Rollins never felt he got the respect he deserved until last season. He was always a very good, border line all star shortstop for the Phil’s. Last season he reached the next level though, showing that in the division of great shortstops he would come out with the greatest accolades. Batting .292 with 30 homers and 41 stolen bases, Rollins carried his team to the playoffs and earned his first MVP. Rollins also recorded 38 doubles and 20 triples to bring his extra base total to 88.
The Nats will need to keep these three quiet in order to win this series. They are the catalysts of the offense and can change the course of a game with one swing. The Nats need to focus on making Jason Werth and Pat Burrel beat them.
What to look for:
Cole Hamels is quickly becoming one of the top aces in the game. The 24 year old lefty has nasty stuff and great control to get batters out at a high rate. Last season he recorded a 15-5 record with a 3.39 ERA. In 183.1 innings Hamels struck out 177 batters while only walking 43 batters. This season he has continued improvement with a 5-3 record so far and a 2.89 ERA. Through 65.1 innings this season he has 54 K’s and only 19 walks. We may get a chance to see one of the great pitchers of the future in his youth here at Nats Park this weekend.
The Washington Nationals (19-26) on the other hand are struggling for consistency. However it looks that after a rough first two weeks of the season, which included a 9 game losing streak, the Nats have played around .500 baseball going 16-17. If The Nats can jump start their slumping (or maybe just bad) bats, they could find themselves back at .500 for the whole season. They will need to get through an extremely talented Phillies team to get there first.
Phillies last series
The Phillies are coming off of a three game interleague series with the Blue Jays where they
dropped two of three. Poor pitching allowed the Phil’s to give up 15 runs in 3 games and rain delays forced the team to wear out their bullpen. In the game last night a rain delay forced starters Kyle Kendrick and Shawn Marcum out after the first inning, which means the bullpen was on the hook for 8 innings of work.The first and second games of the series for the Phillies only found their starters pitching 5 innings a piece. Leaving the bullpen on the hook for even more work early in the series.
Who’s Hot:
Jimmy Rollins- 8/14, 4 2B, 2 SB, 2 RBI (11/25 in his last 5 games)
Who’s Not:
Chase Utley-2/12, 1 2B, 3 K’s, 0 BB
Probable Starters:
Brett Myers (2-4, 5.91 ERA) vs. Tim Redding (5-3, 3.55 ERA)
Cole Hamels (5-3, 2.89 ERA) vs. Jason Bergman (1-1, 7.45 ERA)
Jamie Moyer (3-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. Shawn Hill (0-1, 4.08 ERA) *maybe
Keep the big 3 quiet
The Phillies may have a better collection of three elite batters then any other team in major league baseball. The combination of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins give them a battery of three potential MVP winners who can all hit for power and average. While they have
other solid position players, these three sluggers are the lifeblood of the team and with their success goes the Phillies season.Utley is in the midst of a career season. Through 45 games this year he is batting .306, has 14 homers, 31 RBI’s and has an OPS of 1.024. The presidents favorite player is having his best power season yet despite his batting average being down from .332 the year before. Utley, who only hit 22 homers last season is currently on pace to hit 50 this year. This is all more impressive with the poor plate protection from the slumping Ryan Howard.
Howard was the NL MVP in 2006 after putting up Ruthian numbers. He batted .313 with 58 homers and 149 RBI’s, recording a 1.084 OPS. Howard has slipped since then, hitting only .268 last season while still putting up impressive power numbers, and this year hitting under the Mendoza line. If he can turn it around the Phillies will again have the most dangerous line up in the National League.
Jimmy Rollins never felt he got the respect he deserved until last season. He was always a very good, border line all star shortstop for the Phil’s. Last season he reached the next level though, showing that in the division of great shortstops he would come out with the greatest accolades. Batting .292 with 30 homers and 41 stolen bases, Rollins carried his team to the playoffs and earned his first MVP. Rollins also recorded 38 doubles and 20 triples to bring his extra base total to 88.
The Nats will need to keep these three quiet in order to win this series. They are the catalysts of the offense and can change the course of a game with one swing. The Nats need to focus on making Jason Werth and Pat Burrel beat them.
What to look for:
Cole Hamels is quickly becoming one of the top aces in the game. The 24 year old lefty has nasty stuff and great control to get batters out at a high rate. Last season he recorded a 15-5 record with a 3.39 ERA. In 183.1 innings Hamels struck out 177 batters while only walking 43 batters. This season he has continued improvement with a 5-3 record so far and a 2.89 ERA. Through 65.1 innings this season he has 54 K’s and only 19 walks. We may get a chance to see one of the great pitchers of the future in his youth here at Nats Park this weekend.
2 comments:
Cole Hamels is too nasty for the nats
Cole Hamels got beat last time he faces the nats. It was by Tim Redding, but still. The Cole mine is about to implode.
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