Phillies finish with Nats, Set sights on Mets
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by user JuTMSY4
The Philadelphia Phillies move on to the nation's capital today to face the Washington Nationals. After completing the three game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks the Fightin' Phils move on to their first trip to RFK Stadium in what looks like an entertaining match up. By virtue of their win yesterday, the Phils are only three and one half games back of the division leading New York Mets, while the struggling Atlanta Braves are 7 games of the pace. Currently, the Phillies are riding a 4 game winning streak with a win against the Los Angeles Dodgers and three straight against the NL West Leading D-Backs.
Today, the Phillies send Eude Brito (0-1, 13.50 ERA) to the mound to face off against Michael O'Connor (2-3, 3.25 ERA). O'Conner faced the Phillies on May 29th of this year, surrendering 3 runs on 5 hits over 5 and 1/3 innings, receiving a no decision for the game. This will be Brito's second start this year and the eighth of his career, the second versus the Nationals. In his first start against the Nats, the second of his career, he gave up 2 runs over 4 innings and did not factor into the decision as the Phils lost that game in extra frames.
The second game features the aces of both staffs, as Brett Myers (4-2, 2.90 ERA) looks to continue his dark horse Cy Young bid. He will face Tony Armas Jr. (6-3, 3.34 ERA) who has found his stride as of late, but not against the Phils. In his three starts against them this year he is 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA, however Armas has bee dominate as of late, winning 6 of his last 7 trips to the mound.
In what could be an entertaining third frame, featuring the same matchup as their last series finale, Cory Lidle (4-5, 4.83 ERA) goes head to head with Livan Hernandez(5-5, 5.16 ERA). Lidle has had his ups and downs this season, pitching well in about every other outing. In his last outing, he faced Brandon Webb (8-0, 2.14 ERA), who was touting a 25 innings scoreless streak. While the Phils offense managed to get to Webb, tagging him for three runs in the sixth inning, Lidle pitched well, giving up 3 runs in 6 innings while receiving a no decision.
The finale features a yet to be announced Phillies pitcher versus Shawn Hill (0-1, 2.77 ERA), who's only loss this season van be attributed to the Phils. In that outing, his first of the season, he was touched for 8 earned on 7 hits over 2 and 2/3 of an inning. The Phils will most likely send young phenom Cole Hamels (1-0, 2.65 ERA) to the mound, who was electric in the first 5 innings of his 3rd start of the season, which resulted in his first career win in the majors. In that start, he pitched 5 2/3s of an inning yielding 3 hits and 1 run and did not give up a hit until the 4th inning.
The Phillies offense has been hot as of late. Ryan Howard is currently 3rd in the major leagues in both Home Runs (22) and RBIs (53) however he is only 5th in All Star voting, but looks like he may get the starting nod if Albert Pujols is not able. Meanwhile, leading vote getter for second base, Chase Utley seems to fit just fine into an offense that lives and dies by the long ball as he leads all second baseman in home runs (11), average (.318) and on-base percentage (.394), is currently tied for second in RBIs (35).
Come watch the Phillies take on the Nationals at 7:05PM EST.
Date
Thu 06/08/06, 5:42 am EST
