NL East Series Preview 7-20-09 through 7-23-09
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| The Philadelphia Phillies(51-38, 1st in NL East) have now won eight games in a row and have extended to a 6.5 game lead over the second place Braves in the NL East. In three games in Florida this weekend, they outscored the Marlins 15-5 and Ryan Howard even hit his 200th career home run. They will now face what appears to be a tougher test as they welcome in the Cubs for a three game set back home at Citizens Bank Park. Check out Phillies Phandom for more Philadelphia insight.
The Cubs(47-43, 2nd in NL Central 2GB) went into Washington D.C. this weekend and swept the reeling Washington Nationals. The Cubs outscored the Nationals 26-11 in the four games, and are now only two games back of the first place Cardinals. They should know that the Phillies are much better than the Nationals though, and they will send a team which appears to be firing on all cylinders into the series. Probable pitching matchups are below: |
| Monday @ 7:05PM EST - Lilly,CHI(9-6,3.18 ERA) vs. Lopez,PHI(1-0,3.18 ERA) |
| Tuesday @ 7:05PM EST - Harden,CHI(6-6,5.06 ERA) vs. Blanton,PHI(6-4,4.44 ERA) |
| Wednesday @ 1:05PM EST - Zambrano,CHI(6-4,3.36 ERA) vs. Moyer,PHI(9-6,5.58 ERA) |
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| The Atlanta Braves(46-46, 2nd in NL East 6.5GB) got to feast on the tired and hurting Mets this weekend at home. They took three out of four, mainly in dominating fashion and now will welcome in a more formidable opponent in the San Francisco Giants. The Braves were able to move up to 2nd place in a division that is slowly slipping out of everyone’s hands, as the Marlins got swept by the Phillies. The Braves are currently only 4.5 games out of the wild card, so they can help themselves towards a playoff chance during this set against the Giants. Check out The Braves Baseball Blog for more Braves information and insight.
The San Francisco Giants(50-41, 2nd in NL West 7.5GB Wild Card leaders) lost two out of three games in Pittsburgh this weekend, and hope to rebound with four against the Bravos. Jonathan Sanchez will get his first start on Monday since pitching a no hitter at home against the Padres on July 10th as well. Even with the series loss this weekend, the Giants still lead the wild card by a nose over the Rockies (.5 games) and they will look to add to that lead this week. The probable pitchers are shown below: |
| Monday @ 7:00PM EST - Sanchez,SF(3-8,4.69 ERA) vs. Hanson,ATL(4-0,2.85 ERA) |
| Tuesday @ 7:00PM EST - Sadowski,SF(2-1,1.00 ERA) vs. Lowe,ATL(8-7,4.40 ERA) |
| Wednesday @ 7:00PM EST - Lincecum,SF(10-2,2.27 ERA) vs. Jurrjens,ATL(8-7,2.77 ERA) |
| Thursday @ 1:00PM EST - Zito,SF(5-10,4.89 ERA) vs. Kawakami,ATL(5-7,4.15 ERA) |
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| The Marlins(46-47, 3rd in NL East 7GB) hope that a trip to the west coast to face the lowly Padres will help them get back into the swing of things. Their entire team, but mainly their batting had a horrible weekend back home in Miami and it even dropped them to third place. Even with the groundbreaking of their new state of the art retractable dome, they could not muster any wins against the Phils. This series will feature the 2009 debut of Rick VandenHurk who replaces the struggling Sean West in the Marlins young rotation. Check out Fish Guts for more Fish info.
The San Diego Padres(37-55, 5th in NL West 21GB) are coming off a split of a four game set against the Rockies. This comes after ending the first half losing ten of their final twelve games. It appears that they don’t have much to play for this season being many games behind both the division and wild card leads, but they hope they can get some hope from the season. Adrian Gonzalez continues to be a shining star in San Diego and it looks as though trade rumors will always swarm around him, especially as the team struggles. The probable pitchers are shown below: |
| Monday @ 10:05PM EST - Vandenhurk,FLA(0-0,0.00 ERA) vs. Stauffer,SD(0-1,2.57 ERA) |
| Tuesday @ 10:05PM EST - Volstad,FLA(6-9,4.53 ERA) vs. Gaudin,SD(4-8,4.84 ERA) |
| Thursday @ 3:35PM EST - Nolasco,FLA(6-7,5.77 ERA) vs. Geer,SD(1-5,6.02 ERA) |
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| Last, and what appears to be least, the Mets will travel to Washington to take on the Nats this week.
The New York Mets(43-48, fourth in NL East 9GB) went into the all-star break after winning two of three against the Reds and were hoping to put something together. Atlanta took three of four and the Mets even lost another player on Sunday. It looks like Nieve is headed to the disabled list, and no Mets are looking to come off the DL anytime soon. They hope this week against the Nationals is just what the doctor ordered and they can at least get some momentum until players begin returning. Check out The Real Dirty Mets blog for more Mets information. The probable pitchers are shown below: |
| Monday @ 7:05PM EST - Hernandez,NYM(5-5,5.10 ERA) vs. Martin,WAS(0-0,0.00 ERA) |
| Tuesday @ 7:05PM EST - Perez,NYM(2-2,7.99 ERA) vs. Lannan,WAS(6-7,3.64 ERA) |
| Wednesday @ 7:05PM EST - Pelfrey,NYM(7-5,5.07 ERA) vs. Stammen,WAS(2-5,4.46 ERA) |
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