By: Nick Mandarano, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies returned from the All-Star break by dropping two of three to the Mets. The series finale featured a 1-hit shutout from Jacob deGrom. Today, the Phils begin a four-game series against the Marlins, who have crawled their way into a second-place tie in the NL East. Miami has won seven of their last ten games.
Aaron Nola, who has struggled immensely lately, will take the mound today for Philadelphia. His most recent start before the All-Star break was skipped with the hopes that an extended rest would help the young righty return to form. It's been over two weeks since Nola has started a game, so today will be the test to see if the break was beneficial.
Starting Pitching Matchup:
| Miami Marlins (49-42) | Philadelphia Phillies (43-50) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RHP | Jose Fernandez | RHP | Aaron Nola | ||
| (11-4, 2.52 ERA) | (5-8, 4.69 ERA) | ||||
Jose Fernandez — Age: 23
- Last Appearance: July 8, 2016, vs. CIN: W, 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 8 SO, 0 HR
- Career vs. PHI: (1-1), 5 G, 28.0 IP, 20 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 9 BB, 28 SO, 1 HR, 2.89 ERA
Fernandez is one shy of matching his career high for wins. In his final 11 starts before the break, he went 8-2 (1.71 ERA) with 107 strikeouts, 15 walks and a 0.87 WHIP in 73 2/3 innings. He ranks among baseball's top ten in several statistical categories including ERA (2.52, 7th), wins (11, T-7th), WHIP (1.016, 7th), SO/9 (12.913, 1st), strikeouts (154, 3rd) and SO/BB (4.968, 6th).
Aaron Nola— Age: 23;
- Last Appearance: July 2, 2016, vs. KC: L, 5.0 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 7 SO, 1 HR
- Career vs. MIA:(1-0), 2 G, 14.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 11 SO, 0 HR, 1.93 ERA
Aaron Nola has struggled recently posting a 13.50 ERA in his last five starts before the Phillies decided to skip his final start prior to the All-Star break. In his first 12 starts this season, Nola's ERA was 2.65, but has risen to 4.69 since. Despite his 5 most recent starts, in none of which he pitched more than five innings, he has posted a 2.95 xFIP (expected fielding independent pitching) this season which ranks 4th among all Major League starters. On balls in play, opponents are batting an astounding .530 over that stretch, which is significantly higher than his .282 BABIP in his first 25 career starts, prior to the last five.
Starting Lineups:
| Miami Marlins (49-42) | Philadelphia Phillies (43-50) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Bats | Position | Player | Bats | ||
| 1 | C | J.T. Realmuto | R | 1 | CF | Odubel Herrera | L |
| 2 | 3B | Martin Prado | R | 2 | RF | Peter Bourjos | R |
| 3 | LF | Christian Yelich | L | 3 | 3B | Maikel Franco | R |
| 4 | RF | Giancarlo Stanton | R | 4 | C | Cameron Rupp | R |
| 5 | CF | Marcel Ozuna | R | 5 | 1B | Tommy Joseph | R |
| 6 | 2B | Derek Dietrich | L | 6 | LF | Cody Asche | L |
| 7 | 1B | Don Kelly | L | 7 | SS | Freddy Galvis | S |
| 8 | SS | Adeiny Hechavarria | R | 8 | 2B | Cesar Hernandez | S |
| 9 | P | Jose Fernandez | R | 9 | P | Aaron Nola | R |
Broadcast Information:
- First pitch: 7:05 p.m.
- TV: CSN
- Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
Game Notes:
- Since September 6, 2010, the Phillies have won 37 of their 54 games against the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park (.685). In their 18 series in Philadelphia over that stretch, the Phillies are 11-4-3, including six sweeps over the Marlins.
- Jose Fernandez is tied with Hideo Nomo for the fourth-most strikeouts (490) through a pitcher’s first 64 career starts. With 10 strikeouts tonight, would become the third fastest since 1900 to reach 500 career strikeouts as a starter, according to Elias. Only Dwight Gooden (61) and Yu Darvish (62) have done it prior to 66 starts.
- Aaron Nola has a 7.94 ERA (15 ER, 17.0 IP) in the first inning this season as opponents have clubbed 4 HR (2.12 HR/9.0 IP) and posted a .988 OPS against him in that frame.
What's Next:
- Friday, July 19, 2016: vs. Miami Marlins, 7:05 p.m.
- Citizens Bank Park
- TBA vs. RHP Vince Velasquez (8-2, 3.32 ERA)
- TV: CSN; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
