Yesterday will be a day for Phillies fans and Jonathan Papelbon to forget about. Going into the ninth inning, the Phils led 4-1 but Papelbon blew a rare save, his fourth of the season, allowing four runs on four hits to Miami, leading to an eventual 5-4 loss. Papelbon "gestured" towards the fans while he was beeing boo'd and was ejected by umpire Joe West. Speaking of west, the Phillies (69-80) head that direction tonight and will start with a four game series against the Padres (68-80) at Petco Park in San Diego. The Phils and Padres played each other in Philadelphia back in June this season, with the Phillies sweeping San Diego in three games. Tonight, Jerome Williams looks to rebound from his previous pair of starts and he will be opposed by Andrew Cashner of the Padres.
After being acrquired by the Phillies in August, Jerome Williams (3-1, 3.44) put together a nice string of starts. He went 3-0 with an ERA of just 2.03 over four starts last month, holding each team to two runs or less. September has been a different story for the 32-year-old journeyman. On September 5th, Williams lasted only five innings against the Nationals, giving up five runs, four earned, in a 9-8 Phillies comeback win. His last time out against Pittsburgh, he also gave up four runs over five innings, but the Phils offense couldn't bail him out in a 6-3 loss. Having spent part of three years with the San Francisco Giants at the beginning of his career, Williams saw his fair share of the Padres. He has a career 3-2 record and a 2.63 ERA against San Diego but is 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA at Petco Park. In his last start, Williams got some action at the plate, driving in two runs with a single to help his own cause.
Meanwhile, the Padres will go with 28-year-old right-hander, Andre Cashner (3-7, 2.40). Now in his third season with San Diego, Cashner was orginally drafted 19th overall in the 2008 draft by the Cubs. In January, 2012, Cashner was sent to the Padres in exchange for Anthony Rizzo. Since heading out west, Cashner has done well for himself, posting a 3.04 ERA over 80 games, 47 of which were starts. Though he missed 51 games this year on the DL with a shoulder injury, Cashner has thrown very well over his last four starts, limiting opposing teams to two runs or less in each of them. His most recent outing was a victory over the NL West leading Dodgers. Cashner held them to two runs over seven innings while striking out two and walking one.
Game Notes:
- The current Phillies team has only 31 at-bats against Cashner. Cody Asche is 1-for-2 with a homer while Chase Utley is 1-for-3 with a double.
- Andrew Cashner has faced the Phillies seven times in his career, only one time being a start. He's 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA and 11 strikeouts over 12.2 innings against them.
- Though Papelbon had a rough outing yesterday, the back end of the Phillies bullpen has been stellar. Since being called up to the bigs, Ken Giles posts a 1.08 ERA and 0.79 WHIP.
Lineups
Phillies Lineup
- Ben Revere CF
- Cody Asche 3B
- Chase Utley 2B
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Marlon Byrd RF
- Domonic Brown LF
- Wil Nieves C
- Freddy Galvis SS
- Jerome Williams P
Padres Lineup
- Yangervis Solarte 3B
- Seth Smith RF
- Jedd Gyorko 2B
- Yasmani Grandal 1B
- Rene Rivera C
- Alexi Amarista SS
- Jake Goebbert LF
- Will Venable CF
- Andrew Cashner P
First Pitch: 10:10 PM ET
Location: Petco Park, San Diego, California
Weather: 79o F, Clear Skies
TV: CSN, MLB Network
Radio: 1210 WPHT, 98.1 WOGL
Brandon Apter, Publishing Editor for Philliedelphia.com
