After an off-day following a series win against Seattle, the Phillies (56-71) welcome the St. Louis Cardinals (69-71) to town for a three-game series, beginning tonight at 7:05pm at CBP. The Phils are fresh off of taking two out of three from the Mariners during the beginning of the week. Jerome Williams pitched well in the first game and was helped out by Andres Blanco's homer in the 4-1 win. In game two, AJ Burnett struck out nine, but gave up five runs and hinted at retirement after the game. The final game of the series gave Cole Hamels a rare win, despite not having his best stuff. Meanwhile, the Cardinals are coming into Philadelphia hot, winning seven of their last eight, most recently sweeping the Reds in St. Louis. Tonight will be a battle for the Phillies, who look for Kyle Kendrick to come up with a gem against Cards ace Adam Wainwright.
This season has been the same story for Kyle Kendrick (5-11, 4.90). Three words. First inning woes. In 25 first innings pitched this season, Kendrick has a 9.00 ERA, surrendering five doubles, eight walks andeight homers total in the opening frame. His ERA lowers substantially in the second at 2.52 and then jumps to 3.96 in the third and 4.32 in both the fourth and fifth innings. While his ERA may be high even in the later innings, getting himself into an early hole sure doesn't help and is the likely cause of why he falls apart later in games. For a guy that pitches to contact, Kendrick has not shown the ability he has in the past to keep the ball in the lower part of the strike zone. Instead, he tends to leave his sinker and two-seam fastball up in the zone, leaving hitters more likely to hit for extra bases. Kyle faced the Cards once earlier this season and took the loss after throwing six innings, giving up five runs on eight hits. Kendrick got the no-decision in his most recent outing, throwing five innings against the Giants. He gave up four runs, three earned, in the Phils 6-5 loss.
Toeing the rubber for the Cardinals is the always dangerous Adam Wainwright (15-7, 2.40). In search of his 16th win of the season, Wainwright has actually struggled during the month of August, spanning four starts. In 26.1 innings pitched this month, he has given up 15 earned runs, equalling up to a 5.13 ERA. In his most recent outing, he got the 'W' against San Diego, giving up three earned runs in seven innings of work. Back on June 21st, Wainwirght dominated the Phillies over eight innings, holding them to just one run on six hits while striking out seven.
Game Notes:
- This season, left-handers are hitting .298 off of Kyle Kendrick. St. Louis's lineup features five lefties, including the pesky Kolten Wong and the persistent Jon Jay.
- No Phillies have gone deep off of Wainwright in their careers. Jimmy Rollins is averaging .333 (9-for-24) against the 32-year-old ace with four doubles, two RBI's and six strikeouts.
- Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are a combined 10-for-42 against Wainwright with a triple, two RBI's, seven walks and 10 K's.
- Wainwright, who is tied for the big league lead with 15 wins, ranks third in the National League in ERA (2.40) and innings pitched (176).
- Since June 26, Ben Revere leads all of baseball with 73 hits and a .369 batting average (72-for-195), raising his season average from .270 to .311.
- The Phillies and Cardinals split a four-game set earlier this season. The Phils took the First two games 4-1 and 5-1 respectively while the Cards took the second two games 4-1 and 5-3. David Buchanan & AJ Burnett got the wins in the first two games of that series.
Phillies Lineup:
- Ben Revere CF
- Jimmy Rollins SS
- Chase Utley 2B
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Marlon Byrd RF
- Domonic Brown LF
- Carlos Ruiz C
- Cody Asche 3B
- Kyle Kendrick P
Cardinals Lineup
- Matt Carpenter 3B
- Kolten Wong 2B
- Matt Holliday LF
- Matt Adams 1B
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Jon Jay CF
- Oscar Taveras RF
- Tony Cruz C
- Adam Wainwright P
Weather: 74°F – Mostly Cloudy – 29% PoP
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Game Time: 7:05 PM Eastern
TV: NBC 10
Brandon Apter, Publishing Editor for Philliedelphia.com
