Up until their NLCS matchup with the San Francisco Giants, the 2010 season was a remarkable one for the Phillies, and in particular, Roy Halladay. As you may remember, Doc threw a perfect game against the then Florida Marlins in May of that season, just the second in Phillies history. Later that year, Halladay would go on to toss just the second post-season no-hitter in major league history against the Cincinnati Reds. Since then, there hasn't been a similar performance by a Philadelphia starting pitcher. Yesterday, however, the combined efforts of Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, Ken Giles, and Jonathan Papelbon resulted in the team's twelfth no-no. With the current team only able to play spoiler in the final month of the season, Kyle Kendrick hopes to spin that performance into momentum into the next game against Atlanta.
The veteran Phillies right-hander is coming off of two incredibly similar outings against the Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals. His line against the red birds shows 6.1 innings of work, eight hits allowed, four earned runs, a home run, a walk, and four strikeouts. Against Washington, Kendrick pitched just six innings even, surrendering one fewer hit while equaling the numbers in every other category. The Phillies have been victorious in each of those performances, meaning Kendrick needs only to continue his modest outings. July 20th was the last time KK pitched in Atlanta. On that day, he tossed five innings and allowed six runs in a losing effort.
Meanwhile, the Braves will look to redeem themselves from yesterday's no-hitter, and will look to do it behind the arm of Mike Minor. Minor will be making his 22nd start of 2014, and has been on a torrid pace of late. His last three games have come against Oakland, Cincinnati, and New York. All three games have seen Minor go at least seven innings with two or fewer earned runs given up. Surprisingly, Minor has not had an appearance against the Phillies this season. The last time Philadelphia saw the lefty was September 28th of last season, a game in which Minor allowed two runs in six innings, but suffered the loss.
Game Notes
- The Phillies have chosen seven players in their September call ups. The names include Maikel Franco, Cesar Hernandez, Cameron Rupp, Luis Garcia, Tony Gwynn Jr., Mike Adams, and Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez.
- Philadelphia has now been victorious in eight of their last eleven ball games. With games still remaining against the Braves, Nationals, Pirates and Athletics, the Phillies could be the biggest spoiler team of the season.
- Third baseman Maikel Franco will make his major league debut this evening, batting seventh in the Phillies lineup. Freddy Galvis gets the start at second, batting eighth.
Phillies Lineup
- Ben Revere CF
- Jimmy Rollins SS
- Marlon Byrd RF
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Darin Ruf LF
- Carlos Ruiz C
- Maikel Franco 3B
- Freddy Galvis 2B
- Kyle Kendrick P
Braves Lineup
- Jason Heyward RF
- Andrelton Simmonds SS
- Freddie Freeman 1B
- Justin Upton RF
- Evan Gattis C
- Chris Johnson 3B
- Tommy La Stella 2B
- BJ Upton CF
- Mike Minor P
Andrew Gillen, Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com
