Photo: Philliedelphia/Andrew Gillen
After taking game one against the Marlins in what ended up being a nailbiter, the Phillies were spanked in the middle matchup of the series. Yesterday, they had the right man on the mound to lead them to a series victory. Cole Hamels was just that, pitching effectively for a majority of the contest. Unfortunately, he gave up three runs in his final four outs, and Jake Diekman could not hold a tie game in the ninth inning. Things won't get much easier now, as the Phillies must now try to overcome a tough road series defeat by taking on one of the game's most dominant arms: Clayton Kershaw. What's even more difficult is that their pitcher, Roberto Hernandez, will have to try to tackle the Dodgers lineup.
For the Phillies, Roberto Hernandez is going to be shaking off a bit of rust. He has not made an appearance since May 16th against the Cincinnati Reds, where he pitched a scoreless frame, giving up a walk, a single, and striking out one. He has not started a game since May 9th against the New York Mets at Citi Field. One bit of good news concerning Hernandez is that in his last five total appearances, he has thrown 14.1 innings, giving up 19 baserunners and allowing just one run. The bad news? His FIP has been higher than his ERA in all but one of those performances (where he had a crazy stupid -2.94 FIP, which can be explained here).
In his last start, two-time Cy Young recipient Clayton Kershaw was shelled, giving up seven earned runs for only the third time in 186-game career. In the first two instances, Kershaw has come back the next week to be electric. The first time he did so was May 4th, 2010 against the Milwaukee Brewers, when he gave up seven runs in four recorded outs. The next week, he faced the San Diego Padres, where he surrendered just two hits and three walks in an eight inning, no-run performance. Fast forward to July 24th, 2012, when Kershaw gave up eight earned runs to the Saint Louis Cardinals, the most in his career. In his next start, on July 29th against the San Francisco Giants, Kershaw just threw a complete game, five hit, seven strikeout shutout. The difference between then and now may be the injury that caused him to miss about six weeks of time.
Game Notes
- Kershaw has made five career starts in Citizens Bank Park. His most recent start there, August 17th of last season, he went eight innings, giving up three hits while striking out eight and allowing no runs to cross. However, in his previous for Philadelphia outings, he allowed a total of 15 runs in 22.2 innings.
- Jimmy Rollins enters today's contest just 16 hits behind Mike Schmidt on the Phillies all-time hits list. J-Roll has had at least a hit in each of the Phillies last five contests, and with the current leadoff hot streak he is on, it's not crazy to think he could set the record on this 11-game homestand.
- Since going 4-for-5 against the Mets on May 10th, Ryan Howard has had just five hits in his last 37 at bats, good for a .135 batting average. He hasn't hit a home run since May 8th, and has seen his batting average drop to just .239 overall.
- Darin Ruf returns to the Phillies lineup for the first time since last season. Meanwhile, the Dodgers have called up Cuban prospect Erisbel Arruebarruena, who will be making his major league debut.
Phillies Lineup
- Jimmy Rollins SS
- Carlos Ruiz C
- Chase Utley 2B
- Marlon Byrd RF
- Ryan Howard 1B
- Darin Ruf LF
- Cesar Hernandez 3B
- John Mayberry Jr. CF
- Roberto Hernandez P
Dodgers Lineup
- Dee Gordon 2B
- Chone Figgins 3B
- Yasiel Puig RF
- Adrian Gonzalez 1B
- Andre Ethier CF
- Carl Crawford LF
- A.J. Ellis C
- Erisbel Arruebarruena SS
- Clayton Kershaw P
Luckily, the Phillies won't have to face Juan Uribe this series after he was placed on the 15-day DL.
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Weather: 69° – Partly Cloudy – 9% PoP
Start Time: 7:05 PM Eastern
Andrew Gillen, Philliedelphia Managing Editor/Gameday Coordinator
