After a very disappointing three game set with Arizona, the Phillies get ready for their third straight road series in Milwaukee. The team was recently blown up on a few occasions in the desert but they are also coming off three straight wins prior to that in San Diego.
The proposed pitching matchups do somewhat breakdown in Philadelphia’s favor. Philly’s Adam Morgan, who is .500 on the year, will meet Wily Peralta in game one. Peralta is currently 2-7 and has a career ERA against Philly of 8.82. The Phills will then have Jerome Williams (4-8) on the hill against Jimmy Nelson (9-9) and will wrap up the series with Aaron Harang (5-13) facing rookie Taylor Jungmann (6-4).
At press, the MLB betting line at TopBet.eu favors the Phillies against the Brewers but that doesn't quite tell the whole story. There’s a chance that one of the team’s most consistent players for the past 12 years may not be with them when the team heads to Wisconsin.
Chase Utley cleared waivers this week and has been drawing interest from the Yankees, Giants, Angels and Cubs. Because he’s been in the league more than 10 years and with one team for over five, the team has to get Utley’s consent before they can move him.
Another headline heading into this weekend’s series, is the reordering of the Brewers front office. Doug Melvin was moved out of the General Manager role this week after 13 years of service. Melvin’s Brewers are at the bottom of the NL Central at 48-66. Much to the delight of the Phillies, the Brewers also have the worst home record in the National League at 24-36.
Melvin drained the Brewers roster by moving 3B Aramis Ramirez, CF Carlos Gomez, RHP Mike Fiers, Geraldo Parra, RHP Jonathan Broxton before the deadline. This week 2B Hector Gomez also elected Free Agency over sticking with the team through their rebuild. So in essence, one of the bottom feeders in baseball have gotten quite a bit worse over the past few weeks.
The dismantling of the Brewers definitely can’t hurt the Phillies chances this weekend.
