Know Your Foe #16: National League's Best Team Looks to Continue Success vs. Rockies

Philadelphia Phillies (25-16, 1st in the NL East)

2010 Record vs. Colorado: 6-1

Last Series vs. Rockies: July 23-26, 2010 (W 4-0 at Citizens Bank Park)

The Phillies were truly the bane of the Rockies existence in 2010, beating them six out of seven times and by a combined score of 49-29. The first two games of this series were particularly bad, as the Phillies would outscore the Rockies 16-2 behind good performances on the mound from Roy Halladay (8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, BB, 9 K) and Kyle Kendrick (and bad ones from Aaron Cook and Ubaldo Jimenez). The next two games were of the one-run variety, with the Phils winning 4-3 and 5-4, respectively.

Pretty much every regular and backup for Philly killed the Rockies in this series, with the notable exception of Ryan Howard, who went 3-for-14 with six strikeouts (but did hit a big bases-clearing triple off of Jimenez in game two). Jimmy Rollins was the biggest thorn in the side of the Rockies, going 7-for-18 with five RBI. Raul Ibanez was right there as well, as he was 6-for-13 with six RBI and a couple of walks for good measure. Placido Polanco had five hits in the series, as did Jayson Werth (but at least he's not there anymore). Heck, even Ross Gload - ROSS GLOAD - had four hits and a homer in very limited playing time.

If that's not painful enough for Rockies fans to relive, there was also this makeup game at the beginning of September at Coors Field.

Latest Series Results: L 1-2 at Atlanta, L 0-2 at St. Louis

Losers of two consecutive series (and four straight games overall) on their recent road trip, the Phillies are glad to be back home. Most of their problems have stemmed from a lack of offense, as they have scored just seven runs during their current losing streak. In fact, as a team they hit just .172/.238/.248 on their recent road trip. Even still, their mainstays (Howard, Polanco, Rollins, and Shane Victorino) are still having average to above-average seasons, and like the Rockies, this team really benefits from hitting at their home ballpark (team OPS of .740, almost 100 points higher than on the road). As such, I wouldn't expect to see their offensive struggles continue - despite having guys such as Wilson Valdez, Pete Orr, and not-Chase Utley getting a ton of playing time.

Also, their pitching is still awesome (though we won't see arguably the best two in this series - Lee and Halladay). Even without them, the Rockies should not expect to draw many walks in this series, so the "too patient" approach isn't going to work for them. The Phillies' starting rotation has combined to walk just 53 batters in 246.6 innings pitched, while striking out 245. The two guys the Rox will see in this series - Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton - boast K:BB ratios of 4.67 and 2.67, respectively. Colorado will need to be aggressive at the plate.

Pitching matchups and more after the jump.

Wednesday and Thursday: 2-game series at Citizens Bank Park

Expected Pitching Matchups

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 @ 5:00 PM MT

Thursday, May 19, 2011 @ 5:05 PM MT

Expected Lineup

Bench

Closer

Injuries