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We talk a lot about the Colorado Rockies' poor performance against teams like the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, but there's another team that has an even tighter stranglehold on the purple pinstripers.
Since being swept by Colorado in the 2007 National League Division Series, the Philadelphia Phillies have completely owned the Rockies. Philadelphia is -- get ready for this -- 29-7 against Colorado during that time, including getting payback in the 2009 NLDS in a 3-1 series win. 29-7. Think about that. That's an .806 winning percentage. That's utterly insane.
But it's the cold hard truth. Not even a poor season -- by their standards, anyway -- by the Phils a year ago could help the Rockies, who dropped seven of nine contests to Philly en route to a 98-loss season.
Of course, the Phillies are a different club now, scuffling to a 32-35 start. Their offense, which has just two above-average regulars, is mediocre. And, while Cliff Lee is Cliff Lee, the pitching hasn't been great either, entering the series with a collective ERA+ of 98. Still, all you have to do is look at the Phillies from last year, who fell as many as 14 games below .500 before finishing with an 81-81 record, to see that this club has some fight left in them.
Domonic Brown is one of the two aforementioned starters who has been good. Brown, despite leaving a lot desired in the on-base department, holds an OPS+ 138 due to his 19 home runs and .576 slugging percentage. Chase Utley, while not the guy he used to be, posted a 118 OPS+ before landing on the disabled list on May 21.
The Rockies will be at a disadvantage with Troy Tulowitzki being out for at least a month, but they won't have to face Lee, who is 8-2 with a 2.55 ERA and, as usual, owns a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 5.00. They will see Cole Hamels, as shown below in the pitching matchups, but he has encountered some bad luck in addition to a spiked home run rate en route to a 2-9 record and a 90 ERA+.
For more on the Phillies, head over to The Good Phight. Also, I answered some questions leading up to this series for CBS Radio in Philadelphia. You can listen to the interview here.
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Probable pitchers
Game 1: Friday, June 14 at 6:40 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Kyle Kendrick (6-4, 3.22 ERA) vs. Juan Nicasio (4-2, 4.61 ERA)
Game 2: Saturday, June 15 at 2:10 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Jonathan Pettibone (3-2, 3.70) vs. Tyler Chatwood (3-1, 2.14)
Game 3: Sunday, June 16 at 2:10 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Cole Hamels (2-9, 4.45) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (4-3, 4.52)
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