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After taking two of three from the Reds in Cincinnati, the Rockies will travel to Philadelphia to take on a struggling Phillies squad.
Coming into the series, the Phillies have lost six of their last seven games, dropping two of three to the Nationals and getting swept by the Mets after losing the series finale at Coors Field last week. Philadelphia now sits at 19-30 in 2015, fourth in the NL East.
Hitters to watch
First baseman Ryan Howard is the only Phillies hitter with an OPS+ over 100 at 122. The 35-year-old is hitting .256/.298/.519 with a team-high 10 home runs in 2015. He has, however, struck out 49 times against just eight walks in his first 44 games this year.
Howard's usual partner in crime, second baseman Chase Utley, has struggled this season, hitting just .188/.266/.302 with only 10 extra-base hits in 149 at bats. However, half of those extra-base hits have come in the last two weeks in which he has hit .389/.476/.556, so he seems to be heating up.
2015 hitting stats
Name | G | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | BB% | K% | ISO | BABIP | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | BsR | Off | Def | WAR |
Ben Revere | 48 | 197 | 0 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 5.1% | 8.6% | .081 | .296 | .269 | .310 | .349 | .292 | 82 | 0.3 | -3.7 | 1.9 | 0.5 |
Odubel Herrera | 48 | 182 | 1 | 15 | 14 | 6 | 4.4% | 24.7% | .106 | .331 | .247 | .285 | .353 | .281 | 75 | 0.9 | -4.4 | -0.7 | 0.0 |
Freddy Galvis | 45 | 180 | 1 | 21 | 12 | 5 | 6.7% | 13.3% | .048 | .350 | .303 | .358 | .352 | .319 | 101 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 1.2 |
Ryan Howard | 44 | 172 | 10 | 16 | 24 | 0 | 4.7% | 28.5% | .263 | .304 | .256 | .298 | .519 | .348 | 120 | -0.8 | 3.3 | -3.7 | 0.5 |
Chase Utley | 44 | 169 | 3 | 14 | 21 | 1 | 8.3% | 14.8% | .114 | .202 | .188 | .266 | .302 | .245 | 51 | 0.2 | -9.4 | -1.0 | -0.6 |
Carlos Ruiz | 35 | 131 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.4% | 15.3% | .050 | .303 | .252 | .321 | .303 | .281 | 75 | -2.0 | -5.8 | 0.5 | -0.1 |
Cody Asche | 30 | 113 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 5.3% | 28.3% | .104 | .329 | .245 | .283 | .349 | .278 | 73 | -0.3 | -3.9 | -1.8 | -0.2 |
Jeff Francoeur | 40 | 110 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 5.5% | 18.2% | .157 | .259 | .235 | .273 | .392 | .288 | 80 | -0.5 | -3.2 | -1.0 | -0.1 |
Grady Sizemore | 39 | 104 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 5.8% | 22.1% | .051 | .320 | .245 | .288 | .296 | .262 | 63 | -0.4 | -5.0 | -4.0 | -0.6 |
Darin Ruf | 34 | 95 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 6.3% | 20.0% | .174 | .242 | .221 | .274 | .395 | .290 | 82 | -0.6 | -2.7 | -1.0 | -0.1 |
Cesar Hernandez | 42 | 94 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 14.9% | 14.9% | .064 | .292 | .244 | .355 | .308 | .305 | 91 | -0.1 | -1.1 | 2.0 | 0.4 |
Cameron Rupp | 15 | 55 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9.1% | 25.5% | .082 | .278 | .204 | .273 | .286 | .243 | 49 | 0.4 | -2.9 | 3.1 | 0.2 |
Maikel Franco | 13 | 54 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 5.6% | 14.8% | .176 | .244 | .235 | .278 | .412 | .300 | 88 | -0.3 | -1.1 | -1.7 | -0.1 |
Andres Blanco | 25 | 39 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.6% | 12.8% | .139 | .290 | .250 | .289 | .389 | .297 | 86 | -1.0 | -1.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
Pitchers to watch
Unfortunately, the Rockies will see the Phillies' best two starting pitchers, Cole Hamels and Aaron Harang, in the first two games of the series.
Hamels will get the start in the series opener, and the veteran southpaw is off to a strong start this season with a 2.98 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in his first 10 starts. He has walked 24 and struck out 67 in 66⅓ innings. He has a 3.34 ERA in 62 innings in his career against the Rockies.
In his first season with the Phillies, Harang has been even better than Hamels in 2015. He has a 1.93 ERA and 1.03 WHIP this season with 15 walks and 46 strikeouts in 65⅓ innings. He does, however, have a 2.85 FIP and 4.31 xFIP in his 10 starts this year.
2015 pitching stats
Name | W | L | SV | G | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | BABIP | LOB% | GB% | HR/FB | ERA | FIP | xFIP | WAR |
Cole Hamels | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 66.1 | 9.09 | 3.26 | 1.09 | .253 | 82.3% | 47.1% | 12.9% | 2.98 | 3.89 | 3.63 | 0.9 |
Aaron Harang | 4 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 65.1 | 6.34 | 2.07 | 0.28 | .258 | 76.7% | 33.7% | 2.3% | 1.93 | 2.85 | 4.31 | 1.8 |
Jerome Williams | 3 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 54 | 5.33 | 2.67 | 1.33 | .330 | 69.0% | 43.5% | 12.9% | 5.33 | 4.87 | 4.54 | 0.1 |
Sean O'Sullivan | 1 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 33.2 | 4.81 | 2.14 | 2.41 | .252 | 84.8% | 47.0% | 22.0% | 4.81 | 6.60 | 4.82 | -0.5 |
David Buchanan | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 24.2 | 4.38 | 5.47 | 0.73 | .349 | 54.1% | 48.2% | 7.4% | 8.76 | 5.27 | 5.75 | -0.1 |
Justin De Fratus | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 23 | 8.61 | 4.30 | 1.17 | .281 | 67.1% | 50.8% | 16.7% | 4.30 | 4.60 | 4.00 | -0.1 |
Luis Garcia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 0 | 22.2 | 7.54 | 4.37 | 0.40 | .303 | 78.4% | 66.2% | 14.3% | 3.18 | 3.48 | 3.34 | 0.1 |
Jeanmar Gomez | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 20.1 | 4.43 | 2.66 | 0.00 | .338 | 73.3% | 42.3% | 0.0% | 3.10 | 3.03 | 4.95 | 0.2 |
Ken Giles | 1 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 20.1 | 8.85 | 4.43 | 0.44 | .300 | 65.2% | 45.9% | 4.2% | 2.21 | 3.27 | 4.28 | 0.2 |
Jonathan Papelbon | 0 | 0 | 11 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 10.89 | 2.37 | 0.47 | .250 | 91.4% | 47.7% | 6.7% | 1.42 | 2.65 | 3.07 | 0.4 |
Jake Diekman | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 18 | 12.00 | 7.00 | 0.50 | .423 | 61.2% | 56.6% | 6.7% | 7.00 | 3.85 | 4.29 | 0.0 |
Severino Gonzalez | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 6.88 | 1.59 | 1.06 | .421 | 62.5% | 33.9% | 8.7% | 6.88 | 3.83 | 4.19 | 0.2 |
Chad Billingsley | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 3.94 | 1.69 | 1.69 | .333 | 59.6% | 44.3% | 13.0% | 6.75 | 5.25 | 4.82 | 0.0 |
Dustin McGowan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 14 | 5.79 | 10.29 | 0.64 | .289 | 69.9% | 37.0% | 6.3% | 5.79 | 6.20 | 6.86 | -0.2 |
Elvis Araujo | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 6.43 | 6.43 | 0.00 | .455 | 80.0% | 52.4% | 0.0% | 3.86 | 3.84 | 4.44 | 0.0 |
Probable starters
Game 1 (May 29): Chad Bettis vs. Cole Hamels
Game 2 (May 30): Jorge De La Rosa vs. Aaron Harang
Game 3 (May 31): Eddie Butler vs. Jerome Williams