PHI: 18-9, 1st in NL East; WAS: 14-14, 4th in NL East
When: May 3-5
Where: Citizens Bank Park (Philly, PA)
Probable Pitchers
Tuesday: Cole Hamels (3-1, 3.13) vs. Livan Hernandez (3-2, 3.23)
Wednesday: Vance Worley (1-0, 0.00) vs Jason Marquis (3-0, 2.62)
Thursday: Roy Halladay (4-1, 2.14) vs John Lannan (2-3, 3.78)
Broadcast Info
Tuesday, 7:05,
Wednesday, 7:05
Thursday, 7:05
All Games on 1210 AM
Player to Watch – RF Jayson Werth: Welcome back to Philadelphia! Unfortunately, Werth’s welcome won’t be as pleasant as this one.
The Nats right fielder already got a taste of what to expect when he comes back to Philly. And it ain’t pretty. Werth was booed viciously in the first meeting between the two team last month in Washington. But now, instead of having a couple thousand Phillies fans travel to boo you, he will have 45,000 savage natives looking to hail him with one of the most vicious receptions since Scott Rolen’s return and every J.D. Drew visit.
Even if he was still a Phillie, Werth would probably be getting booed with his performance thus far this season. He’s hitting .233 with four homers and seven RBIs, hardly the production he was paid to have by the Nationals. You can blame part of the decline in run production to him batting second but if you look at his average, his RBI numbers wouldn’t be up much higher
But, Werth is still a threat to do terrible things to the Phillies as we know from past experience and the great game he had against the Phillies to open the last series. He can be glad about one thing though: he won’t have to face Cliff Lee this go-around.
Overview: With Roy Oswalt still not back (won’t be until Thursday) and the off day yesterday, everyone in the rotation was bumped up a spot.
The interesting game of the series will be on Wednesday as Vance Worley will make his second start of the season. He is hoping to follow up his six-inning, two-hit shut down of the Mets. He will look to improve on the high pitch count and allow fewer than the four walks he did on Friday.
The Phils will also get to face their old friend, John Lannan on Thursday as he takes on Roy Halladay. Lannan is 0-9 in 12 career starts against the Phils. He has a 5.40 ERA in that span. He doesn’t even average 5 1/3-per start.
The Nationals offense is completely struggling. Not a single every day player is batting over .245 with the exception of catcher Willie Ramos, who is batting .357 with two homers and six RBIs while Ivan Rodriguez struggles.
The Phillies offense is having some similar struggles the past couple games. After scoring 10 and 8 runs against the Diamondbacks and Mets in the two previous games, the Phillies have scored only three runs in their last two games, which totaled 23 innings.
TTB 