The Phillies’ main goal these next six games are to gain ground in the NL East on the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and first place Washington Nationals.
The Phillies currently sit 3.5 games out of first thanks to the current four-game skid the Nats find themselves in the middle of. If the Phillies can take at least two games against the Braves and the Nationals still struggle they could line themselves up to be right back up near the top of the East without their best players.
For now, it’s a series with the Braves that the Phillies should be fully focused on and it starts tonight against Brandon Beachy.
Beachy is enjoying a very fine start to his second full season as a starter in the Braves rotation.
Through four games, Beachy is 2-1 with a 1.05 ERA. In his last start, Beachy held the Dodgers to two runs through 6 1/3 for his second win of the season.
Pitching for Philadelphia is Cole Hamels, enjoying one of the strongest starts of his career. He’s 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA, coming off a brilliant outing against the Diamondbacks in which he held them to two runs through eight innings.
SIDENOTE: I was actually in the press box for Brandon Beachy’s Major League debut against Philadelphia on September 20, 2010. The opposing pitcher was Cole Hamels.
Tonight’s Lineup
Rollins 6
Polanco 5
Victorino 8
Pence 9
Wigginton 3
Nix 7
Ruiz 2
Galvis 4
Hamels 1
Blog of the day: Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a blog post today in their Phillies blog “The Phillies Zone” about Brian Sanches’ return to the Majors with the team he debuted with in 2006. Sanches pitched in 2006 and 2007 with the Phillies before playing in Washington and Florida. Sanches was called up when David Herndon was placed on the DL late last night.
TTB 