Phillies/Reds preview from the Phillies perspective...

[Kingspoint]

By MATT BECKER, STATS Senior Writer
(AP) -- After struggling for weeks, the high-powered Philadelphia Phillies are finally swinging the bat with confidence. Coming off another lopsided victory, the Phillies look to continue their surge Monday night when they open a three-game series against the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds.

With an 11-2 victory over Toronto on Sunday, Philadelphia (40-33) won for the eighth time in 11 games after losing 15 of its previous 21. The Phillies' normally prolific offense was virtually nonexistent during that awful stretch, plating 51 runs while batting .218, but appears to be back on track, scoring 75 runs while hitting .274 in the last 11.

http://philly.stats.com/mlb/preview.asp?g=300628117


Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth are leading this charge. The All-Star first baseman is batting .349 with five home runs and 12 RBIs in the last 11 games, while Werth is batting .324 with three homers and eight RBIs. The two also battered Cincinnati pitching last year, as Howard had three home runs and five RBIs in seven games and Werth homered four times and drove in nine. The Phillies went 5-2 against the Reds in 2009, and have won 12 of 17 at Great American Ball Park.

[Kingspoint]

Cincinnati has won nine of Johnny Cueto's last 11 starts. Cueto is 0-2 with a 15.26 ERA in two career starts against the Phillies.

Kendrick has won all three career starts against the Reds despite a 6.61 ERA.

[Vottomatic]

Time for a reversal of fortune.

[Caveman Techie]

Nice article thanks for posting it. Sometimes it's nice to get the other teams viewpoint.

[Kingspoint]

This is going to be one great series.

Both teams are looking to prove that they're removed from their slumps and are on the rise again.

The Phillies don't make base-running mistakes, while the REDS are extremely agressive on the base-paths. The Phillies' Catchers are poor at throwing out runners while the REDS' Catchers have been very good this season (though a lot of that was Hanigan).

I can't see either team sweeping this series. Taking two out of three from the Phillies would be a very good outcome. Our best chance at a win in the series is tonight. Lose tonight, and we lose the series.

[RyanC119]

This is also the article ESPN used for their preview. Aren't they supposed to be unbiased?

[Kingspoint]

This is also the article ESPN used for their preview. Aren't they supposed to be unbiased?

You'd think (as a major sports news source) they could make up their own instead of cutting and pasting.