Reds-Phils series 8/20

[Kc61]

Here's a preview of the next series in the pennant race.

Reds play in Philadelphia four games. Leake-Halladay, Bailey-Lee, Arroyo-Worley, Cueto-Hamels. All night games. Reds and Phils haven't played this season as yet, have seven games from here on out. Thursday game could be big pitching duel with Cueto and Hamels both below 3.00 ERA.

Phils are nine games below .500, seven below at home. They are 6-4 over their last ten games. Phils with a .709 team OPS, eleventh in NL. Phils with 4.03 team ERA, tenth in NL. Post ASB, Phils hitting is even worse, .685 team OPS, but pitching is much improved, 3.51. Obviously, Pence and Victorino have been moved.

Pirates at SD. Pirates starter tonight unknown, followed by Burnett and McDonald. SD with Volquez, Marquis, and unknown. Pirates are off Thursday, then go home to face Mike Fiers and Brewers. Padres are not bad at home, 28-32. Padres are 4-6 over last ten games.

Cards off tonight and then face Astros at St. Louis. Astros road record is 12-48. Astros have won 3 of last 10. Harrell v. Wainright Tuesday. Harrell 10-8 with 3.81 should win Cy Young award playing with Astros. Then Norris v. Lohse. Then lefty Dallas Keuchel v. Westbrook.

[traderumor]

I have predicted a split for this series. In the big picture, losing 3 of 4 and winning the Cards series at home will probably be enough to keep this vessel on course. Philly has had our number recently, so I'm not expecting much even though we have an overall better team. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, but honestly, I'll just take one in this series.

[SirFelixCat]

I am thrilled with a split in Philly. The pitching is tough. I'll worry about St.Louis next series.

[cumberlandreds]

Tough four games series. The Phils are reseaonably healthy now. Its never been easy for the Reds to go to Philly and win. A split in this series would be huge. The next 10 games may determine if the Reds will have fairly easy September and will be be gearing up for the playoffs or it may be a dogfight. Win 6 or more and you will have the former. Just two or three wins and September will be a tough month.

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

I'll take a split right now, no questions asked. The first two games of this series scare me the most.

[traderumor]

Hopefully the Reds hitters aren't as intimidated by the names as we are. I just looked at numbers and feel like we should be able to have a normal series here this season. Halladay may be tough, been pitching well of late. Lee, not so much, Worley is giving up runs, 4 in each of his last three starts. Hamels is a Reds killer, maybe Cueto can match him for 7 innings and see which bullpen wins. A split seems like a reasonable estimate here. Of course, we need Leake, Bailey and Arroyo to have good games, which they have been a real mixed bag of late.

[mdccclxix]

I'd love the Reds to exercise some demons in this series and take 3 of 4. I'll be watching closely to see how the team plays defensively after Dusty's comments. It's been a little sloppy. If the pitching can hold up, they should be playing for the win on Thursday.

[Kc61]

Another way to look at this is Reds play 7 with Philly over next few weeks.

Altogether, I'd love 5-2, but realistically would be satisfied with 4-3.

3-4 wouldn't be disastrous either. Worse than that is not good.

[Tom Servo]

Just can't let their starting pitchers have easy innings. The Philadelphia bullpen is down there with the Cubs, Mets, Brewers, and Astros.

[RedsMan3203]

With this team... Anything is possible.... and sweeping the Phils isn't out of the question...

But, with the Law of Averages... I see a 4 game split with an outside chance of 3 out of 4.

[Tadasimha]

What I want to see in this series is the team continuing with the confidence and swagger they've been playing with the past couple of months. I don't want to see them up there at the plate waiting for Hallady and Hamels to get a 0-2 count. I do want to see the starting rotation continue solid pitching (or get back to solid pitching) and no bullpen meltdowns. They need to show to themselves and the rest of the league that they can compete against anyone and can beat any time anywhere, home or on the road.

A split with four close games would be great, imho. Taking three games would not be out of the question, though.

[MikeThierry]

Halladay has a 2.25 ERA in the last 28 days. When he faced the Cards, he was a bad, bad, bad dude. What ever struggles he had early, he's money right now.

[redsmetz]

Originally Posted by mdccclxix

I'd love the Reds to exercise some demons in this series and take 3 of 4. I'll be watching closely to see how the team plays defensively after Dusty's comments. It's been a little sloppy. If the pitching can hold up, they should be playing for the win on Thursday.

Why take all that time exercising them? Let's save the time and just exorcise them.

P.S. I agree though and I'm hoping to see much better defense too.

[mdccclxix]

Originally Posted by redsmetz

Why take all that time exercising them? Let's save the time and just exorcise them.

P.S. I agree though and I'm hoping to see much better defense too.

Hahaha, good one, thank you!

[Jamz]

I'm not too keen on those pitching match ups -- but it also really depends on which version of each pitcher shows up. Halladay, though great recently, has definitely had his struggles this year. Leake and Bailey both have the ability to shut down other teams when their focus is on. Worley has really seemed to have a hard time as the season has gotten longer -- maybe he's tiring?

I would really be happy with splitting with Philly, but I see the potential for there to be more. They don't exactly have a frightening line-up, but again ours can be stagnant at times as well. I expect this series will be decided by the pitchers (sounds weird, because if you want to be a stickler every game is decided by the pitcher but yeah.)