Phillies Brewers Preview

On Sunday, the Phils were able to edge out a very close victory over the Florida Marlins by a final of 3-2. The Phils got a solid outing from Cole Hamels who pitched 7 and gave up 2 runs. At the plate the Phils again managed to score early with 2 first inning runs. Placido Polanco belted a solo home run and Raul Ibanez singled to score Jimmy Rollins. The Phils didn't score again until the bottom of the 8th when Carlos Ruiz hit a sacrifice fly to score Ryan Howard. Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless 8th and Jose Contrereas picked up his 3rd save after an extremely nerve racking 9th inning.

After splitting the series with the Fish, the Phils will now turn their attention to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers boast a medicore 7-8 record and are coming off 2 consecutive losses to the Washington Nationals. Led by their star first basemen Prince Fielder along with solid starting pitching, the Brewers should be a decent test for the Phils.

Phillies Last Series

The Phils split against the Marlins in a series that was shortened due to rain on Saturday. Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels both had strong outings for the Phils in the series. The bullpen gave up the lead in Oswalt's start on Friday and the Phils lost 4-3. On Sunday the Phils once again provided Cole Hamels with very little run support. The Phils managed to score a late go ahead run in the 8th and Contreras came in and got the save. Overall it was a scrappy series and the Phils were lucky to escape with a victory.

Brewers Last Series

The Brewers series was also shortened due to rain and they dropped both games of their 2 game set to the Washington Nationals. The Brewers lost on Friday off a walk off hit from Adam LaRoche. The Brewers then lost on Sunday 8-4. The Brewers couldn't keep up with the Nationals who had back to back 3 run innings in the game. Yovani Gillardo started for the Brewers on Sunday and gave up 7 runs in only 5.1 innings of work.

What To Look For

At the plate the Phillies need to do a better job of providing run support for their starters. The Phils scored just 6 runs in the series vs the Marlins and need to build bigger and more sustainable leads in the upcoming series. Joe Blanton will start tonight still in search of his first decent outing. Blanton is winless so far in 2011 and has a dismal 10.45 ERA. Blanton needs to come out tonight keep his pitches down and avoid that big disastrous inning. As for Halladay and Lee I think we can expect great outings from them once again.

Pitching Matchups:

Monday 7:05 PM Joe Blanton (0-1, 10.45 ERA) vs Shaun Marcum (2-1, 2.55 ERA)

Teusday 7:05 PM Roy Halladay (2-0, 1.23 ERA) vs Randy Wolf (1-2, 4.32 ERA)

Wednesday 1:05 PM Cliff Lee (2-1, 4.19 ERA) vs Chris Narveson (1-0, 1.45 ERA)