That series against the Nationals totally sucked. My hero, Ricky Botallico, stated after the last game that the Phillies really should have gotten swept by the Nats. And, since everything he says is fact, I agree. What a scary thing to say/think. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Roy Oswalt basically just got swept by the Washington Nationals. And this is them without their best player (Ryan Zimmerman - NOT Jayson Werth). As frustrating and unbelievable as this is, it's also part of the game of baseball. You really can't beat every team every time, especially over the course of a 162-game season. The Nationals are no exception to that.
And neither are our next opponent, the Pirates. When you think of the Pirates, you probably laugh and cringe at the same time. Laugh at how hysterically/historically bad they've been for so long, but cringe at the thought of the city of Pittsburgh and all of its dirtiness, hills, and bridges. Gross. But I'm here to hit you with some shocking news.
To get it out of the way, the most shocking news of all will come first. I am going to Pittsburgh this weekend. Yes, you read that right. I, Cameron Koehler, am going to Pittsburgh, that hell hole 5+ hours across the horrendously paved roads of scenic (read: boring) Pennsylvania. A place that I completely and ruthlessly trash at every opportunity (including opportunities I invent out of nowhere) will be my weekend getaway destination. My silver lining: I have always said that there are only 3 good things about the city of Pittsburgh, and I will get to experience all of them multiple times this weekend. I am going to the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon games, and I guarantee there will be people at the games wearing either Penguins or Steelers attire (since no one actually knows the Pirates exist and they will probably just unknowingly wander into the park...it's not like anyone pays to watch them). So I will get to experience the sweetness that is Pittsburgh sports teams all being the same colors (stop wearing ugly Eagles stuff to Phillies games people!). I am also making it a priority to get to Primanti Bros. at least twice for a tasty sandwich or 6. And I get to spend the weekend at B Fresh's house, catching up on life, talking baseball, going to games, and watching Bull Durham and Little Big League. Despite the location, it should be a perfect weekend.
The problem is, I don't think I can envision this being a perfect weekend for the Phils. This is the other shocking news I have for you. Although I think we can take the series, I am having a difficult time predicting a sweep against an oddly tough Pirates team. Remember how awesome our rotation is? We have a 3.42 ERA as a starting rotation, good for 6th in the majors. The Pirates are 8th at 3.60. Seriously, they are. And their bullpen isn't all that bad, either, placing 11th out of 30 with a 3.25 ERA. Their offense has struggled this season, but they have weapons that can definitely do some real damage this weekend, including Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker. Together those two lead pretty much every significant offensive stat category for the Pirates, and they are also underratedly awesome players for me in fantasy baseball. Eat that, Jeremiah.
How, might you ask, am I showing any type of respect for the Pittsburgh Pirates? Good question. I give essentially all of the credit to one Benjamin Follett, more affectionately known to me as B Fresh. Inspired by my genius, he writes his own blog about the Pirates, one that admittedly includes much much more baseball knowledge than you would ever expect to get on this bad boy. On Sunday, he and I will be doing guest blog posts for each other as an opposing fan's reaction to the series. Adorable, I know. As adorable as this picture of us from a Phillies game a few years ago? Doubtful. But adorable no less.
And neither are our next opponent, the Pirates. When you think of the Pirates, you probably laugh and cringe at the same time. Laugh at how hysterically/historically bad they've been for so long, but cringe at the thought of the city of Pittsburgh and all of its dirtiness, hills, and bridges. Gross. But I'm here to hit you with some shocking news.
To get it out of the way, the most shocking news of all will come first. I am going to Pittsburgh this weekend. Yes, you read that right. I, Cameron Koehler, am going to Pittsburgh, that hell hole 5+ hours across the horrendously paved roads of scenic (read: boring) Pennsylvania. A place that I completely and ruthlessly trash at every opportunity (including opportunities I invent out of nowhere) will be my weekend getaway destination. My silver lining: I have always said that there are only 3 good things about the city of Pittsburgh, and I will get to experience all of them multiple times this weekend. I am going to the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon games, and I guarantee there will be people at the games wearing either Penguins or Steelers attire (since no one actually knows the Pirates exist and they will probably just unknowingly wander into the park...it's not like anyone pays to watch them). So I will get to experience the sweetness that is Pittsburgh sports teams all being the same colors (stop wearing ugly Eagles stuff to Phillies games people!). I am also making it a priority to get to Primanti Bros. at least twice for a tasty sandwich or 6. And I get to spend the weekend at B Fresh's house, catching up on life, talking baseball, going to games, and watching Bull Durham and Little Big League. Despite the location, it should be a perfect weekend.
The problem is, I don't think I can envision this being a perfect weekend for the Phils. This is the other shocking news I have for you. Although I think we can take the series, I am having a difficult time predicting a sweep against an oddly tough Pirates team. Remember how awesome our rotation is? We have a 3.42 ERA as a starting rotation, good for 6th in the majors. The Pirates are 8th at 3.60. Seriously, they are. And their bullpen isn't all that bad, either, placing 11th out of 30 with a 3.25 ERA. Their offense has struggled this season, but they have weapons that can definitely do some real damage this weekend, including Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker. Together those two lead pretty much every significant offensive stat category for the Pirates, and they are also underratedly awesome players for me in fantasy baseball. Eat that, Jeremiah.
How, might you ask, am I showing any type of respect for the Pittsburgh Pirates? Good question. I give essentially all of the credit to one Benjamin Follett, more affectionately known to me as B Fresh. Inspired by my genius, he writes his own blog about the Pirates, one that admittedly includes much much more baseball knowledge than you would ever expect to get on this bad boy. On Sunday, he and I will be doing guest blog posts for each other as an opposing fan's reaction to the series. Adorable, I know. As adorable as this picture of us from a Phillies game a few years ago? Doubtful. But adorable no less.
(He has a wife. And I'm searching for one. No worries people)
So you guys have that to look forward to. As for what to look forward to in this series...
Game 1: Cole Hamels (7-2, 3.01 ERA) vs. Jeff Karstens (3-4, 3.58 ERA)
This matchup looks lopsided at first glance, but it should be a much better game than you might initially think. Hamels has been excellent this season, and he has gotten wins as a result. Karstens has been no slouch, though. With a 3-4 record you may assume he hasn't been very good, but he has only given up more than 2 earned runs twice this season, and one of those times was only 3 earned runs. This includes 8 starts at 4 relief appearances this season. His losses, though, have come in mostly either close games or games that he has at least kept close while pitching. It can be blamed mostly on a lack of run support, something that Hamels can definitely relate to over the years. We don't have a lot of experience against him, but I think that Hamels is a winner this season and Karstens just happens to be an unfortunate loser. Winners win and losers lose. So I'll go with that.
Prediction: Phillies 3 Pirates 1
Keep an eye out for: Jimmy leading off the series with a home run. Let's gooo!!!!
Game 2: Kyle Kendrick (3-3, 3.18 ERA) vs. Charlie Morton (5-2, 2.51 ERA)
This matchup occurred last season, and in my preview of it then, I mentioned that the only thing Charlie Morton had going for him as a baseball player was his name. I did a pretty nice job of predicting that game, and you can see by clicking on that first link that we handled him pretty easily. Well, I cannot cite any statistics that we have against Morton for this game because he is a completely different pitcher. Not only does he sound like a baseball player, but he now looks like one. He spent the offseason studying our very own Roy Halladay, and he now looks exactly the same with his delivery. His stats have followed suit as well. Don't look now, but he actually has a better ERA than Doc. Say whaaattt?! Good luck Kendrick. You'll need it.
Prediction: Pirates 6 Phillies 1
Keep an eye out for: McCutchen breaking his 0 for 6 career against Kendrick by driving in half of Pittsburgh's runs
Game 3: Roy Halladay (7-3, 2.56 ERA) vs. James McDonald (3-3, 4.85 ERA)
I wish McDonald and Kendrick faced off one game and Halladay and Morton the other. We could have our best against theirs and our worst against theirs. Those would make for much more exciting games. James McDonald has been better lately with a 2.86 ERA in May, but I still don't feel very intimidated by him. Especially with Halladay out there. Since this is the opposite matchup from yesterday, we'll go with opposite results.
Prediction: Phillies 6 Pirates 1
Keep an eye out for: Me! Sitting about 20 rows behind home plate. That doesn't seem like the kind of spot in the crowd you'd see on TV, but oh well. Also, Utley doing well? I predicted that throughout the last series, and that didn't work out so well. We'll give it one more try for this game. Like McCutchen yesterday, he drives in half the runs for the winning team.
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