Colorado @ Philadelphia preview
Citizens Bank Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 23, 2010 ) Colorado 0, Philadelphia 6
The Philadelphia Phillies' first day with new hitting coach Greg Gross went pretty well - the team belted 12 hits in a 6-0 win against the Colorado Rockies on Friday - but their offense will really be put to the test on Saturday.
The Phillies face one of the top pitchers in baseball as they square off against Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez when the four-game series continues at Citizens Bank Park.
Jimenez (15-1, 2.38 ERA) ranks near the top of the National League in nearly every pitching category, and his 15 wins are the most in the majors.
The 26-year-old right-hander has been hittable for the past month, though. Over his last five starts, he has a 6.39 ERA and has surrendered four home runs after allowing only three in his first 14 starts.
In addition, Jimenez has struggled in two starts against the Phillies, going 0-1 with an 8.10 ERA.
That's good news for a Philadelphia team looking to snap out of a prolonged offensive slump. Desperate to shake up the struggling offense after hitting .233 through their first 19 games in July, the Phillies fired hitting coach Milt Thompson on Thursday and replaced him with Gross, who had the job from 2002-04.
So far, so good. Philadelphia's six runs on Friday matched its most in 10 games. The Phillies did most of their damage in one big inning Friday, scoring five runs in the fifth against Rockies' starter Aaron Cook.
Slumping leadoff man Jimmy Rollins had two hits and scored twice and Raul Ibanez matched a season-high with three RBIs to help the Phillies gain a game on the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East. They're going to need more from that duo to have a chance to make up the rest of the six-game deficit.
Now it's the Rockies who find themselves in a bit of an offensive slog. They've scored a total of four runs in their past three games - all losses - culminating with Friday's five-hit shutout.
Colorado looks to turn it around against 25-year-old right-hander Kyle Kendrick.
Kendrick (5-4, 4.82 ERA) is coming off one of his worst outings of the year, in which he allowed seven runs over five innings in an 8-4 loss Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Three of the seven hits he gave up in that one were homers, giving opponents nine blasts against him in his last five starts.
Kendrick is 1-1 with a 5.93 ERA in five starts against Colorado. Seth Smith is 6-for-7 with three extra-base hits against him, and Brad Hawpe is 4-for-8 with two doubles.