San Francisco @ Philadelphia preview
Citizens Bank Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 18, 2010 ) San Francisco 2, Philadelphia 8
The Philadelphia Phillies clubbed seven extra-base hits en route to posting their 20th win in 25 contests with an 8-2 triumph over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.
For as generous as they've been with the lumber in the majority of those outings, the Phillies have been downright stingy when Cole Hamels (7-9, 3.33 ERA) takes the hill.
The 2008 World Series Most Valuable Player has been on the wrong end of a pair of 1-0 setbacks in his last two outings. Hamels fanned 19 in those starts, but a solo homer to Jeff Francoeur and an RBI double to Carlos Beltran gave the rival New York Mets the only offense they would need to hand him a pair of hard-luck losses.
The 26-year-old southpaw will look to change his luck on Thursday as the Phillies (68-51) vie for a three-game sweep against the Giants.
From his perch in the dugout, Hamels watched as Philadelphia pulled two full games ahead of San Francisco (67-54) in the chase for the wild card. The Phillies remained 2.5 games behind the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves (71-49), who scratched for a 3-2 triumph over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
For their part, the Giants fell six full games behind the NL West-leading San Diego Padres (72-47), who posted a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday afternoon.
On Wednesday evening, Jimmy Rollins belted a three-run homer and fell a double short of the cycle and rookie Domonic Brown added a solo shot to power Philadelphia to victory.
Raul Ibanez blasted an RBI triple, Jayson Werth added a run-scoring double and Chase Utley had a double, single and an RBI groundout as the Phillies notched their 17th win in 19 contests at Citizens Bank Park.
Hamels has found success against the Giants by securing a 4-1 career mark with a 4.22 ERA, however he received a no-decision in his lone start against them this season. Hamels allowed four runs and nine hits, but he did strike out 10 in the April 28 contest.
San Francisco will counter with Jonathan Sanchez (8-8, 3.60 ERA) with the hope that he can snap a nasty little team streak. The Giants haven't received a victory from a starting pitcher in 14 consecutive contests.
In his last outing, the 27-year-old left-hander allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings on Friday in a 3-2 loss to the Padres. While far from poor, the outing was not what Sanchez had envisioned - considering he promised that San Francisco would sweep its three-game series with San Diego.
Sanchez would love to see Pat Burrell continue his hot streak continue against his former team. The slugger has belted homers in consecutive games.
Sadly for San Francisco, Burrell's blasts have been of the solo variety and Andres Torres' leadoff homer also counted for just one run - obviously - as the Giants dropped their third in a row and fourth in their last five games.