Philadelphia @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 7, 2010 ) San Diego 3, Philadelphia 1
Right now, the San Diego Padres are in a position of great familiarity to the Philadelphia Phillies - cruising towards a first-place finish.
The Phillies, however, will settle for a playoff berth any way they can get it at this point.
San Diego and Philadelphia will open a three-game set on Friday at Petco Park that has playoff implications for more than just them two hanging in the balance.
Despite an 11-5 setback to Arizona on Thursday, the Padres remain the class of the National League, boasting a six-game lead in the West standings over San Francisco.
Philadelphia picked the wrong time to start playing subpar baseball and is fresh of a four-game sweep at the hands of Houston, and in the process dropped three games back of Atlanta in the NL East.
While the two-time division champs aren’t making things easy on themselves, the Phillies find themselves just one-half game back of San Francisco in the race for the wild card.
So, it’s fair to say that the Giants will be keeping a keen eye on this one.
Philadelphia will turn to the recently acquired Roy Oswalt (9-13, 3.22 ERA) in the opener as he looks to continue his dominance with his new squad.
After taking a loss and a no-decision following a trade from Houston, Oswalt has rattled off three straight wins, going exactly seven innings in each. He has allowed just three runs over those 21 innings.
Oswalt, who allowed just five hits over seven shutout innings of a 6-0 win over Washington his last time out, has owned the Padres in his career. In 17 games - 15 starts - the right-hander is 10-2 with a 2.56 ERA.
He’ll try to contain Adrian Gonzalez (6-for-17, two homers and six RBIs), who has enjoyed the most success off him. Gonzalez belted a grand slam in Thursday’s setback - his fourth homer in seven games.
The Padres will turn to surprising right-hander Mat Latos (13-5, 2.33 ERA) to oppose Oswalt.
Latos has been strong all season, having yet to lose back-to-back games. Currently, he has won 8-of-10 decisions, including seven solid innings of a win over the Chicago Cubs a week ago.
Latos will be making his second career start against Philadelphia after taking a loss in a previous appearance.
He’ll relish facing a struggling Phillies’ lineup that produced just seven runs during its recent four-game sweep.
San Diego and Philadelphia split their four games earlier this season.