The Phillies come into the weekend series with the Pirates after dropping two of three games to the Giants. They’ll face the Pirates for the second time this season.
Friday: Charlie Morton (8-5, 3.69) vs Roy Halladay (12-4, 2.55)
Halladay bounced back from a tough outing against the Cubs with a strong, eight inning performance against the Padres to earn his 12th win of the season. He struggled through the first five innings, but was dominate through his final three innings, and didn’t allow base runner from the sixth inning on. The right-hander is 2-1 with an ERA of 1.45 against the Pirates.
Morton is a pretty big fan of Halladay. He’s made it a point to study Halladay’s pitching delivery, copy it as best he can, and make it his own. The 28-year old will now get a chance to pitch against his idol. The right-hander is putting together a decent season for the Pirates, but he’s struggled to go deep into games lately. He hasn’t made it through six innings since June 4th. He is 1-2 with an ERA of 7.11 in four starts against the Phillies.
Advantage: Roy Halladay
Morton has struggled over the last two months, and the Phillies offense shouldn’t have trouble scoring some runs off of him, especially after being held to just two runs in the last two games against San Francisco.
Saturday: James McDonald (7-4, 3.95) vs Cliff Lee (9-7, 3.05)
After a brilliant month of June, Lee has significantly cooled down. He is winless in his last four starts, and altogether is 0-2 in July with an ERA of 4.97. The lefthander comes off of a disappointing start against the Padres, where he lasted just four innings and gave up five runs on 10 hits. This will be the second time in Lee’s career that he has faced the Pirates.
McDonald is the typical fifth starter: a competent major league pitcher without overwhelming talent, but capable of keeping his team in games. Think of him as Pittsburgh’s version of Kyle Kendrick. The right-hander can be hit around, and has only pitched into the seventh inning in four of his 20 starts this season. He faced the Phillies earlier this season, and left the game after giving up three runs in four innings.
Advantage: Cliff Lee
Lee is due for a dominating performance. His 10th victory has eluded him for nearly a month now. After an embarrassing performance at home where he allowed a runner to steal home, and was pulled early, the ace will have something to prove on Saturday.
Sunday: Jeff Karstens (8-5, 2.41) vs Vance Worley (7-1, 2.02)
Worley continues to turn heads with one spectacular performance after the next. Since being called back up from the minor leagues, the right-hander has allowed just six earned runs in 48.1 innings. He has won his last five starts. The 23-year old also isn’t allowing many hits. He’s given up four hits or less in his last four starts.
Karstens has been an anchor on the Pirate pitching staff. He’s only lost one game since May 29th. He got off to a slow start through the first two months of the season, but has since raised his level of play significantly. In his last 10 starts, Karstens has pitched into the seventh inning or later in nine of those games. He made a start against the Phillies earlier this year, giving up just one run on four hits in seven innings.
Advantage: Jeff Karstens
It’s hard to imagine that Worley will continue to sustain the level that he has been pitching at. Karstens has been pitching at an elite level, dominated the Phillies early in the season, and will have a chance to do so again.
The Bullpen of the Pirates has been the real strength of their Club’s success this Season which makes it inperative that the PHils get on their Starters and put some runs up early.. I see a lot of 3-2,4-2 2-0 type of games this weekend