Gameday: Phillies (57-40) at Diamondbacks (43-57)
Cole Hamels (6-5, 4.66 ERA) vs. Dan Haren (10-5, 2.14 ERA)
Time: 9:40 p.m at Chase Field
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 114
TV: Comcast Sportsnet
Twitter: Phillies Nation
The Phillies have yet to face anything close to what they’re about to see tonight. Dan Haren is on his way to winning the National League Cy Young award, and is arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball for the 2009 season.
Haren is 10-5 with a 2.14 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and opponents are batting .194 against him. He has 141 strikeouts in 143 innings (8.87 K/9). However, he has allowed 13 home runs and he gave up four earned runs in his last start, which was against the Pirates. Only twice has he allowed more than three home runs in a game this year.
It is not going to be a fun night for the Phillies bats, but if they can manage two or three runs, the Phillies have a chance to win if Cole Hamels can pitch the way he is capable of. He has a 2.13 ERA in two career starts against Arizona. After the All Star break, Hamels is 17-9 with a 3.05 ERA.
Tonight we’ll try another bock, this time from Stella Artois. This strong Belgium lager is 6.2% alcohol by volume. The bock has all the components of a good dark beer, sweet flavors of molasses, caramel and toffee. Some might think there is too much sweetness. It goes well with bbq shrimp. – By Brian
GO PHILLIES!
