Phillies at Brewers: Pre-Game Notes

August 16, 2012

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The Phillies left Miami with with two wins, but ended the series with a dissapointing 9-2 loss that saw the struggling bullpen give up six runs in one inning. The Phillies are in Milwaukee now for a four game series against the Brewers, a team that is also in the midst of an underwhelming season.


Philadelphia Phillies (54-63, 28-30 Road) at Milwaukee Brewers (52-64, 33-26 Home)
8:10 PM ET at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Probable Starters

PHI: LHP Cliff Lee (2-7, 3.85 ERA)

MIL: RHP Marco Estrada (0-5, 4.36 ERA)

Lineups

Phillies                                                        Brewers
1. SS Jimmy Rollins                                   1. RF Norichika Aoki
2. LF Juan Pierre                                        2. 2B Rickie Weeks
3. 2B Chase Utley                                      3. LF Ryan Braun
4. 1B Ryan Howard                                   4. 3B Aramis Ramirez
5. RF Dominic Brown                               5. 1B Corey Hart
6. CF Laynce Nix                                       6. C Jonathan Lucroy
7. 3B Kevin Frandsen                                7. CF Carlos Gomez
8. C Erik Kratz                                           8. SS Jean Segura
9. P Cliff Lee                                              9. P Marco Estrada

• The Phillies have had a lot of recent success playing in Miller Park. In a four game series last year, when the Brewers had the best home record in baseball, the Phillies won three of four.
• The Brewers do not have that great of a bullpen either. It is fair to expect high scoring in this series, should both teams resort to their pens.
• Cliff Lee just keeps having bad luck. In his last start against the Cardinals he pitched pretty well, until he ran into trouble in the sixth. Having one bad inning has troubled him all year. Hopefully it will not be the case tonight.
• Jimmy Rollins received heavy criticism after Wednesday's game for not running out a ground out in the sixth. Manager Charlie Manuel talked with Rollins about the issue, and told beat writer Todd Zolecki "He should be running hard from now on. We'll see."
• In 2008, the Phillies faced the Brewers in a four game series late in the season. The Phils swept Milwaukee and tied them for the lead in the NL Wild Card Race. You know how the rest of the story goes.