Rockies Phillies Series Preview
After starting the season on the road, and winning 2 out of 3 over a division foe in the Washington Nationals, the Philadelphia Phillies play against the Colorado Rockies, who lost two out of three against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Now, with the Phillies contending for a championship, and the Rockies in rebuild, it is a must for Philadelphia to dominate this series. Let’s see what the keys are to this series.
#1-Starting Pitching
The Phillies will start Cristopher Sanchez, Taijuan Walker and Zack Wheeler in this series, and on paper, Philadelphia should feel good with Sanchez. Last year, Sanchez had a 1.59 ERA in two starts against the Rockies, while Wheeler is coming off of a stellar opener, even though he did not get the victory. As for Walker, who will start game three of the series on Thursday, you just hope he gets you through five innings, and that he does not tax the bullpen, especially with the L.A. Dodgers coming into town this weekend. Rockies hitters lifetime are batting .400 against Walker.
As for Colorado, German Marquez will start game 1, and Phillies batters have had success against him, as they are batting .368 against him, led by Alec Bohm batting .625 (5-8, HR, 4 RBI0 and Kyle Schwarber batting .429 (6-14, 2 HR, 3 RBI). On Wednesday, it will be Kyle Freeland starting, and he does have a history of giving Phillies batters, as they have hit .189 against him, although Nick Castellanos does have 3 home runs against him. In the finale, it will be Antonio Senzatela, who only made three starts last year due to injury, and in his start did not allow a run in 4 1/3 innings. Phillies hitters are batting .345 lifetime against him, and two players to watch are Castellanos (4-7 lifetime with 3 RBI) and Trea Turner (6-12 lifetime).
#2-Stay hot at the plate
Philadelphia is fifth in MLB with a .275 batting average, while Colorado is batting .220, as a team. Also, Philadelphia leads by a wide margin in OBP (.400 to .243), SLG (.566 to .262)and OPS (.966 to .504). Even though, the Rockies have a team ERA of 2.12, they played the Tampa Bay Rays, who do not have the fire power, as the Phillies.
#3-Scoring in key situations
The one glaring issue that the Phillies had were not driving in runners in scoring position. This weekend they batted .250, and that included a dreadful 0-for-9 on Sunday. The one promising area, Philadelphia’s average this weekend when balls were in play was .338, which was 3rd best in MLB.
Overall, this series is one that the Phillies need to dominate in all areas-pitching, fielding and batting. Especially, when the next six games after this are against the Dodgers and the Braves.
-David Weightman/ OCSN