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Phillies have played pretty bad as of late and lost 4 in a row. Today they face the Nationals who are equally bad and are just 1-8 since losing Nyjer Morgan. I think Morgan played a big roll on this team that really played .500 ball when they made the trade for him. Their run production has disappeared since losing him and without Nick Johnson too this team is just not a team that can win games by scoring runs they have to do it with pitching and I do not see them doing it today. The Phillies turn to Pedro to go up against John Lannan.
Lannan has been decent in three starts against the Phillies, but again making his 4th start against a quality team like the Phillies is hard to do. I like how the Phillies have pushed Lannan out of the game before completing 6 innings in each start. His numbers on the season are 15.2 IP, 19 hits and 6 BB with 9 ER. The damage could be much worse, and if he only goes 5 innings here tonight it certainly will turn the game over to a bullpen which has a 6.35 ERA in its last 3 games, 5.71 L5, or 7.22 BP L10. Granite the Phillies have struggled vs. LH starters as of late, but ironically they are 4-1 in their last 5 vs. LH starters. The loss coming from Wandy Rodriguez who has been an ace this year. I just see the Phillies getting the job done here big time with Pedro Martinez on the mound.
Pedro coming off his best start and he'll look to go 4-0 as a Phillie. In his last start his velocity was up again as he went 7 innings and struck out 9 batters while allowing 1 ER. It was vintage Pedro and his only mistake was a HR in the first. He'll face a Nats lineup that is scoring 2.51 runs per 9 innings vs. RHP in their last 5 with a .228 average. The Nats are 1-7 in their last 8 home vs. RH starter and Lannan is 1-4 on 5 days rest. Look for the Phillies to start to make a run for the playoffs at this time where they have always done in the past to catch the Mets.
