Phillies, seeking .500, travel to St Louis to play the .500 Cardinals

Fresh off the team’s first series win in Washington, Rob Thomson and company are looking to have a winning record for the first time in the young season as they prepare to take on the Cardinals.

Let’s get into what we can expect in the 2022 WC round rematch.

Cardinals are HOT out of the gate

After losing 3 of 4 to the Dodgers (can you really blame them?) they’ve responded with authority, winning each of their last 2 series against San Diego, and Miami.

Their Left Fielder Brendan Donavan has been collecting bases like a mailman collects stamps, leading his team in batting average (.312), OBP (.450), and Doubles (4). Early in the season, the Power has come from the veteran catcher Wilson Contreras and young Second Baseman Nolan Gorman, with each of them going yard twice, meanwhile, Nolan Gorman also leads his team in RBIs with 7.

Their 3 starters in this series will be Miles Mikolas, Sonny Gray, and Lance Lynn. Mikolas followed up his poor start against the Dodgers with a 6-inning gem against San Diego and Lance Lynn has been ok with 4 runs allowed in 8.2 innings pitched.

The real star of their rotation is going to make his first start against the Phillies, and his name is Sonny Gray. Sonny Gray is coming off a season where he had a 2.79 ERA with the Twins, which earned him a 3-year $75 million contract with the Cardinals. No doubt the Ace of the Cardinals’ rotation

Hot and Cold start for your Fightins’

Part of the team has looked really, really good out of the gate for the Phillies.

Bryce Harper has caught fire, so has JT Realmuto, the starting pitching has been fantastic, and a Conner Brogdon-less bullpen has finally lived up to expectations.

The main struggle for the Phillies so far has been offensive production from its outfielders. The only exception to this is Brandon Marsh, but so far Topper has been hesitant to make him the team’s everyday outfielder. The other 4 outfielders are Whit Merrifield, Cristian Pache, Johan Rojas, and Nick Castellanos. So far they are a combined 8-72 (.111) with 0 homers, 2 RBIs, and 19 strikeouts.

To compare Brandon Marsh alone has 1 less hit, and 3 more RBIs. If this team is going to play at the level of a playoff contender, they will all need to catch up. Especially, Nick Castellanos, who is the 6th highest-paid player on the 4th most expensive in baseball.

Can the Phillies get it done?

All in all, there’s a reason the Phillies are betting favorites in this series.

They match up very well with the Cardinals (especially with the pitching matchups) and should at least be able to take 2 of 3 and bolster the team’s record to 6-6.

The Phillies need to capitalize off of this part of the schedule as they don’t play a team with a winning record last year for another 2 weeks.

Game Times and Broadcasts

Monday, April 8, at 7:45 ET on NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, and WTTM 1680 (Spanish)

Tuesday, April 8, at 7:45 ET on NBC Sports App, 94.1 WIP, and WTTM 1680 (Spanish)

Wednesday, April 10, at 1:15 ET on NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, and WTTM 1680 (Spanish)

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Spencer Turnbull (RHP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Miles Mikolas (RHP, 1-1, 6.10 ERA)

Game 2: Zack Wheeler (RHP, 0-1, 0.75 ERA) vs Zack Thompson (LHP, 0-2, 6.97 ERA)

Game 3: Aaron Nola (RHP, 1-1, 5.40 ERA) vs Lance Lynn (RHP, 0-0, 4.15 ERA)

By the Numbers

Record
Phillies: 4-5
Cardinals: 5-5

Run Differential
Phillies: -8
Cardinals: -5

Runs Scored Per Game
Phillies: 4.00
Cardinals: 4.10

Runs Allowed Per Game
Phillies: 4.89
Cardinals: 4.60

Here is the lineup for Game 1:

Stubbs starts behind the dish for Turnbull again tonight.

Schwarber DH
Turner 6
Harper 3
Bohm 5
Stott 5
Castellanos 9
Marsh 7
Stubbs 2
Rojas 8

Turnbull RHP
— Benjamin Goldstein (@BGoldsteinPSR) April 8, 2024