Baseball By the Bay — Series Preview: Phillies at Giants, July 7-9

Get prepared for late-night Phillies as they gear up for their second West Coast trip of the season, starting in San Francisco. The Phils take on the Giants for a three-game series to open their week.

They’re fresh off their third straight series win, practically given to them by Zack Wheeler’s Sunday gem, while the Giants are coming off a 13-14 record in June.

The Giants have had an 8-12 record since June 15th, when they acquired All-Star Rafael Devers in a blockbuster trade.

They have had a rough season offensively, but like the Phillies (at times), they have been kept afloat by their pitching staff. Their offense ranks 24th in the league in OPS (.684) — only nine points higher than the 21-win Rockies.

Their staff has been the polar opposite as they rank 2nd in the league in team ERA (3.45). The Phillies rank ninth (3.70).

Their big-splash, Devers, was to improve their offense, but in the 19 games he’s been a Giant, he possesses a .225 batting average.

With that said, the series could shape up to be a pitchers’ duel — one that the Phillies starters may win.

Which leads us to the keys to the series:

Back of the Rotation Holds it Down

The Phillies had excellent starts in the Reds series from Wheeler and Ranger Suarez, two of their three best starters. The one game the Phils did lose in that series was Jesus Luzardo’s start, which was good for five earned runs on his part.

Luzardo has not been too good lately. He had two historically bad starts at the start of June, but mixed in a few good ones throughout the month. It’s been a tale of two Luzardos the last two months, and fans started to theorize themselves:

In night games, Luzardo has a 2.61 ERA through 51.2 innings. In day games, Luzardo has a 6.50 ERA in 43.1 innings.

How much weight these numbers hold is to be determined, but it’s worth noting that Luzardo will start game three, a 12:45 start time in San Fran.

The other back-of-the-rotation pitcher is Taijuan Walker, who hasn’t started a game since May 30th, when he allowed four earned runs in four innings.

Walker has sprinkled in good outings from the bullpen (with other poor outings) and is now filling in the last rotation spot since Mick Abel was demoted to Lehigh Valley.

He hasn’t been great this season, and the expectations are definitely low for his upcoming start, but he would provide a lot of value to his team if he can throw a quality start in the middle of the series.

Harper Finds a Groove

The offense, for the most part, had a decent showing in the Reds series. They found ways to score when the hits weren’t coming, but in the last two games, Bryce Harper went hitless.

Since returning from the injured list on June 30th, Harper has played in five games. He’s gotten three hits in 17 at-bats and struck out nine times. Not ideal.

He had a few solid knocks in the first game of the Reds series but seemed off in the last two. Harper has already dealt with his timing being off in the early months, but found a groove right before getting injured.

Perhaps it’s the lingering wrist injury that’s kept his timing off, no one but himself can say for sure, but they need him to get in a groove again.

There are six games left before the all-star break, so if he picks things up a bit, it would be a good omen for himself and the team.

A West Coast trip is never exciting for the fans, especially when two of the games are starting just before 10 p.m., but if Harper hits like he did before he was injured, it may be a little more enjoyable.

Game Times and Broadcasts

Monday, July 7, 9:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB Network, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Tuesday, July 8, 9:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Wednesday, July 9, 3:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP, WTTM 1680

Probable Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Cristopher Sanchez (LHP, 7-2, 2.68 ERA) vs. Landen Roupp (RHP, 6-5, 3.48 ERA)

Game 2: Taijuan Walker (RHP, 3-5, 3.64 ERA) vs. Robbie Ray (LHP, 9-3, 2.68 ERA)

Game 3: Jesus Luzardo (LHP, 7-5, 4.44 ERA) vs. Justin Verlander (RHP, 0-6, 4.84 ERA

By the Numbers

Records
Phillies: 53-37
Giants: 49-42

Run Differential
Phillies: 55
Giants: 30

Runs Scored Per Game
Phillies: 4.61
Giants: 4.17

Runs Allowed Per Game
Phillies: 4.01
Giants: 3.88

Sean Regenye

Sean Regenye is a sophomore broadcast journalism major at Penn State University. He is a die-hard Philly sports fan and loves baseball, especially the Phillies.

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