City of Angels: Phillies vs. Angels Series Preview, August 28-30

The Phillies head to Southern California, looking to leave the bad start to the final West Coast trip of the regular season behind. They get to play a team in the Los Angeles Angels that waved the white flag months ago.

The Phillies dropped two of three to the Mariners to open this nine-game road trip, a series that snapped their season-long winning streak and exposed cracks that had been hiding underneath the shine of winning. Now at 74-60 and three games back of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East, the Phillies must not play down to the level of their competition.

If the Phils want to be taken seriously as a contender, this is a series they must win. The Angels rank in the bottom third in baseball for runs scored, and their pitching staff is one of the worst in baseball as well. For the Phillies to prove that Seattle wasn’t a concern is to take this series convincingly, and let this series become the start of a run at another NL East title.

Rebounding from a Gloomy Seattle Series

The trip opened as poorly as any trip could have after such an emotional high to close out the Cardinals series. Zack Wheeler had his worst start in a Phillies uniform in Game 1, allowing eight earned runs over four-plus innings of work. Seattle hitters jumped on him for five runs in the first inning alone. Cal Raleigh had three home runs in the game, which, if the calendar said 2025, wouldn’t be as much of a surprise, but Raleigh is having a down year at the plate; he still did damage to start this series off.

Game 2 didn’t go too much better. Though Aaron Nola pitched well enough, striking out seven over six innings and allowing only two runs, the Phils only managed six hits and went down in order four innings in a row. The bullpen didn’t help matters with Orion Kerkering and Brooks Raley allowing the Mariners to take a 2-1 lead and double it to win 4-1. No series-losing game is good, but this one felt like a recurring theme and stung.

At the minimum, Jesus Luzardo came in to stop the bleeding, and the Phillies had one of their most complete team wins of the season to salvage the series. This is a game that they can use to build on and to get back into winning series and making a run at the Braves. Another series like Seattle can’t happen if they have any desire to win another NL East title.

Phillies Pitching Staff Needs to Find Magic in Anaheim

There can only be one true storyline on the pitching staff at this time, and that is Wheeler. He has strung six starts together now without getting through six innings, and he’s allowed four or more runs in four of those games. After a first half that had him starting to be mentioned as a dark horse candidate for the Cy Young, he has posted a 7.18 ERA over his last seven outings. His overall ERA has gone from 2.13 to 3.40. Nothing about this stretch has been Wheeler-like, including his lack of control, but he takes the ball in the series finale, with a chance to dig himself out of the hole he has been in since the break.

The other starters in this series have pitched well lately; Andrew Painter has turned his rookie season around, looking more like the top prospect that the Phils thought he was. In Game 2, Cristopher Sanchez will take the ball, looking to build his way to a 20-win season and build on his Cy Young-caliber season.

The only other is the middle relief needs to get back to putting out fires, especially if the starters run into issues. This has definitely been better since the trade deadline, and needs to continue if the Phils starters run into issues, particularly if Wheeler can’t figure it out in the series closer.

Phillies Must Get Timely Hitting From Stars

The numbers don’t lie. When Kyle Schwarber or Bryce Harper homer, the Phils are 33-13 this season. The most recent example of this was in the series close in Seattle. Both homered and powered the Phils offense and allowed Luzardo to get into a groove and not have to nibble at the plate, and he responded. In addition to this, Harper robbed a home run off the bat of Julio Rodriguez as well.

Schwarber has hit well in Anaheim historically, and the Phils need him to continue that to win this series convincingly. He doesn’t need to hit home runs, per se, but hitting well with runners in scoring position and driving in runs will be needed for the Phils to take home a series, no matter how bad the Angels staff has been this season.

The offense also needs to continue to get contributions from Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott to get back to where they need to be. Luis Arraez has been much better offensively as well. Not that Anaheim is a team that requires that you are firing on all cylinders to beat, but this is a very good series to build momentum and get that playoff push started with.

Game Times and Broadcasts

Friday, August 28, 9:38 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 1210 WPHT

Saturday, August 29, 10:07 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP

Sunday, August 30, 4:07 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Andrew Painter (RHP, 3-8, 6.04 ERA) vs. Reid Detmers (LHP, 4-8, 3.62 ERA)

Game 2: Cristopher Sanchez (LHP, 16-4, 2.62 ERA) vs. Ryan Johnson (RHP, 2-6, 7.63 ERA)

Game 3: Zack Wheeler (RHP, 10-5, 3.40 ERA) vs. Yusei Kikuchi (LHP, 0-4, 6.25 ERA)

By the Numbers

• Record
  • Phillies: 74-60
  • Angels: 52-82

• Run Differential
  • Phillies: +23
  • Angels: -75

• Runs Scored Per Game
  • Phillies: 4.54
  • Angels: 4.09

• Runs Allowed Per Game
  • Phillies: 4.37
  • Angels: 4.65

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