The last time the Phillies faced the Giants.... well, let's just focus on the present. The teams square off tonight in the opener of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
The pitching matchup: The meeting of Vance Worley vs. Tim Lincecum features one pitcher who is five games over .500 with an ERA just a hair above two. That pitcher, of course, is not the Freak, but the Vanimal. Worley (6-1, 2.02) is 4-0 with an 0.81 ERA in his last five starts. Lincecum made the All-Star team this season and has a 2.90 ERA, but his record stands at just 8-8. He is 2-1 with a 3.17 ERA in seven career regular-season starts vs. the Phillies. He went 1-1 with a 3.14 ERA in last season's NLCS.
The preview: Here is Jim Salisbury's breakdown of the postseason rematch, while Salisbury and Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com take a look at how the teams have changed since October.
The lineup: The Phils' card looks like this: Rollins, Martinez, Utley, Howard, Victorino, Ibanez, Brown, Schneider, Worley.
The bad news: Joe Blanton appears to be done for the year, according to Matt Gelb's tweet this afternoon. Blanton apparently has nerve damage in his elbow and is unlikely to return to the Phils in 2011.
Great, Schneider. If the Phils have a need, it should be to get an MLB back-up catcher.
Posted by: SLO Phan | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:00 PM
Schneider seems to be The Catcher of the Vanimal.
Posted by: phargo | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:07 PM
"Schneider seems to be The Catcher of the Vanimal."
He lacks the seniority to demand something better.
Posted by: curt | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:19 PM
Agaimst a Giants team tough to score off, it's likely the game is close late. Which means that once again, Ruiz won't get a complete game off.
Posted by: Fatalotti | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:20 PM
Lincecum will not pitch tonight due to illness. It's Zito tonight.
Posted by: donc | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:25 PM
Lincecum is not starting tonight now per CSN. He is sick and Bochy has scratched him and moved Zito up to tonight's game.
Posted by: The Truth Injection | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:25 PM
Zito will promptly throw a CGSO
Posted by: Steve | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:26 PM
Lincecum sick. It's Zito instead tonight. Can Phils still shuffle their lineup to put in some right handed bats like Chooch?
Posted by: Spitz | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:26 PM
Phils can change their lineup right up until it's delivered to the home plate umpire.
Posted by: Mike G | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:28 PM
Thanks Mike G.
Posted by: Spitz | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:29 PM
If Timmy just got some bad weed he may be able to go tomorrow. Who knows?
Posted by: donc | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:31 PM
Wow. What a colossal break. I wish Lincecum a speedy recovery -- though not so speedy for him to pitch in this series.
Posted by: bay_area_phan | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:32 PM
The only right handed bat who's hitting better against LHP this year than Shane Victorino is Jose Bautista. And the numbers are pretty close.
How crazy is that?
Also, Shane sporting a superb 145 OPS+ and actually hitting over .300 on the year.
He's walking at a career high rate (9.6%) which is a respectable rate, he's only K'ing at a 10.1% rate (which is right around his career rate, but a bit lower), his BAbip of .317 is not far off his career rate of .302, and his ISO is by far the best of his career.
And here's the crazy thing: his LD% is only at 14.1% this year, with his career rate being 18.7%. If that normalizes, Shane should only get better this year offensively. That's kind of exciting, especially if Charlie keeps him in the 5 hole. He'll basically be a faster, higher BA, slightly less power version Jayson Werth from last year.
Posted by: Fatalotti | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:35 PM
Not that big a break at all BAP. Either Timmy gets healthy and pitches tomorrow or Wednesday, or everyone moves up and we get Vogelsong, who actually has better numbers than Lincecum.
Posted by: Spitz | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:36 PM
Probably will mean RFD in RF and Ruiz behind the plate, with Zito in there.
Maybe even Valdez could sneak in a start at 3B. Remember him?
Posted by: denny b. | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:38 PM
donc: Lets hope he shared it with his teammates.
Posted by: goody | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:38 PM
Having the opposing manager replace his 98th percentile power pitcher with a 40th percentile junk baller can only mean one thing for Phillies fans: this feels like a loss.
Posted by: bay_area_phan | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:39 PM
Yeah Goody. Maybe an infected bong or something. They say the Giants are a very close team.
Posted by: donc | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:40 PM
So I guess tomorrow will be Hamels against Lincecum or Cain? Wow - appointment TV!!
Posted by: Spitz | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:42 PM
RFD
replaces Domo in right.
Posted by: donc | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:42 PM
Rosenthal tweets Phils most aggressive on Pence. Braves not involved.
Posted by: CJ | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:48 PM
I don't buy the "Lincecum has the sniffles stuff."
He obviously saw that Schneider was in the lineup tonight and got scared.
Posted by: denny b. | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:48 PM
i'm surprised Bochy didn't wait to scratch Timmy Tim Tim until the lineup cards to leave Manuel in the lurch.
I don't know what the major league rules are on that.
Posted by: HammRadio | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:50 PM
Yo, new thread.
Posted by: CJ | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:50 PM
Jayson Stark was ESPM 97.3 just now says:
- braves will definitely get a RH bat but doubts Beltran and says buzz was Willingham today
- He doesn't buy Montgomery's comments about might be willing to pay luxury tax. Says Amaro has been under huge pressure to not pay luxury tax
- Says that all baseball front offices say, Amaro one of most aggressive GMs, he has checked in on every big name if there is even a hint that they might room, has made offers but.. are they good enough to entice the other guy to trade?
- won't trade Worley unless starting pitching coming back
In other words, we should be happy Amaro does his job, checks on everyone, has irons in the fire. We just need to remember some of the players will not change teams while others have a ton of competition and Phillies are limited by ability to take on too much salary and no real AAA or close to major league prospects. These all limit are ability to get something done.
Posted by: Slocs | Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 05:54 PM