Philadelphia Phillies (20-16) at Cincinnati Reds (20-17)
Cole Hamels (1-2, 5.04 ERA) vs. Johnny Cueto (4-1, 1.93 ERA)
Time: 7:10 p.m. at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
Weather: Sunny, 73
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Twitter: Phillies Nation
After a road sweep of Washington, the Phillies get back to business against the Reds.
Cole Hamels goes for the Phils, and he loves pitching in Cinncinati. Lifetime he’s 2-0 with an 0.86 ERA in 21 innings, starting with his very first appearance in the majors. The young Reds lineup – featuring Jay Bruce and Joey Votto – hasn’t seen Hamels much at all; the only player with any real experience against Hamels is Brandon Phillips, who is 1-for-12 against “Hollywood.” Hamels is coming off his best start of the season, and so far has been able to lower his ERA considerably. Hamels could lower the ERA under 4.00 with eight shutout innings.
Johnny Cueto got off to a hot start in 2008 but cooled considerably. He’s again off to a great start, getting ahead of hitters without huge strikeout numbers. He’s hittable, but he’s also the type of pitcher the Phils have historically had trouble against. He makes his very first start against the Phils tonight.
The bullpen should be well rested, with maybe the only unavailable arms being Jack Taschner and Chad Durbin, who were worked heavily Sunday.
In 14 games at Great American, Ryan Howard has hit six homers. But he’s only hitting .234 in the park.
Your gamenight beer: Franziskaner Club-Weisse Kristalklar is a familiar-looking beer, mainly because it has the look of most German hefeweizens. But Kristalklar is, in fact, a Kristalweizen, which is a cleaner version of a hef. That means it’s even easier to drink than those light, lemony beers. You’ll want to stock hard on it and eat a nice seafood sandwich.
Go Phillies!
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