The Phillies take on the Oakland Athletics this evening in the second part of a three-game series, and pitcher Cole Hamels will be looking for his 10th win, a mark that, if reached, would make the left-hander the first National League player to reach a double-digit victory total. The Phils' opponents aren't too shabby on the mound tonight, either, however, as promising 23-year-old Trevor Cahill (7-5, 3.24 ERA) is scheduled to throw for the A's.
Hamels, who lost his last start but has dominated this season with an earned run average of just 2.50, has pitched at least seven innings in all but one of his last five appearances on the mound for the Phillies, though he's never faced the Athletics in his career. Meanwhile, Cahill is coming off a recent shutdown performance against the Giants, in which he retired 16 of the last 17 batters and allowed just one run along with only a single hit after the third inning.
The Phillies captured the first game of their current series by a score of 1-0, defeating Guillermo Moscoso in the ninth inning off a pinch-hit RBI single by outfield Ben Francisco. After this evening's matchup, Roy Halladay is scheduled to take the hill for Philadelphia (48-29) on Sunday afternoon.
The projected lineup for the Phillies' game this evening is as follows:
- SS Jimmy Rollins
- 3B Placido Polanco
- 2B Chase Utley
- 1B Ryan Howard
- CF Shane Victorino
- LF Raul Ibanez
- RF Domonic Brown
- C Carlos Ruiz
- P Cole Hamels