In late July, the San Francisco Giants came to Philadelphia for the first time since last year's NLCS and took two of three from the Phillies. Tonight, the Phillies will look for a measure of revenge as they begin a four game set at AT&T Park. Cliff Lee takes the hill for the Phils as the Giants counter with Madison Bumgarner.
Since that series, the two teams have taken somewhat divergent paths. The Phillies have played extremely well and extended their lead in the NL East to 8 games. The Giants lost five straight after the Phillies series and now sit just a game up in the NL West having lost six of their last ten. The Phils have won seven of ten and are coming off a sweep of the Rockies.
The Phillies took it to the Rockies with offense and they will hope to carry that momentum against the Giants, against whom they scored less than two runs per game in their two losses in July. The Phillies will throw Lee, Hamels and the returning Roy Oswalt in this series, but the Giants will miss Roy Halladay.
Tonight's matchup of Lee vs Bumgarner features two pitchers who missed the last series between the two. This will be Bumgartner's first regular season start against the Phils. He's coming off a four inning performance in which he gave up seven runs on Saturday against the Reds.