Philadelphia Phillies (85-60) at Atlanta Braves (78-68)
7:30pm - Turner Field, Atlanta, GA
In the opener of this three game series, the Phillies will send Jay Happ to the mound to face off against Tim Hudson. Happ is returning from an oblique injury which has caused him to miss his last several starts. He will look to continue his brilliant rookie season against a team that he has dominated in his career. For the Braves, Tim Hudson will get the start after missing most of this season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Hudson is a top-line pitcher and this game promises to be a real pitching-intensive match up.
Tonight will be the much-awaited return of Jay Happ. After injuring his oblique muscle in batting practice, Happ missed his last several starts. With great career numbers against the Braves and on the road, this game seems like the perfect time for him to return. Current Braves hitters are a combined .139 off of Happ in 94 career plate appearances. Happ will look to continue his dominance against Atlanta. He will need to keep his pitches down and only elevate with purpose.
The Braves will send their recovering ace to the mound in Tim Hudson. Coming off of a substantially bigger injury than Happ's, Hudson will make another start after returning from Tommy John surgery. The Phillies will look to greet him with some offense, as they are batting a combined .269 in 338 plate appearances for their careers. The Phils will try to exploit his pitch count and put together some scoring rallies in support of Happ.
A win in the game this evening can set the tone for the series for the Phillies. As they look to close out the NL East, they can put more distance between them and the now second-place Braves. With Happ returning to the hill, the Phillies will look to their offense to pick up the slack and keep the Braves from closing the gap in the division.
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