Phillies Preview: September 16, 2009

Washington Nationals (50-94) at Philadelphia Phillies (83-60)
7:05pm - Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA

Livan Hernandez, RHP (8-10, 5.30) v. Joe Blanton, RHP (9-7, 4.11)

Two solid righties will face off in game two of the series as Livan Hernandez looks to continue his success against the Phillies and Joe Blanton. Hernandez defeated the Phillies last week and kept their high-powered offense shaking their heads. The Phillies will look to get their offense firing on all cylinders against him this time, behind Joe Blanton. Blanton was lit up in his last appearance against the Nationals, last week. He gave up a season high eight earned runs and turned in one of his worst starts of the season. However, Blanton has been steady this season and will try to regroup in this start against the Nats.

Joe Blanton had a rough start against the Nationals in his last outing. He will look to regroup from that as they face off again. However, it will not be easy as the Nats hitters will look to avenge their shut out last night. For his career, Blanton has allowed a .282 batting average by current Nationals in 125 plate appearances, including seven homers. He will need to keep the ball in the park tonight against the Nats' big hitters and work off of his fastball. Hopefully the Phillies' offense can also give him a lead to work with early on.

For the Nationals, Livan Hernandez has returned and delivered a solid start against the Phillies last week. The Phillies will need to have much more patience against the veteran frisbee-thrower, in order to build up his pitch count and do some damage. Lifetime, Phillies hitters are batting just .255 against Hernandez in 242 plate appearances. It will be interesting to see if they can improve upon those numbers tonight against a mediocre-at-best pitcher.

With the Marlins already winning today, the Phillies will try to maintain their lead in the NL East with their fourth consecutive win on this home stand. They can also make some progress on lowering their magic number and improving their standing among all National League teams. With a strong showing from the righty Blanton and some timely hitting, the Phillies can capture another series win tonight.