Tuesday MLB: Chicago Cubs (47-44) at Philadelphia Phillies (52-38)
Maybe the Philadelphia Phillies don’t need Roy Halladay after all. The Phils are the hottest team in baseball with nine straight wins and are pulling away in the NL East. So is it worth it to part with three or four top prospects to get Halladay? We shall find out by July 31.
The Cubs certainly were no match for the Phillies in the series opener on Monday night, losing 10-1. Chicago had won its five previous road games. Now the Phillies have outscored their opponents 91-33 in their last 14 games.
The Phillies’ last winning streak of more than eight games was April 30-May 9, 2006, a stretch of nine games. Their last 10-game win streak came in 1991, when they won 13 in a row from July 30-Aug. 12.
And they are -127 money line favorites to extend that streak to 10 tonight on WagerWeb.com.
The Phils start Joe Blanton tonight. He is 4-1 with a 2.44 ERA and seven quality starts over his past nine official outings (his last start was rained out). On July 5, Blanton outdueled Johan Santana with 7 1/3 scoreless innings, and on July 10, he allowed just four hits and one run over 7 1/3 innings. It was the first time he threw more than seven innings in consecutive outings since April 2008. But the Phillies are 0-4 in Blanton’s last 4 starts vs. a team with a winning record.
Chicago counters with Rich Harden. He is 2-5 with a 7.59 ERA in nine starts at home; he’s 4-1 with a 2.17 ERA in six away from Wrigley Field. He is also much better at night than during the day. But Chicago is just 1-4 in the past five occasions when Harden starts Game 2 of a series.
Harden will need to be extra careful with Raul Ibanez, who has a team-leading 25 homers and is batting .348 (8 for 23) with three home runs and nine RBIs in his last six games since coming off the disabled list with a groin injury.
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