Coming off the most painful three game set since, well, last September, the Phillies aim to take out some frustration on a Los Angeles Dodgers squad that resembles a M*A*S*H unit (minus the grab-ass hijinks of Hawkeye and Trapper John, but I gotta admit that Grady Little makes a nice Colonel Blake).
Your grandma knows by now that Über-Closer Eric Gagne is out for a very long time due to a second elbow operation in under a year. Brand-new first baseman Nomar Garciaparra has experienced his annual debilitating injury right on schedule, and new shortstop Rafael Furcal is injured but likely to play in the series after being spiked by Andruw Jones earlier this week on a close play at second base. Oh, and Jeff Kent got struck in the arm with a pitch and is also "likely" to play this weekend. Yup, looks like a lot of the same stuff that doomed Jim Tracy and Paul DePodesta last season might give Ned Colletti and Grady Little a lot of grief this year, too. And we haven't even mentioned J.D. Drew yet.
The good news is that the Phillies apparently have no injuries yet. The bad news is that injuries would have been a great excuse for the pants-wetting they gave us vs. the Cardinals this week. If this is any indication of the state of the Phillies starting pitching, then it's time to get really worried
Friday's matchup:
Brett Tomko vs. Gavin Floyd
Saturday's matchup:
TBA vs. Ryan Madson
Sunday's matchup:
Derek Lowe vs. Jon Lieber