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Phillies vs Marlins Series Preview

it's only april. it's only april. it's only april. it's only april. it's only april. it's onl- oh fffffff it's MAY.

By Tony Verduci
Marc Serota

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Ahhhh I don't think I'm giving Kyle Kendrick enough credit here. Anyways,

Heading into the Indians series, I had two key bulletpoints:

  1. Beware of Carlos Santana and Mark Reynolds
  2. Trevor Bauer is the kind of guy who could blank this team
...Whew. I didn't think we had to worry about much beyond that, but was I wrong. Zach McAllister blanked the Phillies in an absolutely embarrassing fireworks show at Progressive Field, yielding seven home runs from the opposing Indians.

In a six game stretch where the Phillies should and could have taken all six games, they're heading into a four-game series against the Fish with a 0-2 start. Winnable games. Winnable games where they simply cannot score. There was good...somewhere. Delmon Young homered in his first at-bat as a Phillie, Chase Utley continued to provide offense, and they managed to walk six times yesterday against Bauer...without scoring a run. Lovely. It should be note that the Marlins are the last place marlins for a REASON, and with their only feared slugger Giancarlo Stanton on the DL, get used to seeing the Justin Ruggiano, Donovan Solano and Chris Coughlins' of the world trying to beat the Phils. Naturally, former Phils Placido Polanco, Greg Dobbs and Juan Pierre will be lurking to etch their mark as Phillie killers.

As the Phillies head into the opening series tonight against Alex Sanabia, there is no Chooch or Ben Revere in the lineup. Chooch is more than likely benched to give Kyle Kendrick some comfort with Erik Kratz, and BENF is somewhat banged up at the moment, in midst of a horrid slump (.204/.245/.471). Also noteworthy is that Delmon Young is in the lineup, starting in right field. This will be Delmon's first non-DH start since September 12th of last year, and his first start in right field since 2007 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Devil Rays.

We'll see what goes down tonight, as the Phillies send out their ace (?!) Kyle Kendrick. Do the bats come alive? Does Michael Young stop grounding into double plays? Does Chooch come off the bench with a grand slam?

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