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When the Brewers came to Philadelphia last week, it was a successful trip for the visitors. It may seem like the Brewers have dominated the rivalry lately, but surprisingly, the Phillies have done fairly well in Milwaukee in recent seasons. Over the past three seasons, the Phillies have a 5-4 record in Miller Park, and they’ve kept their arch-nemesis (you know who I’m talking about) to a merely excellent .344 batting average as opposed to his incredible .417 career mark at Citizens Bank Park.
Milwaukee Brewers
Record: 29-22, Second place in National League Central
The last time they met
Ryan Braun and Yasmani Grandal did as they so often do against the Phillies, leading the Brewers to three wins in the four-game series.
Since then?
The Brewers have gone 2-3 since that series, annoyingly dropping two out of three to the Braves. If you’re going to dominate one team in the division, the polite thing would be to dominate all of them.
Silent Yel?
Christian Yelich has been insanely hot at Miller Park this season, putting up a slash line of .406/.524/1.141.
Well this is fun. Motion for @ChristianYelich to play all his games at Miller Park.
— David Schuman (@david_schuman) May 20, 2019
"This season, Yelich is hitting .406/.524/1.141 at home. Since last year's All-Star break, Yelich has hit .386/.475/.947 in 52 home games, with 162-game paces of 93 homers and 206 RBIs."
It’s not exactly unwelcome news for the Phillies that he’s dealing with back spasms and his status for the weekend is questionable. If he is able to play, it might not be a bad idea for the Phillies be liberal with the use of the intentional walk.
Or maybe not
The problem with walking Yelich is that the Phillies will still have to deal with Braun and Grandal, and putting extra base runners on board for those guys seems like a bad idea.
Speaking of Grandal
Here’s something to think about:
The Phillies could have just signed Yasmani Grandal instead of pay the high prospect cost for J.T. Realmuto.
— Devan Fink (@DevanFink) February 7, 2019
I mean, Grandal signed for just $18.25 million guaranteed. Phillies could have easily beat that, I think.
On the other hand
Does anyone regret having J.T. Realmuto on the team? Not only has his defense been excellent all season, he’s starting to heat up at the plate too. Over the past two weeks, he’s got an OPS of .864 with three home runs.
Hold the brakes on the Moustakas hype
After Mike Moustakas had some big hits against the Phillies, there were a few fans lamenting the team not pursuing him in free agency.
Thinking this...
— Jack Fritz (@JackFritzWIP) May 17, 2019
The Phillies offense, but with Mike Moustakas instead of Maikel Franco.
However, after a fast start to the season, Moose has cooled off a bit. He’s sporting an on base percentage of just .286 over the past two weeks.
Braun:Phillies::Franco:Brewers?
Obviously Moustakas has been better than Maikel Franco this season, but there’s reason to hope that might change this weekend. In nine career games at Miller Park, Franco has an on base percentage of .515 with four home runs. He’s got a long way to go before he can become the Brewers’ version of Ryan Braun, but he’s certainly off to a great start.
If a trip to Miller Park can’t get Franco going, it’s possible that nothing will.
Happy homecoming
Jean Segura spent most of his first four seasons playing for the Brewers, so this will serve as something of a homecoming for him. The Brewers may not be all that happy to see him though. He’s hit well all season, but was especially good when the Brewers visited Philadelphia, going 6-17 with two home runs.
Jean Segura has a 14-game hitting streak. He's hitting .364 with a .417 on-base percentage during the streak.
— Matt Breen (@matt_breen) May 23, 2019
Brewers’ scheduled pitchers
Chase Anderson has bounced between the rotation and bullpen this season. Sure, his numbers look good, but just how good could he be if they’re not confident enough to leave him in one role? Seems strange the Brewers would choose this weekend to put him back in the rotation considering his poor performance against the Phillies in the past.
Next up is Jhoulys Chacin. His thoroughly mediocre career has continued along at a mediocre clip this season. He’s not really exceptional in any area, unless you want to count hitting batters with pitches. If the Phillies want to get some runners on base, they might want to lean into a pitch or two.
Brandon Woodruff has been on a roll lately, not allowing more than two earned runs in any of his past five starts - including his six shutout innings against the Phillies. However, Woodruff has been significantly better away from Miller Park in his career, with a home ERA more than two runs higher than his away mark. So there’s a good chance that the Phillies will experience more success this time around.
Prediction
Much like in previous years, the Phillies fare better in Milwaukee than they did in Philadelphia, and take two out of three.