Gamethread 7/2: Padres at Phillies

For the first time in a few years, the Phillies will host the San Diego Padres in Philadelphia. Thanks to the pandemic, we recall that divisions stayed in their respective regions last year, meaning West coast teams didn’t travel to the East coast. That means the Phillies haven’t seen San Diego in the new brown and gold color scheme. They also haven’t seen this new and talented Padres squad, meaning they’ll get an up close look at one of the best teams in the game. Should the weather hold out, they’ll be in for a handful.

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

Hail, hail the gang’s all here, baby.

For the first time in a while, the lineup will be fully operational thanks to the return of Didi Gregorius. Of course, for some reason, Odubel Herrera is still leading off even though he has been quite poor of late. Zack Wheeler is on the mound to face the vaunted Padres lineup, which looks like this:

That two through five is dangerous, man.

The Padres will open with Chris Paddack who, while he hasn’t been as good as his rookie season, is still a highly effective starter for the Padres.

Let’s talk about it.