Gamethread 4/18: Phillies at Rockies

After another disappointing series in Miami, the Phillies head west to Colorado, where they’ve also had trouble lately, to the tune of 3-11 since the start of 2017.

If that doesn’t have fans worried yet, they can think about the Phillies’ starter in tonight’s opener: Aaron Nola gets his third start of the season, after the first two were somewhere between meh and terrible.

The Rockies have gotten off to a surprisingly good start, thanks to pretty good hitting in the early going (6th in scoring, and 8th in wRC+), and a bullpen that has had a sparkling 1.80 ERA so far.

The Phillies’ offense has been very hot and cold so far, with long stretches of not doing much punctuated by a few short barrages.

Tonight, J.T. Realmuto leads off again, but otherwise there are some changes: Bryson Stott is at shortstop in place of Didi Gregorius, and Alec Bohm is back at third base. Like yesterday, Nick Castellanos takes the field in right while Bryce Harper DH’s.

This will be the Phillies’ 11th lineup in 11 games, and (at least coming into play tonight), they weren’t alone in that in the NL East. The Braves and Mets have also not repeated any lineups so far, while the Nats have used two different lineups twice, and the Marlins used one twice.

The Rockies have righty Chad Kuhl starting, and they also haven’t repeated a lineup yet. This is their 10th different one in 10 games, with Kris Bryant getting his first day off: