We get a break from the Yankees and the Red Sox (for one week at least) as Sunday Night Baseball on Five serves up a clash between two teams in the thick of the play-off race in the National League.  Five’s coverage begins at 00.55, with first pitch scheduled for ten minutes later. 

The Phillies had high hopes coming into the 2008 season that they could build on their 2007 campaign.  A storming finish down the stretch, that saw them make October for the first time since 1993, appeared to use up all their energy as they were promptly dispatched in three games by the rolling Rockies.  After the initial disappointment of their postseason ending so abruptly, the Phillies could look back on a successful season that appeared to set them up for another challenge in 2008.  So it has proved, with Philadelphia entering tonight’s contest at the top of the NL East with the Marlins and the Mets close behind.

Meanwhile the Cardinals were mostly written off as a possible play-off contender heading into the season.  With a distinctly unimpressive batting lineup (Albert Pujols aside) and an injury-ravaged pitching staff, finishing with a .500 record looked like being their only obtainable goal.  Writing off a Tony La Russa team is never wise though and St Louis have been able to keep in the hotly-contested NL Central race over the first two-thirds of the season. 

The series so far

Tonight’s game is set up perfectly after the first two games of the series were split.  Opening on Friday night, the Phillies were in a confident mood having won their previous five games and with their ace Cole Hamels on the mound.  As so often happens, the Cards came out on top when it looked like the deck was stacked against them.  Hamels was dealt his seventh loss of the year as St Louis prevailed 6-3.  Philadelphia got straight back on to the winning route yesterday in a tightly contested game that saw Joe Blanton earn his first win in a Phillies uniform.  In his best start since being acquired in a trade with the A’s on 17 July, Blanton pitched seven strong innings.  His performance was matched by his opposite number Braden Looper, who give up only two runs on two solo homers.  Unfortunately for the Cards, they could only manage one run in response allowing the Phillies to level the series before tonight’s decider.

Starting pitchers

Much was expected of Brett Myers upon his return to the starting rotation this season after (mystifyingly) being moved into the closer role last year.  Those expectations did not include sending him down to Triple-A at the beginning of July after scuffling to a 3-9 record with an unsightly 5.46 ERA.  This will be his third start since his Minor League wake-up call and his last outing provided some reason for optimism, albeit coming against weak opposition.  He conceded just one unearned run over seven innings as he took the win against the Nationals.  The right-hander throws a four-seam and a two-seam fastball, mixing in a good curve, a slider and a change as well.

The Cardinals counter with Todd Wellemeyer.  Picked up off waivers from the Royals last year, he started 2008 brilliantly going 7-1 with a 2.93 ERA through his first thirteen starts.  Since that point he is just 1-3 with a 6.43 ERA and has struggled with inflammation in his right elbow, but his last start against the Braves suggested that he is getting back on track.  Wellemeyer throws a low-nineties fastball alongside a slider against right-handed hitters and a change-up against left-handed hitters.

Things to look out for

• Ryan Ludwick’s hot bat.  He’s hitting .373/.457/.627 since the All Star break and is five for eight so far in this series with three home runs.
• Home runs by the home team.  The Phillies have gone deep in eleven straight games and in seventeen of their last eighteen games.  Citizens Bank Park is notoriously friendly to hitters as well.
• A Cardinals win?  In the all-time series between the two teams, St Louis has an impressive 1,148-878 record over their opponents.  Many of these wins did come during the first half of the twentieth century though, when the Phillies were a hopeless case (posting one winning record between 1918 and 1948).
• A Phillies win?  They have the best record in night games in the National League, so far this season (46-30).