The Philadelphia Phillies are heading out west for a six-game road trip, starting with three games in Colorado this weekend.
The season has started off a little rocky for the Phillies, sitting at just 3-3 after two series, but their two most recent games against the Nationals should give them some hope as they move forward.
The Rockies are heading home after opening their season on the road, with a 2-4 record, as the hope is that the confines of Coors Field will bring them some better luck.
Who: Philadelphia Phillies (3-3) at Colorado Rockies (2-4)
When: Friday 4:10 pm EST
Saturday 8:10 pm EST
Sunday 3:10 pm EST
Where: Coors Field, Denver, CO
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB.TV
Friday: Aaron Nola (0-0) 5.40 ERA vs Michael Lorenzen (0-0) 6.23 ERA
Saturday: Jesus Luzardo (0-1) 9.00 ERA vs Jose Quintana (0-0) 4.15 ERA
Sunday: Tijuan Walker (0-1) 11.57 ERA vs Tomoyuki Sugano (0-0) 1.93 ERA
The Phillies opened their season on a high note with Trea Turner getting on base to open the game and Kyle Schwarber quickly getting them both back to the dugout with a huge homerun. Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh each had two hits, Alec Bohm hit a three-run homer, and rookie Justin Crawford got hits in his first two major league at-bats.
After the opening game, things calmed down for the next three games with the exceptions of Marsh and Crawford. They're currently leading the team in hitting, with Crawford hitting .412 and Marsh .350 in the early stages of this season. Marsh has hit his stride since May of last season, hitting .303 over the final five months of the season and looks like he's picked up right where he left off. Crawford has been a machine, hitting .334 in the minors last season and starting off as hot as he is now. The Phillies outfield is 2/3 secure for the next few years if they can keep this up.
For the big bats, the start hasn't been as good. Schwarber, Turner, and Bryce Harper have had poor starts to the season, although Schwarber has two home runs. Harper has looked out of sorts and may have been in his own head too much until the eighth inning of the Nationals game, when he crushed a homer to right-center field, and his look of relief tells a big story for the superstar.
Christopher Sanchez has continued the reign of terror he unleashed last season at the start of this one. He opened against the Rangers with six innings, 10 strikeouts and only three hits surrendered. He followed that up on Tuesday with 5.1 innings against the Nationals with one earned run and seven more strikeouts. Sanchez is showing that there's a reason he finished second in the Cy Young voting just a year ago, but his sights are on a much different trophy.
After Sanchez, the starters for the Rockies series look to be Aaron Nola, Jesus Luzardo, and Tijuan Walker. Nola gave up three runs in his start while Walker and Luzardo both gave up six runs apiece, so things don't look good for the three, but it's only one game into the season. Walker is who he is, will be out there no matter what the team asks of him, and will eat up innings. Luzardo may just have to shake off some rust to get back to where the Phillies expect him to be, but at this point, the questions that have surrounded Nola for the past few years are already being shouted just one start into his season.
If there's one saving grace for the Phillies rotation heading into this series overall, the trio of Nola, Luzardo, and Walker have a career record of 10-4 with 165 strikeouts in 26 career games between them against the Rockies. With the exception of Luzardo having a 5.40 ERA in his five starts, Noal brings a 3.33 ERA, and Walker, surprisingly, has a 2.36 ERA against the Rockies in his 10 games. All signs point towards the Phillies finding much more success from this trio than in their first games.
Colorado started off in Miami to open the season and proceeded to lose three straight to the Marlins before heading to Toronto to take on the defending American League Champion Blue Jays, whom they proceeded to beat in two out of their three games. Colorado has finished in last place in the NL West the past three years straight, and things aren't really looking up for the team this season.
Their biggest adjustments to a club that went 43-119 last season were to bring in Michael Lorenzen, Will Castro, and Tomoyuki Sugano. Not exactly anyone that's setting fire to the world of baseball. With some quality prospects in the pipelines, notably Ethan Holliday, Charlie Condon, and Jared Thomas, there is some hope for the future of the team, but even their top prospects all have serious questions surrounding them.
The team has to hope the excitement of returning home, combined with how they performed in their two victories over the Blue Jays, will continue through this weekend, as the Phillies have been one of the top NL teams for the past few years.
The Phillies' big three hitters could sure use some of the Denver air to help them get on track. After Harper's late-game home run, the Phillies' biggest star has to be looking forward to facing Lorenzen, Quintana, and Sugano. It will seem like a rehab assignment in Double-A for someone like Harper.
Second baseman Bryson Stott is hitting .353 on the young season and has continued his hot hitting that he finished the final two months of last season with, combining with Marsh and Crawford to give the Phillies a group of three vital players, all hitting as well as they could be. The big three need to make sure that they're hitting well with the lower part of the order, doing their jobs and getting on base. All three may see a game off, especially Stott and Marsh against Quintana, the left-hander, on Saturday.
For the pitching, it's anyone's guess as to what we'll see. Could Nola just have had a bad two innings to start the season? Will he continue giving up the most home runs in the league? Will he suddenly turn around and throw seven shutout innings? Anything is possible, but it will be exciting either way. Luzardo should bounce back after a poor opening start, but the lack of hitting from Colorado should be just what he needs to get back into a groove, while Walker is about the same as Nola.
