Phils Look For Elusive .500 Mark Vs. Red Sox
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Phillies have played some pretty good baseball the last couple of nights and as a result they have notched two straight victories over the Boston Red Sox, one at Fenway Park and one on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park. If they can find a way to make it three straight victories on Thursday night, they will get to a place they haven't been since mid-April - the .500 mark.
The Phillies come into the series finale of this home-and-home series with the Red Sox with a record of 26-27. The last time they were .500 was when they were 6-6 after beating the Marlins, 2-1, back on April 14th.
There is no hotter hitter in the Phillies line-up right now than outfielder Domonic Brown. After hitting two home runs in Wednesday night's win over Boston, Brown now has hit five home runs in his last five games and ten here in the month of May. His 13 home runs for the season has him tied for second with Colorado's Carlos González in the National League (Atlanta's Justin Upton leads with 14).
Brown moves up to 5th in the batting order for this one, as Ryan Howard gets a day-off. That line-up in its entirety looks like this:
1. Ben Revere CF
2. Cesar Hernandez 2B
3. Jimmy Rollins SS
4. Delmon Young RF
5. Domonic Brown LF
6. Kevin Frandsen 1B
7. Erik Kratz C
8. Freddy Galvis 3B
And rookie right-hander Jonathan Pettibone gets the call on the mound for the Phillies in this game. He has pitched consistently good baseball since his call-up from AAA, going 3-0 in seven starts with a 3.21 ERA. His mound opponent will be left-hander Franklin Morales, making his 2013 debut for the Red Sox. Morales pitched 37 games for them last year, and he has faced the Phillies before, both with Boston and Colorado, where he began his career.
KYW's Matt Leon spoke with Mandy Housenick, Phillies beat writer for the Allentown Morning Call, about this match-up.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
