Free MLB Pick - San Diego Padres at Philadelphia Phillies

Two teams on opposite ends of the standings will play this weekend at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia with the San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies facing off. The Padres and Phillies will play a four-game series.

 

The Padres and Phillies will play at 7:05 p.m. Friday, 4:10 p.m. Saturday, 1:35 p.m. Sunday, and 1:05 p.m. Monday. All of the games will only be televised locally, other than Saturday's game, which is a regional FOX telecast.

 

Philadelphia leads the National League East Division with a 61-36 record, which is the best record in all of baseball. San Diego, meanwhile, is last in the NL West at 43-55. This weekend's four-game Padres-Phillies series will be the final games between the two teams this season.

 

The Padres and Phillies met for a four-game series in San Diego in late April, with Philadelphia earning a sweep. San Diego scored only three runs in the four-game series. Philadelphia's Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels started back-to-back shutouts in the series, and Roy Halladay won the series-finale.

 

Oswalt isn't scheduled to start in this Padres-Phillies series, but San Diego instead will see Cliff Lee of the Phillies in Monday's finale. Monday's pitching matchup of Lee against San Diego's Aaron Harang, who has an 8-2 record, should be the best dual of the weekend.

 

San Diego's struggling offense figures to have a difficult time improving its numbers against Philadelphia's strong pitching staff, which ranks second in the majors in ERA at 3.12 and second in WHIP at 1.18. The Padres rank next-to-last in the Major Leagues in runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. The Padres do rank fourth in the Major Leagues with a 3.19 team ERA.

 

Philadelphia ranks 14th in the majors in runs scored and 11th in on-base percentage, but the Phillies are 20th in batting average and slugging percentage.

 

Shane Victorino leads Philadelphia in hitting at .295 and in slugging percentage at .509. Ryan Howard leads the Phillies with 18 home runs and 74 RBIs.

 

Philadelphia's Chase Utley is fourth on the team in batting average (.270) and third in slugging (.433), despite spending most of the first half of the season on the DL.

Chase Headley leads San Diego's regulars in hitting at .300, while Ryan Ludwick leads the Padres in home runs at 11.

 

The Padres and Phillies split four games in Philadelphia last season, while the Phillies won all three games played in San Diego.

 

Free Pick: Take the Phillies to win 2 of 3.