Hanson take on Lee/ Phillies: N.L. East Showdown

July 9, 2011

This is the last weekend before the All-Star break, and both the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves will be battling for the top stop in the N.L. East during a 3 games series this weekend. The Braves have snuck-up on Philadelphia, and find themselves just 2.5 games back of the best team in baseball. The current standings in the East shouldn’t be much of a surprise as baseball predictions has this division shaking down with the Phillies and Braves fighting for the title.

It’s shocking to see how identical these teams are in terms of statistics. Neither team is living up to MLB handicappers expectations offensively as they are ranked 15th and 17th in runs scored, however they have more than made up for it with tremendous pitching. Atlanta has the best team earned run average in the game, and Philly is a close second. The starting rotations of both teams are the best in baseball, and 2 of their best will be going head to head on Saturday.

Atlanta’s team ERA is 3.02, and much of the reason why is due to the dynamic duo of Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson. At the season’s start the majority of people inside of baseball would have said that the combination of Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee would be the best in baseball, but that hasn’t been the case thus far. Jurrjens is pitching like a man possessed this year, and is leading the N.L. in wins (12), and earned run average (1.87). Hanson has been over-looked due to how well his teammate is doing, but a 10-4 record and 2.52 ERA would normally put him in the lead for the Cy Young at the halfway point of the season. Hanson will have a chance to get his 11th win on Saturday, but it will be a tough task as he goes against Cliff Lee in Philadelphia.

Lee may not have the record that he would have hoped for at this point, but his numbers are still very impressive. A 2.92 ERA and 128 strikeouts are right on pace with what was expected of him coming into the year. As I said earlier, the Philly offense hasn’t played up to their potential which has cost Lee at least 4 wins. He is coming off of a poor performance against the Blue Jays back on July 3rd, and will more than likely bounce back with a solid outing Saturday.

This should be a highly competitive series that could make things very interesting heading into the All-Star break. Tune in Saturday as the best 2 teams in baseball square off in a National League East showdown.

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under MLB

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