TBOH Phillies Pregame 4.8.15

BOSTON RED SOX (1 – 0) at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (0 – 1)

CITIZENS BANK PARK

SCHEDULED START – 7:05PM EDT

PHILADELPHIA, PA

SCHEDULED STARTING PITCHERS:

Rick Porcello, Boston (15-13, 3.43 ERA, 1.231 WHIP, 129/41 K:BB, 211 hits over 204.2 IP across 32 games/31 starts with Detroit in 2014)

Aaron Harang, Phillies (12-12, 3.57 ERA, 1.400 WHIP, 161/71 K:BB, 215 hits over 204.1 IP across 33 starts with Atlanta in 2014)

PHILLIES LOCAL MEDIA

TV coverage: The Comcast Network (TCN); also available nationally on ESPN2

Radio: 1210AM WPHT, 94FM WIP, 1480AM (Spanish language)

WEATHER FORECAST

National Weather Service:

This Afternoon

Rain likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 48. East wind around 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Tonight

Rain likely before 9pm, then periods of drizzle. Cloudy, with a low around 39. Northeast wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

INJURIES

Phillies: Cliff Lee & Mario Hollands (60-day DL); Domonic Brown, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Pettibone (15-day DL)

Boston: Christian Vazquez (our for season); Koji Uehara, Joe Kelly, Edwin Escobar (15-day DL)

NOTES

The Phils try to bounce back from an embarrassing 8-0 shellacking at the hands of the Bosox on Opening Day on Monday afternoon. Weather is likely to be a major factor in tonight’s game, which could be played through some rain and cold, or even interrupted or postponed by the conditions.

Ian Browne with MLB.com reports that “Red Sox cleanup man Hanley Ramirez has feasted against Harang in his career, going 10-for-29 with five homers and seven RBIs. David Ortiz has had similar success, going 5-for-11 with three doubles and a homer.”

Red Sox starter Rick Porcello is from West Orange, NJ and seems to have been around forever, yet just turned 26 years of age for this, his 7th MLB season. He was acquired by Boston in a December trade with the Tigers for Yoenis Cespedes and a pair of minor leaguers. They just signed him to a 4-year, $82.5 million contract during this series’ off day.

Harang was signed by the Phillies in early January to a 1-year contract. Turning 37-years old in early May, he had a nice 12-12 season with the Braves a year ago. He struggled with physical issues related to his back during spring training, but is allegedly healthy. One thing is for sure, his conditioning is less than stellar. For both pitchers, this will be their first official regular season starts in the respective new uniforms.

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