Phillies 2017 Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park Preview
Phillies hope to fare better on Opening Day today at Citizens Bank Park vs. the last handful of home openers
It’s here! Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park! We always embrace this day with such incredible anticipation and high hopes in South Philly. For the Phillies, it’ll be important to erase the memory of the last five home openers at CBP. Let’s face it, home cooking hasn’t been so tasty on Opening Day for our beloved Phils:
Phillies Home Opener 2012-2016
courtesy of Baseball-Almenac.com
Today’s Phillies lineup:
Here's how we'll line up for #OpeningDay at Citizens Bank Park. #GoPhils pic.twitter.com/NWk1AefHxk
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 7, 2017
Things won’t get easier today as they square off against the vaunted offense of the Washington Nationals. They’re coming off an opening series win against the Marlins taking two of three. The Nationals are batting .286 as a team against the Phillies .208 effort so far.
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The Nationals have slugged six home runs already, the Phillies only able to muster two in the series vs. the Reds. Important to note that neither of the power bats for the Phils have gone yard thus far. The team could definitely use a pop or two from Maikel Franco, Michael Saunders, Tommy Joseph, Cameron Rupp and even Odubel Herrera.
As for pitching, The Phils are struggling a bit with a 4.32 ERA, a 1.240 WHIP and have given up five home runs. The Nationals hurlers have thrown a 3.21 ERA, 1.214 WHIP with only two long balls surrendered.
Vince Velasquez makes the trip to the mound for the Phillies today. They certainly can use his high energy and power arm today to electrify the home crowd.
Next: Takeaways from the Phillies First Series of 2017
The Nationals will send the Max Scherzer to the hill. He’s coming fresh off a Cy Young Award winning 2016 season going 20-7 with 286 K’s, a 2.96 ERA and 0.968 WHIP. Obviously, this will be a challenging day for our Philadelphia nine.