The struggles continued for our boys in yesterday's series opener in Philly. After a day of playing in the rain, they dropped to eight games under .500 with a 2-5 loss. Now losers of six of their last eight games, Padres will try to even up the series this afternoon.
Tyson Ross gets the call for San Diego, coming off one of his worst outings of the season. The right-hander went 5 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on five hits and three walks. He did, however, collect six strikeouts against the Nationals. He got absolutely no run support for the second time in his last four starts, a stretch in which he's gone 1-2 with a 4.24 ERA, nine walks, and 24 strikeouts. His start against Washington was a poor way to begin the month of June, but Ross will hopefully fare better today against Philadelphia. He'll have to do much better than his last and only career start against the Phillies, when he was tagged for six runs and didn't make it out of the first inning.
Ross' opponent is no stranger to San Diego, unfortunately for the Friars. San Diego native Cole Hamels will take the mound for the Phillies in game 2 and hopes to keep up his success against his hometown team. Since '08, Hamels has gone 8-1 with a 2.27 ERA in 11 starts against the Padres and comes into today's matchup having won five consecutive decisions against them. He is also looking to build off a six-game stretch in which he's posted a 2.11 ERA while going at least seven innings each time out.
Our Padres will have to find a way to get out of their heads and get their bats on the ball so they can have a chance of coming out of Philly with a series win. Game time is set for 4:05 PDT today.