The Brewers face Cole Hamels (2.63 ERA, 2.72 FIP) in tonight's game. Hamels isn't the name everyone associates with the Phillies rotation but he's been putting up pretty good numbers for them this season. He's been going deep into starts this year. Hamels has started 27 games in 2011 and has only pitched fewer than 5 innings in 3 of them. He has pitched 8 innings or more in 10 starts. The Brewers in their small samples don't hit him frequently but they hit him far; the current roster has 7 home runs against him. Ryan Braun, despite being 4 for 20 against Hamels, has hit 2 home runs off him. They haven't faced him at all in 2011.
Chris Narveson (4.26 ERA, 3.84 FIP) has only pitched against Philadelphia twice in his career, both starts. In his last start against the Phillies this April, he pitched 6 innings, walked 3 and gave up 4 hits. His other start against Philly was the infamous 130-pitch game in May of 2010 where he struck out 9. Not surprisingly, the Phillie with the most experience against Narveson is Hunter Pence; he's 3 for 8.
Lineup:
Corey Hart RF
Jerry Hairston 2B
Ryan Braun LF
Prince Fielder 1B
Casey McGehee 3B
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Jonathan Lucroy C
Carlos Gomez CF
Chris Narveson P
Bullpen tracker:
LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1 inning (18 pitches) last night.
Frankie de la Cruz pitched 1 inning (16 pitches) Tuesday.
Kameron Loe pitched 1 inning (12 pitches) Tuesday.
John Axford pitched 1 inning (12 pitches) Monday.
Takashi Saito pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) Sunday.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) Sunday.
Marco Estrada pitched 1 inning (15 pitches) Saturday.
Tim Dillard probably pitched in Nashville earlier this week, but I forgot to track it.