Hot Dbacks try to take series as Phillies try to hold first place in NL East

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The Phanatic will entertain kids of all ages on Tuesday night

The Philadelphia Phillies (37-29) and Arizona Diamondbacks (35-32) will meet again on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park. Last night the two clubs combined for 13 home runs to set a new Major League Baseball record.

Whereas Monday night’s tilt was delayed at the outside by rain on what was a dreary weather day in the Philly area, today will be just the opposite. Clear skies and steady breeze will be the conditions under which they will play on Tuesday evening.

For the Phillies, it will mark the first time since late April that they open a game not sitting alone on top of the National League East Division standings. Their loss on Monday coupled with a victory by the Atlanta Braves left the two rivals tied. The Phillies and Braves will meet this weekend in Atlanta in what should be a real barn-burner of a series.

But before that takes place, the Phillies need to find a way to cool down the red-hot Diamondbacks. Arizona has now won five straight games, and they are within 2.5 games of the final NL Wildcard playoff berth. They have scored the most runs and have the fourth-highest OPS in the entire league.

One key for the Phillies, perhaps the biggest, will be getting a strong performance from starting pitcher Jake Arrieta. The 33-year-old veteran right-hander leads the starting rotation with eight Quality Starts. However, Arrieta has been shelled in his last two outings, and has not looked good in four of his last six, incurring the wrath of some in the fan base and on local sports talk radio.

TUESDAY STARTING LINEUPS

Arizona Diamondbacks bring desert heat to South Philly

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Dbacks tickets could still be hot sellers in Phoenix this summer

The Philadelphia Phillies (37-28) are 5-1-1 over their last seven series, with only a sweep at the hands of the host Los Angeles Dodgers showing as a black mark over their last month of play. They lead the NL East Division standings by one game over the Atlanta Braves.

To close out a short home stand, the Phillies welcome in the Arizona Diamondbacks (34-32) of the NL West Division to Citizens Bank Park for three games to open this week. The Dbacks are winners of four straight games, and now sit 2.5 games behind Atlanta for the final NL Wildcard playoff berth.

Over the first month or so of the season, the Diamondbacks were as hot as the Arizona desert in mid-summer. They bolted out to a 20-13 start and were within a game of the division lead.

But the club won just eight of their next 25 games to fall below the .500 mark, consistently dropping further and further behind the Dodgers in the standings. Even with that four-game current win streak, the Dbacks still trail the Dodgers by 11 games.

While their rivals in Los Angeles appear to be well on their way to a seventh consecutive division crown, Arizona remains squarely in the National League Wildcard race as they fight to reach the playoffs for just the third time in this decade. So, they will certainly pose a challenge to the Phillies, who are looking to return to those playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Arizona comes in with a potent offensive attack which ranks third in the National League in runs-per-game. They are also second in the league in doubles, third  in batting average and stolen bases, fourth in OPS, and fifth in home runs. So this is a well-rounded and balanced attack.

The Dbacks pitching staff is no slouch either, ranking fourth in the NL in ERA, and 5th in OPS-against and strikeouts. No team in all of Major League Baseball has a better fielding percentage than the Arizona defenders, who have committed the fewest errors in the entire National League.

Bottom line, this is a sound ball club that is coming in to South Philly this week. Though they were struggling badly for more than a month, the Dbacks have recently gotten hot again. It will be up to the Phillies to cool them off, finding a way to win yet another series.