The Florida Marlins have helped out the Phils cause in not only the NL wild card race but also the NL East race by dropping both games of a doubleheader against Colorado on Monday. The Phils improved to 3rd place in the NL East, 6 games behind Atlanta and took 3rd place in the NL wild card race just 2 1/2 games behind Houston. With the help of Florida, the Phillies stand in good position to gain some ground on Houston and Atlanta with the start of a west coast road trip on Tuesday. The Phils have struggled a bit on the road this year at 22-29. This week, the club has a chance to improve that record against the LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres. Here are the starting pitching matchups for this weeks series:VS LA DODGERSTuesday-Robinson Tejeda vs Brad PennyWednesday-Brett Myers vs Derek LoweThursday-Cory Lidle vs Odalis PerezVS SAN DIEGO PADRESFriday-Jon Lieber vs Pedro AstacioSaturday-Vicente Padilla vs Jake PeavySunday-Robinson Tejeda vs Chan Ho ParkBoth Lowe and Perez had great outings against the Phillies in July pitching a combined total of 14 innings and giving up 0 Earned Runs. The Phils have yet to face both Peavey and Park this year but they have faced Astacio twice, once with Texas and with San Diego this past July. Astacio has a combined 12.85 ERA vs the Phils this year in 10 innings pitched. The Phils need to capitalize on both of these NL West clubs in order to make a strong bid for the NL wild card race.Former Phillies manager Gene Mauch has passed away at the age of 79. Mauch may have been best known in the Phillies organization for the manager with the most wins and losses (645-684) in 8 seasons with Philadelphia. Mauch was also the manager of the '64 Phils who lost the last 10 games of the regular season to fall out of the playoff picture after a 6 1/2 game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals. Mauch will be remembered as one of the most celebrated managers in Phillies history who managed greats such as Richie Allen, Jim Bunning and Fergie Jenkins. Email: [email protected]: www.philliesweekly.blogspot.com

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