The Phillies are coming into this game playing very well recently as they have won 2 of their last 3 as well as 5 of their last 8 games. They lost 9-8 in extra innings last night but won the first 2 games of this series and now that they are only 0.5 games above the Marlins in the NL East, they will be hungry to win this game and come away with some ground made up in this series. They are going up against a Marlins team that has not been great recently as they have lost 2 of their last 3 as well as 3 of their last 5 games. They were playing very well a few weeks ago but the All Star break stopped their momentum and they have come out of the break cold which has seen them slide down the division a little recently. Michael Lorenzen is starting for the Angels here and he is 5-7 with a 3.58 ERA this season. He was traded from the Tigers and will be making his 1st start for the Phillies in this game but he has actually been pitching very well in his recent starts. He allowed 3 earned runs in his last start but had 3 shutout performances of at least 5 innings pitched in his 3 starts prior to that last one, and he has also allowed just 2 earned runs or less in 5 of his last 7 starts. He has also been good on the road as he allowed no runs in his last 2 road starts and has also allowed just 1 earned run or less in 3 of his last 4 as well as 4 of his last 6 road starts. Johnny Cueto is starting for the Marlins here and he is 0-2 with a 5.06 ERA this season. He has only had 4 starts this season and has been very inconsistent as he was good in 2 of those starts but also allowed at least 4 earned runs in 2 of those starts, including his last one which was at home against the Tigers who have one of the worst offenses in the league. He has not faced many strong offenses this season either with the Orioles being the best one and considering the way he pitched in his last start, this hot Phillies offense will be hungry to get to him for some runs, especially after the way they blew their lead last night. The Phillies have the stronger offense here and they will have an easier time scoring runs on Cueto and the Marlins bullpen in this game while the Phillies look to have a better night out of the bullpen, led by their starter Lorenzen who has actually been pitching very well recently. The Phillies will win this game.