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Kevin McAlpin covers the Phillies for 97.5 The Fanatic.  Follow him on Twitter (@KevinMcAlpin) 

The Phillies road trip continues tonight in the Steel City against the lowly Pirates.  Yesterday, Roy Halladay (9-7) went the distance but took the loss as two mistake pitches doomed the Phillies, as the Reds took two out of three in the series.  With Chase Utley and Placido Polanco joining the ranks of the disabled, it's up to reserves like Wilson Valdez, Greg Dobbs and Dane Sardinha to pitch in and help take some of the load off Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth.  Since returning from his second stint on the DL, Rollins is hitting just .182, and Raul Ibanez has had a rough few days with just six hits in his last 30 at bats.

Coming off his second-shortest outing of the season, Cole Hamels (6-6, 4.08) looks to rebound against a Pirates ball club that's scored the fewest runs in the Majors (3.2 per game).  On Saturday, Hamels was touched up for five runs on seven hits in just four innings against the Blue Jays.  After the game, Cole was asked if there were any positives he could take away from the start and he joked "yeah, it's over."  Hamels added that he felt like he was in good shape physically and has to continue to execute "pitch-by-pitch."  For the Buckos, Daniel McCutchen (0-3, 11.00) gets the nod still in search of his first win of the season.  The month of June was not kind to the Pirates as they won just six of their 26 games, while the Phils ended up 13-13.  On the first of July, the Phillies currently still sit in third place in the NL East, three-and-a-half games behind the Braves.

Manuel Suspended:  The Phillies will play without skipper Charlie Manuel tonight as he serves a one-game suspension for "aggressive arguing and inappropriate contact" with home plate umpire CB Bucknor on Tuesday in Cincinnati.