Roy Halladay vs. the Mets. That just rolls of the tongue quite nicely, and Doc's stats last season against them back up that warm and fuzzy feeling. Halladay was 4-0 against the Mets last season in four starts in which he had 28 strikeouts to only 2 walks. Pretty good ratio, that.
Roy is coming off a solid first start of the season in which he gave up only five hits over six innings on the way to a no decisions despite the Phillies winning the game. Two of those five hits came off of the hot bat of one goateed Brett Myers. Hopefully Roy can find a way to keep Mets' starter Jon Niese off the base paths this afternoon.
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Niese has had some success against the Phillies over his career. He's 1-1 in three career starts against Philadelphia, with his last victory against them coming in April of 2010 when he threw seven strong.
The only lineup change this afternoon for the Phillies is Charlie flip-flopping Raul and Benny in the five and six holes. Both players have swung a nice bat to start the season.
The Mets will have the potent 5-6 combo of Angel Pagan and Lucas Duda in their order this afternoon.
If the Phils can get the win today, they'll head off to Atlanta with a 5-1 record to start the season. I'd call that a very successful home stand. Hopefully the first of many this year. With Doc on the hill, I like their chances.
News
First pitch scheduled for 3:05. We're down at the ballpark so feel free to chat along in the comments.
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Put a Ring On It
Ryan Howard and his girlfriend of three years, Eagles cheerleader Krystal Campbell, recently got engaged. No word on how big of a piece The Big Piece got her.
Lidge'd
Charlie Manuel said today that he doesn't expect Brad Lidge back until “probably looking at maybe All-Star break or just before that.”