My Fellow Phillies Phans,
I must say it was nice to see the offense score more than just one run yesterday. Even better, was the fact that we actually won yesterday! Hopefully this is the start of some type of momentum as this upcoming weekend poses a challenge for the Phillies as interleague play starts. The first AL opponent; The Boston Red Soxs. The Soxs come in for a three game series this weekend. This will be a test of the Phillies’ merit for sure. They have a history of struggling in Interleague play going 10-23 over the last couple seasons. Thankfully, we will not face Red Soxs ace left-hander Jon Lester who pitched last night. However, it is still going to be a very good series played between two good teams. The pitching matchups are as follows:
Friday: Cole Hamels (4-2 4.29) vs. John Lackey (4-2 4.86): On paper, this appears to be a stellar matchup. For this season; neither pitcher has performed as well as expected even though both have winning records. Lackey has struggled as of late giving up 11 runs in his last two starts while Hamels has won his last two decisions. Don’t expect that to keep Lackey from pitching well tonight. This should be a well pitched game and the winner will be the pitcher who can keep the ball in the ballpark more and we all know how much trouble a certain Phillies lefty can have with that issue. Look for a good opener as a gateway to a well played series.
Saturday: Kyle Kendrick (2-1 5.24) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-1 7.89): This game once again pits two pitchers who were expected to pitch much better than they have been. Kendrick is a rotation fill-in until J.A. Happ comes back from injury and Daisuke was expected to be a whole lot better than he has shown this season. He went 18-3 in ’08 with a 2.90 ERA and has come nowhere close to those numbers since. In his last start, he was shellacked by the Yankees giving up 7 runs in less than 5 innings. Again, I have a feeling that this will be a tough test for the Phillies as he has the stuff to be a quality ace in this league. This game may be the highest scoring of the 3 runs this weekend, but don’t expect loads of runs from either side. Let’s hope that Kendrick has put his struggles behind him in this start versus this American League powerhouse.
Sunday: Roy Halladay (6-2 1.64) vs. Tim Wakefield (0-2 5.31): On paper this appears to be a clear advantage for the Phillies. But lets not forget Wakefield’s career numbers (3-1 3.12 with 2 CGs and 1 Shutout) against the Phils. This will not be an easy task for Phillies hitters on this Sunday night. Wakefield is making just his 6th start of the year, but he is not to be taken lightly. This game just follows the trend of this whole series; Tough pitching and timely offense will be the key to victory and the team that does that more will come out on top at the end of these three games.
Until we meet again Phillies Fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!!
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