Pitching Woes Could Doom Phils in World Series Rematch

My Fellow Phans,

Tonight begins one of the big series that I have been looking forward to ever since I saw it on the schedule and that is the Phillies' rematch with the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Now a month or so ago, I would have been ecstatic about this upcoming matchup with the Phillies actually playing well and looking like a playoff team. As much as it pains me to say this, I am worried about this upcoming series. Let me give you the pitching matchups and I will explain more;

Tuesday: Roy Halladay (8-4 1.96) vs. C.C. Sabathia (6-3 4.01)
Wednesday: Kyle Kendrick (3-2 4.80) vs. A.J. Burnett (6-4 3.86)
Thursday: Jamie Moyer (6-6 5.03) vs. Andy Pettite (8-1 2.46)

Ok, so tonight's game will be close. Hopefully we can eek out a victory for our ace who has been nothing but sensational this season. So we may win 1 game, I hope, but who knows. I like to be an optimistic Phillies fan, but I am also a fan of the game of baseball as well (and there is a big difference between the two) so I call them as I see them from an analytic standpoint.

After that I smell blood in the water and the Yankee hitters are sharks waiting to pounce. Kendrick is so bi-polar on the mound that I have no idea what we will get for him. He could throw a 3-hit shutout or he could be rocked for a bajillion runs in the first inning. We really will not know until Wednesday night. Kendrick will be the Phillies 2nd best chance to win a game this series as I have no faith in Moyer.

Moyer was bombarded by the Boston Red Soxs in his last start; go figure he gets smoked by a good offense. As much as it pains me to say this, the Yankees are an even better hitting lineup than the Red Soxs are. If the Soxs blasted Moyer so easily (9 runs in 1 inning),I am worried of what NY could do to him with the best offense in the American League. If the Phillies are going to win this series; Halladay and Kendrick will have to produce as I have very little faith in Moyer pitching this week.

Should Moyer even be pitching though? If I did my math right, we had a rainout last week against the Marlins. This pushed all the rotation back a start and made it possible for Moyer to pitch in the final game of the Marlins series and let Halladay open up the Red Soxs series. Halladay never did face the Red Soxs. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't you rather have Halladay pitch against Boston instead of Moyer? Raise your hands if you agree with me! *raises both hands*.

Even with Halladay opening the Soxs' series, he could have still went against the Yankees in the final game. Granted Moyer would have to still face the Bronx Bombers, but the Phillies would have had their ace going against the two best teams they probably will face this season. Why was no changes made? I really don't get it. There would be no harm, no foul in switching the two guys up. Instead of Halladay pitching, we had to witness Moyer get beaten down into the ground by a very good Red Soxs lineup. I would rather have seen Halladay face Boston and Moyer face the Marlins. I mean after all, Moyer actually has a successful career against the Fish.

I'm hoping the Kendrick and Moyer seriously surprise me this series and do something positive. If not, this series will not be a very positive one for the Phillies and this will sting even more than the Boston series simply based on our opponent...

Until we meet again Phillies Fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!