The Mets open up the beginning of a tough schedule with the Phillies tonight as Johan Santana will be pitching after basically a full week of rest and he will have to deal with Happ of the Phillies who will be making his first start against the Mets tonight. One of the bigger questions going into this series is what to do with Ryan Church who hasn't seen major league pitching for a while and then when he did on Sunday, he did a good job but with the lefties the Mets will be seeing this week, what type of playing time will Church get.
Before we can even concentrate on our hitting, lets look at Santana. On the season he is 7-3 with a 2.00 ERA over 72.0 innings where he has 21 BB and a very nice 89 K. In his last three games he is 2-1 over 19.0 innings pitched and a 3.79 ERA which includes 8 BB and 22 K. In his last start against the Phillies this year he pitched 7.0 innings, allowed 2 hits, no runs, walked 3 and struck out 10. Here are some stats on how the Phillies have done against Santana carear wise:
Ibanez 13-37, 2B, HR, 10 K
Rollins 2-20
Feliz 3-22
Utley 3-20
Werth 5-19
Howard 6-17, 2 HR
Victorino 1-15
The trick with the Phillies is that they are a power based team. If you make one mistake, they will jump on it and make you pay. Thats why you have to limit the walks and keep the basepaths clear because these bombs can take off at any time. Santana has had success against the Phils though and hopefully he will continue that tonight.
It would be nice for Santana to get some run support which could be tough against Happ wo is 4-0 on the season with a 2.48 ERA over 40.0 innings. His last three appearences have been starts, all three being his only starts on the year (as he now has a rotation spot). In his last three games he has pitched 18.1 innings, is 2-0, has a 2.45 EA, 5 BB and 13 K. He has seen the Mets twice this year already working 5.2 innings in relief where he has allowed 2 hits and that has been it. Last year he logged 4.2 innings against the Mets and allowed 2 ER, 4 BB and 3 K. Here are some Mets stats against him:
Beltran 2-8, HR
Wright 2-5, HR
Castillo 0-2
Tatis 0-2
Church 0-1
Cora 0-1
The other thing for the Mets to remember is they need to show fight against the Phillies. Lidge has blown his last two saves and has done that 6 times already this year. This means that the Phillies are a team you can come back on as long as you don't dig yourself too large of a hole. Lets keep fighting. Lets Beat the Phillies. Lets Go Mets!
