The Mets and Phillies play game two today on National Television as the Mets will get their first taste of Halladay today. Last night's game featured some excellent Mets pitching, defense and hitting, as they routed the Phillies. The Mets will counter today by sending Mike Pelfrey to the mound (4-0, 26.0 IP, 0.69 ERA). Pelfrey has been very confident so far this season and will hopefully bring that attitude into Philly this afternoon. He has been quoted saying that he is excited to face Halladay today because facing better pitchers makes him a better pitcher. Last year, Pelfrey faced Philly a lot, 5 games, where he had a 3-0 record, but also had a 5.03 ERA over 30.1 innings. The key for Pelfrey today will be keeping the ball on the ground. As Kendrick found out yesterday, CBP combined with this warm weather can make every fly ball dangerous. Anyway, here are the numbers the Phillies have on Pelfrey:
Utley 7-23, 2B, 4 HR
Victorino 4-23
Werth 5-19, 2B
On the other side of the rubber, Halladay will be looking to continue his strong run so far this season (4-1, 40 IP, 1.80 ERA). His last outing was his first on the season, so he will be looking to rebound from that. He hasn't faced the Mets for a good amount of time but there have been Mets who have been on other teams who have faced him, and they have these numbers on him:
Cora 3-23
Bay 5-18, 2B, 2 HR
Reyes 4-4, 3B
Wright 1-3, 3B
Francoeur 1-3
On top of those batting stats, the Mets do have Barajas who caught Halladay in 32 games and 235.0 innings last year (or in other words, he caught him every inning he pitched last season with the exception of 4). I'm not sure what that means for today, but hopefully he has some good knowledge to share with the Mets hitters. Lets Go Mets!
