Mets – Phillies: Early Season Battle for the East
The first meeting of the season between NL East rivals New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies takes place Friday and is setting up to be a possible battle for first place.
The Mets are recently finding encouragement in a pitching staff that was questioned right from the start. A re-shuffled lineup has also added spark to their game, and the addition of Ike Davis has been a spark. The Mets will be sending their best pitchers to the mound as Jon Neise, Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana will be taking the rubber in Citizens Bank Park. The biggest concern for the Mets will be containing the Phillies line-up, which currently stands 4th in the National League in batting average, slugging, on-base percentage and enjoys a slight edge in all different baseball lines over the Phillies. Pitching is the key for the Mets in this series.
The Phillies will be coming into this series off a disappointing road trip. They are still a formidable line-up and will be counting on the Philly faithful to provide an extra spark. The pitching order for Philadelphia in this series has not been solidified, but the Mets will be getting their first taste of Roy Halladay. The pitching staff, with the exception of Halladay, has been shaky, but that will be of little concern if their bats are awake and producing. Look for Utley, Howard and the rest of the sluggers to be getting their share of round-trippers throughout the weekend.
This series is shaping up to be a great early season matchup and could set the table for a season long battle of Eastern Division contenders.
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