Philadelphia @ New York preview
Yankee Stadium
Last Meeting ( Mar 26, 2010 ) Philadelphia 3, NY Yankees 0
Tuesday's World Series rematch is complete with top-of-the-line pitchers - but with one middle-of-the-road team.
Unfortunately for Charlie Manuel's club, this isn't 2009 anymore.
At first glance, 2010 looked pretty bright for the Philadelphia Phillies, too. After all, the two-time defending National League champions enjoyed the best record in baseball on May 22.
Approximately 3 1/2 weeks and plenty of grey hair later, the Fightin' Phils have taken more shots to the face than a past-his-prime boxer. They have limped to an 8-16 record, averaged a pedestrian 2.5 runs per contest and been blanked an astonishing six times.
Now, Philadelphia will return to the scene of the crime where the New York Yankees claimed their 27th World Series title.
The reeling Phillies will send Roy Halladay (8-4, 1.96 ERA) to the hill to face CC Sabathia (6-3, 4.01 ERA) and the red-hot New York Yankees in the opener of a three-game series.
While Philadelphia (32-29) is in the unfamiliar position of looking up at the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets in the NL East, the Yankees (40-23) have won 12 of 16 to climb into a first-place tie with the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.
Although Halladay is the Phillies' ace - sorry, Cole Hamels - the team has even dropped four of his past six starts. Admittedly, the 33-year-old hurler recorded a perfect game against the Florida Marlins on May 29, but even Philadelphia's lone run in its 1-0 victory was unearned.
Halladay is certainly familiar with facing the Yankees. He has amassed an 18-6 career record with a 2.84 ERA against the Bronx Bombers in 35 career starts when he was pitching with the AL East's Toronto Blue Jays.
For his part, Sabathia is enjoying quite a season pitching against the Baltimore Orioles. The hefty lefty posted his fourth win in 2010 against the struggling franchise when he allowed two runs and nine hits in seven innings on Wednesday.
Perhaps a more pertinent stat would be his 0-2 mark against the Phillies in three postseason starts. In last year's World Series, Chase Utley greeted Sabathia with three of his five home runs.
Utley, however, is mired in the worst slump of his career. Philadelphia's second baseman is batting .153 with no home runs since May 20.
Jayson Werth is also struggling, batting a paltry .164 in the team's last 20 contests. The slugger was also none-too-pleased with Manuel's assertion that he was pressing at the plate due to his contract situation.
While the Phillies are laboring at the plate, Jorge Posada is having a grand ole' time. The Yankees' veteran catcher has belted two grand slams in as many games.