Philadelphia @ Florida preview
Sun Life Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jun 10, 2010 ) Florida 2, Philadelphia 0
LeBron James isn't the only one taking his talents to South Beach.
Roy Halladay will take his considerable talents to Miami ... to lead the Philadelphia Phillies (57-48) into Tuesday's opener of a three-game series against the Florida Marlins (53-52).
Winners of nine of their last 11, the Phillies currently sit three games behind NL East-leading Atlanta. For their part, the third-place Marlins have stayed in the mix and trail the Braves by seven games in the standings.
Halladay (12-8, 2.21 ERA) penned a classic in his last visit to the Sunshine State. The 33-year-old right-hander tossed the 20th perfect game in major league history and struck out 11 in a 1-0 triumph over the Marlins on May 29.
Unfortunately for Halladay, that was also the second-to-last time that he's tasted success away from Citizens Bank Park. That's right - four road outings with a 1-3 mark and an un-Halladay-like 6.75 ERA.
Sure, he's feasted on teams like visitors chomp on cheesesteaks in the City of Brotherly Love, posting dominating victories in his last two starts. The seven-time All-Star has allowed a grand total of one run and 11 hits while striking out 18 in victories over the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks, respectively.
Making Halladay's job more difficult will be the absence of All-Star slugger Ryan Howard, who left Sunday's 6-4 victory over the Washington Nationals with a left ankle injury.
Howard, who is batting .292 with 23 home runs and 81 RBIs this season, is expected to fly back to Philadelphia on Tuesday to have team physician Michael Ciccotti examine his ankle. Worst case scenario will have Howard sidelined and join four-time All-Star second baseman Chase Utley (thumb) and outfielder Shane Victorino (oblique) on the disabled list.
The Phillies will look to proven studs like Placido Polanco and Jayson Werth to pick up the slack.
Polanco had an RBI single in the 11th inning and Werth added a run-scoring double as Philadelphia salvaged the finale of a three-game series against Washington with a 6-4 triumph on Sunday.
Winners of three of their last four, the Marlins will counter with Sean West, who will make his season debut after being recalled from Triple-A New Orleans. The 24-year-old left-hander posted an 8-6 mark with a 4.79 ERA in 2009 and replaces a struggling Alex Sanabia in the rotation.
While this will be West's first major league game this season, he has faced the Phillies before. He permitted three runs and seven hits in four innings against Philadelphia on Aug. 8, 2009.
All-Star Hanley Ramirez belted his fifth home run of the Marlins' three-game series against the NL West-leading San Diego Padres on Sunday. The Marlins, however, dropped a 5-4 decision to the Padres.
The newest Marlins also got their feet wet this past weekend.
Miguel Tejada is just 1-for-10 with a pair of walks since being acquired from the Baltimore Orioles. Also, left-handed reliever Will Ohman made his debut on Sunday and pitched one-third of an inning in relief of ace Josh Johnson.