Philadelphia @ Florida preview
Sun Life Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 14, 2010 ) Philadelphia 2, Florida 1
Roy Halladay rarely smiles, but even he might let one slip when he takes the mound at Sun Life Stadium on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old right-hander returns to the site of his perfect game and will look to become the National League's first 19-game winner on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies (85-61) will vie for a three-game sweep of the Florida Marlins (73-71).
Halladay (18-10, 2.44 ERA) retired all 27 batters he faced on May 29, striking out a season-high 11 batters in Philadelphia's 1-0 victory over Florida.
His perfect game was the 20th in major league baseball history.
Halladay has returned to Miami since making history - and while he wasn't perfect, he was pretty dominant on Aug. 3. The veteran hurler permitted one run and five hits in seven innings en route to a 6-1 triumph.
That outing contributed to one of his eight wins in his last 10 games - including last Friday's 8-4 victory over the New York Mets. In that contest, Halladay yielded four runs and eight hits in 7 2/3 innings.
Although Philadelphia has not been perfect, it has been fairly close after winning 15 of its last 19 contests.
On Tuesday, Cole Hamels struck out a season-high 13 batters to secure his fourth straight win and Shane Victorino scored twice as the Phillies recorded a 2-1 triumph over the Marlins.
Hamels struck out the side in both the fourth and sixth innings to keep the Marlins at bay. The 2008 World Series MVP finished two strikeouts shy of his career high, which he set in a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on April 21, 2007.
Placido Polanco belted an RBI double in the first inning and Victorino scored the eventual winning run in the fifth on Jayson Werth's groundout.
As a result, Philadelphia extended its lead in the NL East to two games over the Atlanta Braves (83-63). The Washington Nationals cruised to a 6-0 triumph over the Braves on Tuesday.
Florida will look to salvage the series finale with Jorge Sosa (2-2, 5.82 ERA), who has enjoyed success against the Phillies. The journeyman right-hander is 4-2 with a 3.66 ERA in 23 appearances against Charlie Manuel's club.
To be fair, Sosa's role now has been as a reliever - not as a starter. In fact, the 33-year-old Dominican hasn't started a game since he was a member of the Mets in 2007.
Sosa was granted the start after the Marlins announced that ace Josh Johnson was going to be shut down for the season due to back and shoulder discomfort. For the record, Johnson was the opposing pitcher during Halladay's perfect game.