Philadelphia @ Texas preview

Philadelphia at Texas

Last Meeting ( May 22, 2011 ) Texas 2, Philadelphia 0

The Texas Rangers turned over their roster following their first non-playoff campaign since 2009, but have spent most of the spring watching injuries pick it apart. The Rangers, who open a three-game home set with the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, traded for first baseman Prince Fielder and inked free agent left fielder Shin-Soo Choo during a busy offseason. Unfortunately, second baseman Jurickson Profar (shoulder) and catcher Geovany Soto (knee) were each lost for 10-12 weeks.

The pitching staff was not immune either as starters Matt Harrison (back, out until mid-April), Derek Holland (knee, 60-day disabled list) and Yu Darvish (neck, day-to-day) all failed to make it out of the exhibition season unscathed. The Phillies kept their offensive nucleus together and are anticipating better health than they had in 2013 when injuries to players like Ben Revere, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard contributed greatly to their first losing season since 2002. "We have to get our veteran guys going on all cylinders. We'll sink or swim with (them)," Philadelphia general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told MLB.com.

TV: 2:05 p.m. ET, CSN Philadelphia (Philadelphia), FSN Southwest (Texas)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies LH Cliff Lee (2013: 14-8, 2.87 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Tanner Scheppers (2013: 6-2, 1.88)

Lee enters his fourth season with Philadelphia, but will make his first Opening Day start since joining the Phillies in 2011 after a year in which he finished second in the National League in strikeouts (222), sixth in ERA and tied for 10th in wins. Although he was saddled with a pair of losses to end the 2013 campaign, the four-time All-Star ended last season by not allowing more than two earned runs in any of his final eight starts. Lee is 7-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 11 all-time starts against the Rangers.

With the Rangers choosing to give Darvish a few extra days to recover, Scheppers will draw his first career start after making 115 relief appearances -- including 76 last season. The 27-year-old was solid during exhibition play, going 1-1 with a 3.07 ERA and 1.02 WHIP while sporting a 14:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in four appearances (three starts). He has never faced the Phillies, but has been considerably worse at home (3.65 ERA) than he has been on the road (1.33).

WALK-OFFS

1. Scheppers will be the first pitcher to make his first major-league start on Opening Day since Fernando Valenzuela with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981.

2. Philadelphia ranked 13th in the NL with 610 runs scored, its lowest full-season total since 1998.

3. Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg won 18 of his first 31 games after taking over for the fired Charlie Manuel on Aug. 16, but Philadelphia ended the season by dropping nine of its last 11.

PREDICTION: Phillies 4, Rangers 3