The Yankees have their starters lined up nicely to start a tough week at home that culminates with a weekend series against their subway rival Mets. But the Phillies aren’t messing around either, as they are sending out one of the best Yankee killers of all-time tonight: Roy Halladay.
Mark Simon of ESPN New York penned a piece on just how dominant Halladay has been against the Yankees. A complementary table to the article shows Halladay holds the second-highest ERA+ against the Yankees in the modern era (only trailing Hoyt Wilhelm).
The Yankees thought they had gotten rid of Doc when he was traded from the Blue Jays to the Phillies in the offseason. But now, he’s back and hasn’t slowed down. He’s already got a perfect game under his belt this season (just sayin’).
Head to Head:
They met once in the regular season last year before the Yankees beat them in the World Series in six games. The Phillies won two out of three in the season, but the lone Yankees win came in walk-off fashion.
Pitching Matchups:
| Date: | Phillies starters | Yankees starters |
| Tues., 7:05 p.m. | Roy Halladay (8-4, 1.96) | CC Sabathia (6-3, 4.01) |
| Wed., 7:05 p.m. | Kyle Kendrick (3-2, 4.80) | A.J. Burnett (6-4, 3.86) |
| Thurs., 7:05 p.m. | Jamie Moyer (6-6, 5.03) | Andy Pettitte (8-1, 2.46) |
Players to Watch:
Phillies: Placido Polanco. He’s the team’s lone .300 hitter and is picking up a lot of the slack the injured Jimmy Rollins has left this third-place team. Polanco is hitting .354/.391/.465 on the road this year.
Yankees: Many of the core players are carrying the offense at home. I’ll give the nod to Alex Rodriguez, as we expect to see him return from his hip flexor injury tonight. He’s .352/.442/.625 at Yankee Stadium in 2010.
Prediction:
Tonight looks like a battle of the aces at first glance, but realistically Halladay is the heavy favorite. I’d count on Andy Pettitte to win Thursday leaving Wednesday as the tossup game. But I’m scared of Kyle Kendrick since only one Yankee has experience against him (Mark Teixeira: 1-for-12, HR). I’m hoping to avoid the sweep here, folks.
