Phillies (2-1) vs Mets (3-0) Preview - philliesfan136's Dynasty

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Phillies (2-1) vs Mets (3-0) Preview

Posted on June 20, 2011 at 09:52 PM.

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PHILADELPHIA-After taking two out of three from the Astros, the Phillies host the Mets, who allowed only 6 runs in their 3-game sweep over the Marlins.It was mostly the dominant pitching that helped them to win,but the Mets offense backed it up. It seems the Mets will look to their(by-far) impressive pitching to lead the way against the Phillies.

And with that, we look at this tonight's pitching matchup, which pits the Phils' 2008 World Series MVP, Cole Hamels, against Mets' 21-year-old Dominican righthander Jenrry Mejia. As Phillies fans know, Cole Hamels didn't get much run support last year, though he ended up with an above-.500 record and a decent ERA. Let's take a look and Cole's and Mejia's full 2010 pitching stats:

Phillies vs Mets: Tale of the Tape
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LHP Cole Hamels
33 GS,208.2 IP,12-11
3.06 ERA ,211 K, .237 BAA

VS

RHP Jenrry Mejia
3 GS (33 G),39 IP, 0-4
4.62 ERA,22 K,20 BB,.289 BAA
Minors stats: 9 GS,42.1 IP,2-0
1.28 ERA,45 K

Although the pitching matchup looks favorable for the Phillies, the Mets have 4 of their best hitters batting .286 through the first three games. Here's a peek at them and the rest of the Mets' as well as the Phillies' lineups:

Starting Lineups
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Mets
Jose Reyes SS
Justin Turner 3B
David Wright 1B
Carlos Beltran LF
Lucas Duda RF
Angel Pagan CF
Ruben Tejada 2B
Jenrry Mejia P

at

Phillies
Jimmy Rollins SS
Placido Polanco 3B
Chase Utley 2B
Ryan Howard 1B
Shane Victorino CF
Domonic Brown RF
Ben Francisco LF
Brian Schneider C
Cole Hamels P

The big change in the lineup is the injury to young Mets 1B Ike Davis. In his absence, David Murphy has done well, but in tonight's lineup David Wright will be at first, with Justin Turner covering third. Another interesting move by Terry Collins is benching Jason Bay and having Carlos Beltran in left field with Lucas Duda in right field. Overall,most of the Mets offense is hot, and they picked up plenty of runs against the Marlins for their pitching to hold down the fort. The only real change for the Phillies is that Carlos Ruiz gets the night off and Brian Schneider starts behind the plate.

Summary
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Chase Utley is hot. The Phillies need to get runs early off the inexperienced righty. Cole Hamels faces a few hot Mets hitters, and he's relying on run support tonight. The best offense wins.

This has been our Phils-Mets Game 1 preview. We'll be back with the results.