On opening day, the Phillies will be led by Roy Halladay, who got his very first taste of the postseason last year in his initial season with Philadelphia. The Astros will send former Phillies opening day starter Brett Myers to the hill to challenge the defending National League East division champions.
In their history, the Phillies are 57-69-2 on opening day.
Read ahead for analysis of the pitching match ups and plenty more details from this series.
Friday, 1:05pm...Brett Myers (14-8, 3.14 ERA in 2010) vs. Roy Halladay (21-10, 2.44 ERA in 2010). Myers, the Phillies' first round draft pick in 1999, was one of the most consistent starting pitchers in all of MLB last year when he pitched at least 6 innings in his first 32 starts of the season. In 19 road starts last season, Myers went 6-8 with a 4.03 ERA. In his lone appearance against the Phillies in 2010, Myers earned a win when he struck out 9 and let up 2 earned run over 7 innings. In 97 career games at Citizens Bank Park, Myers has a 4.14 ERA and a .263 batting average against. Halladay is fresh off a Cy Young Award winning year in which he threw a perfect game in the regular season and a no-hitter in the playoffs. In 18 home starts last season, Halladay posted a 12-5 record with a 2.21 ERA and 4 complete games. Including the postseason, Halladay had a 13-4 record after the all-star break last year. In 2 career starts against Houston, Halladay has a 1-1 record with a complete game and a 1.69 ERA.
Saturday, 7:05pm. Wandy Rodriguez (11-12, 3.60 ERA in 2010) vs. Cliff Lee (12-9, 3.18 ERA in 2010). In 5 career starts against the Phillies, Rodriguez has a 2-1 record with a 3.05 ERA. In 16 road starts last season, the lefty Rodriguez posted a 4-7 record with a 4.41 ERA. In 2 career starts against the Astros, Lee is 0-2 with a 9.35 ERA. In 5 career starts at Citizens Bank Park, Lee has a 3-2 record with a 2.52 ERA. Carlos Lee is 6-for-18 (.333 avg) with 2 homers in his career against Cliff Lee.
Sunday, 1:35pm. "Jay" Happ (6-4, 3.40 ERA in 2010) vs. Roy Oswalt (13-13, 2.76 ERA in 2010). Happ has been dealing with a strained oblique but after playing catch on Wednesday, he is not expected to miss his start on Sunday. Happ was part of the package of players sent to the Astros in the deal for Oswalt last July. In 27 career games at Citizens Bank Park, Happ has a 6-3 record with a 4.33 ERA. After joining Houston last year, Happ went 5-4 with a 3.75 ERA and held opponents to a .230 batting average. In 13 games with the Phillies last year, Oswalt posted a 7-1 record with a 1.74 ERA. In 13 career games at Citizens Bank Park, including last year's postseason, Oswalt is 10-0 with a 1.94 ERA.
In his career against Halladay, Oswalt, Kyle Kendrick, JC Romero, David Herndon and Ryan Madson, Mike Bourn has combined to go 17-for-34 (.500 avg). Bourn was the Phillies' 4th round draft pick in 2003.
In 23 career games against the Phillies, Hunter Pence has a .330 batting average and a 1.064 OPS. Pence batted .266 in 79 road games last season.
Astros closer Brandon Lyon has a career 7.71 ERA in 14 career games against the Phillies. Ryan Howard is 3-for-4 with a double and a HR in his career against Lyon.
Jimmy Rollins is a career .300 hitter with 16 doubles, 6 triples and 10 homeruns in 63 games against Houston.
Shane Victorino hit a career high 18 homeruns in 2010...13 of those were at Citizens Bank Park. Against Astros hurler Brian Moehler, Victorino is 9-for-17 (.529 avg).
In 20 career games against the Astros, Ryan Madson is 0-3 with 1 save, 1 blown save and a 4.35 ERA. Madson is the all-time leader in pitching appearances at Citizens Bank Park with 219. At CBP, Madson's career ERA is 4.09.
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