Can Mike Pelfrey tame the Phillies when they visit Shea Stadium this week?

Now the season is fully underway.  The few remaining teams that have not opened their season at home yet, will do so during this week.  Several teams that managed to avoid using their fifth starter because of holes in the schedule will trot those guys out to the mound this week for sure.  There are also a number of pitchers who went on the DL prior to the beginning of the season, who are expected to return to action this week.  Josh Beckett of the Red Sox is expected to start today’s game against Toronto at the Rogers Centre.  Atlanta Braves hurler John Smoltz is also scheduled to start today against the NY Mets, who send their ace, Johan Santana to the mound.  Chad Gaudin of the A’s and Shawn Hill of the Nationals are slated to return by next weekend, while Doug Davis of the Diamondbacks is scheduled to start one more game on the 8^th, and then be out for several weeks at least, to receive treatment for thyroid cancer.  The Diamondbacks are hoping southpaw Randy Johnson is ready to return by the end of this week to replace Davis in the rotation.  Let us now turn our attention to a couple of the more interesting series taking place this week.

Series of the Week – Weekday Edition – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies - This series features the first three of eighteen games to be played between these two teams, both favored to contend in the NL East.  In addition, they have been bitter rivals in years past, with the Phillies currently holding the upper hand, having roared past the collapsing Mets last season to win the division by one game.  Head to head, Philadelphia won 12 of the 18 games played in 2007. 

The Phillies will miss Johan Santana this time around, as the Mets will send Oliver Perez (1-0) to the mound Tuesday to oppose Jamie Moyer (0-0), going for the Phils.  Perez was unhittable in his first outing this season against Florida in which he struck out 8, and only allowed 5 hits and a walk in six innings of work.  Moyer got roughed up in his first outing, giving up six runs, three earned, in just 3 2/3 innings against the Nationals.  Wednesday’s game features Kyle Kendrick for the Phils against Mike Pelfrey for the Mets, while Thursday the Phillies will send out Adam Eaton to face John Maine for the Mets. 

The Phillies hitter to watch here is Pat Burrell, especially in Tuesday’s contest against Perez.  Burrell has owned Perez, batting .353 with 4 homeruns in 22 plate appearances.  For some reason, Burrell has always hit Met pitching well, with 41 of his 218 career homeruns coming against the Mets.  That is nearly 19% of his total homerun production against one team.  Jose Reyes is the Mets player who can claim ownership of the Phillies at the plate.  He has a career .322 average, with 10 home runs and 27 steals against them in 72 games. 

Series of the Week – Weekend Edition – Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees – Next weekend features another storied rivalry with the sons of Steinbrenner taking on the team with a whole Nation of its’ own, the Red Sox.  The competition and rivalry between these two franchises extends to off the field, with even the owners of the teams jawing at each other in the back pages of the newspapers.  This spring, Hank Steinbrenner went as far as calling the idea of Red Sox Nation “a joke” and “an invention of ESPN.”  John Henry, the principal owner of the Sox, turned the tables and sent Steinbrenner a Red Sox Nation membership kit, making him an honorary member of the fan group.  The owner squabbles add a fun dimension to the rivalry that is not seen anywhere else in baseball, but the games on the field are where the real action is.  Last season, the Yankees won 10 of the 18 head to head meetings of the two clubs, but finished two games behind the Red Sox in the AL East.  The Indians eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs, so the teams did not meet in the post season. 

The pitching match ups for the series are expected to be: Chien-Ming Wang vs. Clay Buchholz on Friday, Mike Mussina vs. Josh Beckett on Saturday, and rookie Phil Hughes vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka on Sunday.  Neither Matsuzaka nor Beckett has pitched particularly well against the Yankees during the regular season.  Last season, both pitchers were 2-1 in four starts, with Matsuzaka’s ERA at 6.12, and Beckett’s at 4.39.  Dice-K appears to have had control problems against the Yankees, with 16 walks in his four starts against them, indicating perhaps his nerves were on edge like they appeared to be in Japan on Opening Day.  Beckett’s issue appeared to be one of bad luck, as his BABIP in his four starts against the Yankees was .378, indicating that the hits were falling where the Sox weren’t playing.  Meanwhile, Mike Mussina appears to love pitching in Fenway Park, as he has a career record of 10-7 with a 3.73 ERA there.  Chien-Ming Wang, however, does not appear to favor Fenway.  He has a record of 2-3 with an ERA of 6.17 in six starts there. 

Our hitter spotlight for the Yankees shines on Robinson Cano, a player who seems to love facing the Red Sox.  In 48 games against the Sox, Cano has a batting average of .330 with 9 home runs and 31 RBI, and at Fenway Park he is batting a stout .359.  Manny Ramirez was the Yankee slayer for the Red Sox last season, batting .392 with 4 homeruns and 8 RBI.  Ramirez has historically hit Mussina and Wang very well, so he should be in for a big weekend at home next week.