A double dose of awesome this evening for Phillies fans as not only is Roy Halladay getting the start but beloved phenom Dom Brown has rejoined the big league club. Unfortunately, the lanky left-hander will not get the start this evening as Charlie Manuel said before the game that Brown likely won't start against lefties, at least initially, as the skipper wants to ease him into the lineup. But Manuel also noted that this isn't last season, and Brown won't be mired on the bench like the end of last season. Expect to see Dom get plenty of welcomed time this summer.
Along with Dom Brown, the Phillies will welcome Inter-League play back to Philadelphia tonight as the Texas Rangers are in town for a three game set.
Interleague Play
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As for the merits of Inter-League, put me in the camp of "It's great because it allows fans to see guys they may otherwise never see." That said, you can't disregard the major flaws in the system which Jayson Stark does a wonderful job outlining. One of his most poignant examples involves some NL East discrepancies, "The Mets will play 15 interleague games against teams currently .500 or better (plus three against the Angels, who are just a game under .500). The Nationals could play none. How does THAT happen?"
Charlie Manuel has grumbled about similar situations in the past, but it doesn't appear like MLB is set to do anything about it anytime soon. As we all know to well, the Phillies have not been great in their regular season games against the AL (106-129 all-time), although they did finish 2010 with a 10-8 record against the Junior Circuit.
Straight Edge Racer vs. Doc
Kyle Kendrick is not starting for the Phillies tonight, which is nice. Roy Halladay (5-3, 2.21) will take on C.J. Wilson (4-2, 3.38) who has a relatively popular Twitter account. Just this afternoon he said this of facing Roy Halladay at the dish, "I'm up against the CYborg."
News
(see a higher resolution of the above Roy Halladay/Cyborg photo here)
Having spent the early part of his career in the AL, Halladay has plenty of experience against the Rangers -- 20 games to be exact. Roy is 7-7 with a 5.36 ERA against them. Not very Doc-like. Current Rangers Michael Young (.279 BA in 44 PA), Ian Kinsler (.316 BA in 21 PA), and David Murphy (.500 in 8 PA) have solid numbers against him.
The weather lately in South Philly is bizarre. It was raining earlier before it got hot and quasi sunny. It's become even more impossible to predict in recent weeks. Who knows what tonight's forecast entails.
Dom Dom Dom
John Mayberry Jr. will start in center this evening with Raul Ibanez and Ben Francisco on either side of him. Wilson Valdez will bat and play second . Your chances of seeing Dom Brown make an appearance tonight are slim, because all Roy Halladay does is complete games.
First pitch scheduled for 7:05.