1 down – 101 to go.

Wednesday April 7, 2010 

The Phillies got off to a good start, winning their opening game for the first time since 2005 behind new pitching ace, Roy Halladay.    Polanco and Howard homered and Halladay held the Nationals to 1 run on 5 hits while continuing the AL pitcher habit of contributing at the plate, albeit with a 30 foot dribble that scored a run when it was put into play at the perfect time.

Tonight is game 2, seeing a matchup between previous staff ace Cole Hamels who had an off year in 2009 but still was good enough to factor in the Phillies push to the World Series last fall and ex Colorado Rockie Jason Marquis, who owned 6 more wins than the Nationals top pitcher (John Lannan) from 2009.

The Phillies organization saw Marquis quite a bit, earlier in his career when he pitched for the Atlanta Braves, but most of the current crew have relatively few plate appearances against him.  The Nationals won a division low 59 games last year, even after winning the final 7 games of the season, and opening their 2010 season against the NL champion Phillies may not be the best way for them to get off to a strong start.  Washington has made some changes to the lineup this year; only three starters from the 2009 opening day game were on the field as starters Monday.

The Phillies remain a solid favorite to win and should pose problems for all the NL East teams this year with the exception of the Braves.  Atlanta has a more solid pitching staff and also made some off season changes to improve upon thier 86-76 third place finish last year.

I am looking forward to tonight’s game, which I will watch, regretfully from home.  I was lucky enough to attend the game in Washington but in doing so seriously crippled my sports entertainment budget for the year !!  It may have been the money I spent after the game, because the actual expenses to attend were fairly reasonable, I think between tickets, parking, food and gas, I spent $400.00, for myself and a guest.  And we had some sweet seats !

I predicted before the season started the Phillies would break the 100 win barrier this year by posting a 102-60 record in winning the National League East once again.  After opening day, I am happy to report, a scant 101 more wins to go !  I think it is fairly certain Halladay is going to get in the 20 win range, and Hamels may not be far behind as he seeks to reestablish himself to 2008 staff ace form. JA Happ should have a breakout season with 15+ wins of his own.

Three great pitchers, 6 of 8 position players top five in the league, a new World Series tradition; all add up to one of the most exciting Phillies season to come our way in a long time, perhaps in all time.  Can’t wait to see how Hamels looks tonight because if he is as strong as Roy there will be a lot of teams chasing the Phillies with little or no hope this year.

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