The Phillies embark on a seven game southwestern swing this evening, which means some late nights for Phils fan. Tonight's series opener against the Padres doesn't start until 10:05 pm eastern time. The Phillies will send Roy Oswalt to the hill, who has somewhat surprisingly been their most consistent starting pitcher, to face Mat Latos.
While Oswalt hasn't turned in any of the superlative performances that Lee and Halladay have this season, he also has never really struggled either. Lee and Halladay have both had starts where they labored. Oswalt has mostly cruised to a 2-0 record with 2.50 ERA.
Oswalt's last start was shortened when he left the game with a back strain, but says he threw a bullpen session this week after getting an extra day of rest thanks to Saturday's rainout and had no issues. Oswalt has historically been very good against the Padres going 20-2 with a 2.45 ERA lifetime. Last season, he allowed just one run and struck out 13 over 15 innings of work at pitcher friendly Petco Park.
The Padres will counter with Mat Latos, who has lost three straight after coming off the DL to start the year. He's coming off a rough outing against the Astros last Saturday where he have five runs over 6+ innings
The Phillies have won seven in a row at San Diego and 10 of the past 12 meetings overall.