The Phillies have activated Joe Blanton from the DL and the righty take the mound tonight as the Phillies face the Marlins for the first of three games at Sun Life Stadium. Blanton has fared well lifetime against the Marlins posting a 5-2 career record and a 3.12 ERA over eight career starts. He has won every start he's made at nice, quiet Sun Life Stadium.
He will opposed by the seemingly ageless Javier Vazquez. It's not even that Vasquez is terribly old (he's 34) it just seems like he's been around forever. He's gotten off to a rough start this year with a 6.39 ERA, which actually inflates to 7.56 at home, where he is 0-2. He's currently fourth in the NL in walks.
These two teams last met when they split a rain shortened series back in mid April. The Marlins missed both Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in that series, but not this time around. Halladay is scheduled to go tomorrow against Josh Johnson in a showdown between likely NL Cy Young rivals. Cliff Lee will face Ricky Nolasco on Wednesday.
Marlins outfield Chris Coghlan was excited to face the Phillies top two pitchers.
"Do we get ’em this time?" asked Marlins center fielder Chris Coghlan. "Good. It’ll be fun, man. They have their [pitching] staff.
"But it doesn’t make them unbeatable. I think our team can play with them."
Of course, last year against the Marlins Roy Halladay threw a perfect game, which kinda did make the Phillies unbeatable that day.