Phillies Preview: August 18, 2009

Arizona Diamondbacks (54-65) at Philadelphia Phillies (66-49)

7:05pm - Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA

Pedro Martinez, RHP (1-0, 5.40) v. Jon Garland, RHP (6-10, 4.28)

Pedro Martinez will make his home debut for the Phillies, after winning his first start at Chicago. He will be opposed by Jon Garland, whom the Phillies beat earlier this season in Arizona. The two righties will pair off in the opener of the three-game series in Philadelphia. As usual, both pitchers will need to keep their offerings down to avoid a slugfest.

It will be interesting to see what type of reaction Pedro receives in front of his new home crowd. He has not had many appearances at Citizens Bank Park and of those, none were very successful. In his previous start against the Cubs, Martinez was marginally effective in the midst of a Phillies blow out win. Now he will face off against a Diamondbacks team that he has only minimal appearances against. The key to their lineup will be the young, rising star, Mark Reynolds, who is second in the big leagues with 38 home runs.

Martinez will face off with the Diamondbacks' Jon Garland. Despite his poor record, Garland is putting up solid numbers for Arizona this year, while throwing 149 innings. In his career against current Phillies, Garland has given up a .283 batting average over 124 plate appearances. He has also given up five career home runs to current Phils, including two each to Matt Stairs and Raul Ibanez. In what will be his first trip to Citizens Bank Park, he will really need to be on top of his game to keep the Phillies offense in check.

This will be a quick three-game set at home for the Phillies, so they will certainly look to get a quick jump on the floundering Arizona team. It's a warm, muggy evening in Philadelphia, so the ball could be flying out of the park. Look for the Phillies offense to back Pedro to make his home debut a successful one.