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Phillies-Blue Jays Preview

Jun 27, 2009 - 10:50 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Philadelphia (37-34) at Toronto (41-34), 1:07 p.m. EDT

Poor play in recent weeks may have irritated some Philadelphia Phillies players. Jayson Werth, however, has certainly seemed at ease during that stretch as long as the opponent is the Toronto Blue Jays.

With Werth continuing his success against his former team, the Phillies seek their first series win in more than two weeks as they face the Blue Jays in the finale of a three-game set Sunday.

Philadelphia (38-34) had lost three straight and 11 of 13 before beating Toronto 10-0 on Saturday, the same day the Phillies acknowledged one of their players was involved in a confrontation with a fan Thursday night following a loss at Tampa Bay.

The player was not identified by the team, but the St. Petersburg Times reported on its Web site that J.C. Romero grabbed and shoved a male fan who made comments about steroids. The reliever recently returned following a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy.

Philadelphia got two homers from Werth and had six different players drive in at least one run Saturday, a day after being held without an extra-base hit for the first time in 97 games in a 6-1 loss to Toronto (41-35). A victory Sunday would give the Phillies their first series win since taking two of three against the New York Mets from June 9-11.

Werth, who got his first taste of the majors with Toronto in 2002 and '03, was 4 for 4 on Saturday and had an RBI single Friday. He also homered in each game of Toronto's three-game set in Philadelphia from June 16-18.

"You watch him in batting practice and he puts on a show," said Philadelphia's J.A. Happ, who pitched his first career shutout Saturday. "He's got impressive pop in that bat."

Werth has hit .333 (12 for 36) with eight home runs and 17 RBIs in 10 games versus Toronto, including the only three-homer game of his career on May 16, 2008.

Now he'll face Brian Tallet (5-4, 4.36 ERA), who has given up no more than one run in three of his last four starts. The left-hander matched a career high with seven strikeouts in six shutout innings Tuesday night to beat Cincinnati, yielding three hits in a 7-5 victory.

Tallet's recent success is partly due to throwing more changeups.

"I saw how the righties were approaching his changeup early on in the season, they weren't having much success," Blue Jays catcher Rod Barajas said. "I'm like, 'Why don't we throw it to lefties?' We went with it and he's done a great job."

This will be Tallet's first start against the Phillies. He has not received a decision in six relief appearances versus Philadelphia, posting a 3.86 ERA.

The Phillies counter with Jamie Moyer (5-6, 5.97), who looks to break a tie with Bob Gibson for 43rd place on the all-time wins list. Moyer's 251st victory came Tuesday night in one of his best outings of the season, allowing one run and five hits in six innings as Philadelphia beat Tampa Bay 10-1.

That came six days after he was tagged for a season-high 10 hits and six runs in six innings against Toronto in a 7-1 defeat. The 46-year-old left-hander is 14-9 with a 5.37 ERA in 38 appearances versus the Blue Jays, but he's 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in his last five outings at Toronto.

Scott Rolen homered off Moyer last week and takes a 14-game hitting streak into this contest. He's hitting .429 during that stretch, including 7 for 17 with five RBIs in four games versus the Phillies, with whom he played from 1996-2002.

Blue Jays right fielder Alex Rios is bating .455 (10 for 22) against Moyer but has hit .154 (4 for 26) in his last seven games overall.

Toronto has lost two of three after winning six of eight.