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Phillies-Nationals Preview

Apr 6, 2010 - 6:27 PM By JUSTIN EINHORN STATS Senior Editor

Philadelphia (1-0) at Washington (0-1), 7:05 p.m. EDT

Though the first pitch thrown at Nationals Park on Wednesday night surely will be better than President Barack Obama's from the season opener, Washington needs plenty of the other pitches to improve as well.

The Philadelphia Phillies look to tear apart the Nationals' pitching staff for a second straight game to support Cole Hamels, who is trying to return to his form of two years ago when he led a championship run.

After Obama's pitch sailed high and wide Monday, Washington's pitchers had many of their own control problems and Philadelphia took advantage of their mistakes that did cross the plate en route to an 11-1 win.

On the season's first full day, no team issued more walks than the Nationals' nine and no team had more hits than the Phillies' 13. It wasn't a big surprise considering Washington was worst in the NL with 629 walks and a 5.00 ERA last year, not to mention its 3-15 record in this season series.

The Phillies' 820 runs in 2009 led the NL, as did their 224 homers, and they hit two Monday. Newcomer Placido Polanco had one during a six-RBI day and Ryan Howard had the other after hitting 45 last year.

Howard keyed Philadelphia's run to a second consecutive World Series, but Hamels (10-11, 4.32 ERA) played a role in the team failing to repeat as champions. He went 1-2 with a 7.58 ERA in four postseason starts after going 4-0 with a 1.58 ERA in October 2008, earning MVP honors in the NL championship series and World Series.

Hamels had a losing regular-season record for the first time, his ERA rose more than a run and opponents hit .273 against him - up from .227 in 2008.

In his final spring tuneup, he allowed three runs and eight hits in three innings against Pittsburgh on Friday, but the left-hander sounded confident he's heading into the season in good shape.

"I feel a lot stronger than in recent years, and that's huge," Hamels said. "I had a workout routine that I did every day, and I feel confident that I can throw (my curveball) for strikes."

Hamels is making his 2010 debut in a favorable place. He allowed one run in his last 26 innings at Washington and went 5-1 with a 1.34 ERA in his last nine starts against the Nationals.

Plus, he's likely to be backed by a friendly crowd because about half the stadium was cheering for the Phillies on Monday.

"That was impressive. It felt like all of right field was only Phillies fans," right fielder Jayson Werth said. "This is starting to be our home away from home a little bit."

Philadelphia has won 14 of 18 in the nation's capital, playing a role in Washington finishing with more than 100 losses each of the last two seasons.

Monday's game left little indication that trend is about to change.

"We got to concentrate on sticking together, even if we do get out to a bad start," right fielder Willie Harris said after going 0 for 4.

The Nationals could use a good start from Jason Marquis (15-13, 4.04), signed to a two-year, $15 million free-agent contract. He spent last season with Colorado, tying a personal best in wins while throwing a career-high 216 innings.

He pitched a scoreless inning of relief at Philadelphia in the NL division series last year and won his only regular-season start against them.

However, the right-hander had a bad exhibition season, allowing 21 runs and 32 hits in 20 2-3 innings.