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Phillies-Giants Preview

Apr 26, 2010 - 2:35 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Philadelphia (11-6) at San Francisco (10-7), 10:15 p.m. EDT

The Philadelphia Phillies knew Roy Halladay was good when they traded for him in the offseason. The former Cy Young Award winner is just proving them right.

Coming off his first career NL shutout, Halladay takes the mound Monday in San Francisco, where the Phillies open a three-game set against a Giants team looking to give more support to left-hander Jonathan Sanchez.

Acquired from Toronto in December in a three-team deal that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle, Halladay has been nothing short of spectacular in four starts as a Phillie, going 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA.

"My goal was to be aggressive and not cause any problems for myself," Halladay said after striking out seven and throwing a five-hitter in Wednesday's 2-0 victory at Atlanta. "It's worked out better than I could have thought so far."

The 32-year-old right-hander has two complete games and struck out 28 while walking just three in 33 innings. Halladay has won his first four starts for the first time in his 13-year career.

"So far, he's been everything he was built up to be," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

The NL East-leading Phillies (11-7) could use another solid start from the six-time All-Star after dropping two of three to Arizona over the weekend. Philadelphia's starters went 0-1 with a 7.31 ERA in the series, and the team allowed a season-high 15 hits in Sunday's 8-6 loss.

Ryan Howard posted his first two hits of the series Sunday, but the former MVP is batting .214 with no homers in the last 13 games. Howard, who had two hits in 15 at-bats as the Phillies lost three of four in San Francisco last season, is 3 for 12 with six strikeouts lifetime against Sanchez (1-1, 1.86).

The Giants 27-year-old left-hander has allowed just one run while striking out 21 in his last two outings combined. Opponents are batting .167 against him.

"I'm throwing any pitch in any count," Sanchez said. "Before it used to be fastball 90 percent of the game. Now, it's more balanced."

Sanchez, though, is among the lowest in the NL in run support average at 2.79.

Despite allowing one run and one hit over seven innings in his last outing, Sanchez suffered the loss Tuesday as the Giants fell 1-0 at San Diego. Sergio Romo pitched one inning of hitless relief for San Francisco, which lost for the first time since moving to the Bay Area in 1958 when one-hitting an opponent.

"(Sanchez) pitched his heart out," said manager Bruce Bochy. "To do that is quite an effort by him. It's a tough loss to take."

Sanchez could find himself in a similar situation if the Giants don't improve at the plate. They are batting .234 and averaging 1.6 runs in the last five games.

"We're having a tough time scoring runs," Bochy said following Sunday's 2-0 loss to St. Louis. "... but right now we're not clicking offensively, we know it and we need somebody to come through and get a big hit."

Giants infielder Pablo Sandoval has been one of the team's bright spots of late, batting .529 in the last five games. He has never faced Halladay, who is 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA in two career starts against San Francisco.

The Giants have won two straight and five of six at AT&T Park against Philadelphia.