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Phillies-Mets Preview

Sep 12, 2010 - 1:21 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Philadelphia (82-60) at New York (69-72), 1:10 p.m. EDT

The Philadelphia Phillies and Roy Oswalt continue to mutually benefit since his acquisition in July.

The Phillies look to win for the eighth straight time with Oswalt on the mound Sunday in the finale of a three-game road set against the New York Mets.

Acquired from Houston in late July, Oswalt (11-13, 3.09 ERA) lost his debut with the Phillies to Washington, but is 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA in his seven subsequent starts. Philadelphia (82-61) has won all of those games, including a 7-4 victory over Florida on Monday. Oswalt gave up four runs over seven innings.

The right-hander owns one of the lowest run-support averages in baseball at 3.09 - mostly from his 20 starts with the Astros.

"First time I've won giving up four runs," Oswalt said. "It's nice."

Oswalt, who has never pitched at Citi Field, is 5-5 with a 3.68 ERA in 13 career starts against the Mets.

Philadelphia had its four-game win streak snapped with a 4-3 loss Saturday, falling into a tie with Atlanta for the NL East lead. Both clubs lead San Francisco by two games for the wild card.

Jimmy Rollins has missed the first two games of this series with tightness in his right hamstring. Manager Charlie Manuel said there is no guarantee his shortstop will be ready to play Sunday.

His return would come at a good time since Rollins is hitting .292 against left-handers this year, and New York (70-72) is starting southpaw Jonathon Niese (9-7, 3.85) for the series finale.

Niese has pitched well against Philadelphia this year, going 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts. However, he is 0-2 with a 7.41 ERA in his last three starts at home.

Niese gave up five runs over six innings last Sunday in an 18-5 road win over the Chicago Cubs, avoiding a personal three-game losing streak.

Right fielder Jayson Werth has had the most success against Niese of any Phillies batter, going 3 for 5 in their matchups.

Ike Davis four hits and three RBIs on Saturday to continue his big September for the Mets. The rookie first baseman is 16 for 34 with three homers and four RBIs in 10 games this month.

"Ike is constantly making adjustments as the opposition is adjusting for him," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said, "which is a sign that he is a good player."

Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran sat out with tendinitis in his left knee. Beltran said the injury was a result of overcompensating during the rehabilitation of his surgically repaired right knee this past spring. He is day to day.

"I've been dealing with it since I had the surgery," Beltran told the Mets' official website. "It wasn't as bad as it got to be (Friday), but I'm not concerned."