• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Phillies-Yankees Preview

May 23, 2009 - 3:46 AM By PAUL DIGIACOMO STATS Senior Editor

Philadelphia (22-17) at New York (24-17), 4:10 p.m. EDT

The Philadelphia Phillies are enjoying their time on the road.

One day after emphatically putting an end to New York's nine-game winning streak by becoming the latest team to take advantage of balls flying out of the new stadium in the Bronx, Philadelphia looks to keep rolling Saturday when it plays the middle game of its series against the Yankees.

The Phillies (23-17) improved to 7-1 on their season high-tying 10-game trip with a 7-3 victory Friday night. Philadelphia hit four home runs and New York (24-18) went deep three times to bring the total to 82 in 21 games at the Yankees' new $1.5 billion stadium.

New York leads the majors with 69 homers while Philadelphia has the most in the NL with 60.

Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez homered for the NL East-leading Phillies, who are tops in the majors with a 15-5 road record.

Rollins has led the way for Philadelphia on the trip, going 14 for 34 to raise his batting average 40 points to .240.

"All the home runs were actually pretty legit, I thought," said Rollins, who hit his 29th leadoff homer. "It doesn't matter if the field is anything under 500 feet, it's going to give up some home runs."

New York had averaged 6.6 runs during its nine-game run, with seven wins coming at home. The Yankees scored 6.9 runs per game in those victories in the Bronx before being shut down for eight innings by Brett Myers.

Myers allowed homers to Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, who has nine hits - including six homers - in 45 at-bats (.200) since returning from offseason hip surgery May 8.

Philadelphia now turns to J.A. Happ (2-0, 2.49 ERA), making his first start of the season in place of Chan Ho Park, who was demoted to the bullpen Tuesday. The left-hander, who has never faced the Yankees, is 1-1 with a 3.58 ERA in five career starts.

"I want to put the best pitching on the field, whether it's out of our bullpen or in the rotation," manager Charlie Manuel told the Phillies' official Web site. "I probably will never be satisfied until we get perfect, and I don't see us getting perfect. There are things we need to try and there are things we need to do."

Happ last pitched May 15 at Washington, going two innings and picking up the win as Philadelphia scored four times in the 12th to come away with a 10-6 victory. He hasn't given up a run in six straight appearances, allowing five hits and four walks while striking out seven over 10 1-3 innings.

Andy Pettitte (4-1, 4.18) looks to win his third straight start for New York. The left-hander allowed a season-high 12 hits and four runs in 6 2-3 innings Monday in a 7-6 victory over Minnesota.

Pettitte, who spent three seasons in the NL with Houston from 2004-06, is 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in six starts against Philadelphia. He hasn't faced the Phillies since Sept. 6, 2006.

Rollins, Ibanez, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are a combined 10 for 43 (.233) with a homer and nine strikeouts against Pettitte.