The battle of the eastern divisional leaders will be a game to watch. The AL East leading Red Sox and NL East leading Phillies are both playing good baseball and both should provide a good challenge for each other.
The Red Sox are coming into the series after winning 2 of 3 from the Cincinnati Reds and the Phillies are coming into the game after losing 2 of 3 to the Cardinals. The Phillies are hitting as well as any ball club in the league and may have met their match against the powerful hitting American leaguers.
The Phillies will throw their best starter at the Sox in Game 1 in Cole Hamels. Hamels is coming off a start in which he struck out 13 Florida Marlins. The Red Sox starter Bartolo Colon has really been solid since his return to the majors and has given the Sox everything they could have asked for and more. He is 4-1 with a 3.41 ERA this season and has kept the Red Sox in every game he has pitched.
The Phillies have to have the edge in this game because they have their ace on the mound and they are playing at home with NL rules. If the Phillies are able to get off to an early lead and put pressure on the Sox offense to match their scoring, they should be in good shape. Colon will have to keep the ball down today which he sometimes have trouble doing because if not, he could be hurt by the long ball.
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