Two first-place teams kick off a four-game series on Monday when NL East leading Philadelphia visits NL West leading Arizona.
The real draw of Monday's series opener is the pitching matchup. Or, to be more specific, the Diamondbacks' starter. Arizona sends rookie phenom Max Scherzer to the hill for his first major league start.
It didn't take Scherzer long to break into the rotation after getting called up last week. Scherzer came out of the bullpen in his lone appearance and dominated the Astros; in 4 1-3 innings Scherzer didn't allow a single base runner to get aboard while recording seven strikeouts.
Scherzer's minor league stats are just as impressive. In four starts in Triple-A, Scherzer was an unlucky 0-0 despite a 1.17 ERA and an 0.65 WHIP, while striking out 38 batters in only 23 innings. If Scherzer can pitch as well against Major League hitters the Diamondbacks could be unstoppable in the NL with Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, and Randy Johnson pitching ahead of him.
Making the Diamondbacks even tougher to beat this season is a much-improved offense. Last season, Arizona ranked 26th in all of baseball in runs scored. So far this season they are second overall, thanks to plenty of power from young stars Chris Young, Justin Upton, and Mark Reynolds.
Opposing Scherzer for the Phillies on Monday will be veteran Jamie Moyer. To put into perspective how long Moyer's been in the Majors, he was drafted the same year that Scherzer was born.
On the season Moyer is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in eight starts. Moyer's lone win came way back on April 8. In his last start against the Padres Moyer was tagged for four runs on nine hits over 5 1-3 innings.
The Phillies are hoping to have shortstop, and reigning NL MVP, Jimmy Rollins back from a sprained ankle at some point in this series, but it won't be on Monday night.
Even without Rollins, and with Ryan Howard off to a very slow start, the Phillies' offense hasn't been completely dead thanks to Chase Utley, who leads the Majors with 13 home runs this season.
The DBacks opened as -145 moneyline favorites at online sportsbook against the Phillies, with the total opening at 9.5.