Why I want the Phillies

[WVRed]

This may sound crazy, but I would rather face the Phillies than making a west coast road trip.

1. Unlike the Giants and Padres, we have played the Phillies well. Even when we got swept before the All Star break, it wasn't like we laid down and quit. Two of the games our bullpen blew in the ninth, one was a perfect game broken up in the 9th that we lost in extras, and the other was a 1-0 loss. Not exactly humiliating. And we did take two of three in Cincinnati as well.

2. The Philly fans could work in our favor, IF we beat Roy Halladay in game one. If the Phillies drop game one, we don't need to write a book on how the fans will react. If we take game one, we have had Oswalt's number of late, and its possible we could be up 2-0 heading back to Cincinnati.

3. The Reds are a younger team than Philly, although this would probably work in a longer series. Youth does bring inexperience, but we are going to be more fresh for a pennant chase than some of the veterans on Philly's roster. If our youth can play like veterans and not give it up, we could have an interesting series.

4. The Phillies bashers come mostly from the left side (Howard and Utley specifically), and we have somebody to neutralize that in late innings in Aroldis Chapman.