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So, after a pretty disheartening road trip -- if you had any heart left to dis- I suppose -- the Phillies are back home and starting a three game series against the surprisingly good New York Mets. The Mets, despite a pathological stubbornness to not call up their young, good pitchers and position players, are surging in the NL East, up four games on the Atlanta Waiting for Regressions and 4.5 games on the Marlins and Nationals. And the Phillies? Well, they're, um, eight and a half games back. So there's that.
But hey, at least Hamels is pitching tonight, right? Against this guy, maybe you've heard of him, his name's Matt Harvey and he's pretty good at baseball? Yep, it's Harvey day, and while it's fun to see Chase Utley own him handily, I don't think we can bank on that. Let's, like the condemned to the gallows, get to the tale of the tape.
Probable Pitchers
Matt Harvey -- Matt Harvey is remarkable because he's exactly what everyone wants their prize pitching prospects to become, and what those prized pitching prospects almost never actually achieve. From his minor league performance to his major league dominance, he maintained his strong 9 strikeouts per 9 while cutting his walks by 66% and maintaining a pretty stingy home run rate. Basically he turned from "Maybe he's good Kyle Drabek" to "Top 3 pitcher" in the offseason of 2012. And he doesn't look like he's slowed down by Tommy John surgery either. Also, that 2.41 ERA is backed up by all the defense independent stats and, uh, the guy is producing even less hard hit contact (down to 24.2% from 26.7%) than he did in his Cy Young calber year. Short story? Dude is good and is going to be a problem for years to come.
Cole Hamels -- Likely not to be a problem for Mets fans for years to come, Cole Hamels is no slouch either, early season struggles notwithstanding. So far he hasn't found his post-April form, as the strikeouts look good, but the home run and walk numbers are very un-Cole. We'll see if he can get on track against the Mets tonight, who are putting up the 24th worst wRC+ in the league at 87.
Oh don't laugh, Phillies! I see you with your league worst 69 wRC+ down there!
Daily Fantasy Players
Chase Utley -- Listen, no Phillie is going to be a great bet tonight, and while I'd love to recommend Cole Hamels, we already covered him, and you're going to be playing Matt Harvey tonight anyway. So for here, may as well go with what worked last time at a pretty underproductive position. Can't hurt.
Daniel Murphy -- Look just play him at third if you can. Hamels, like Harvey, is a good pitcher, and while someone like Lucas Duda might put one in the seats, you can't count out 28, who has weirdly owned Hamels over his career. In 52 plate appearances, Murphy has gone 333/346/471 against Hamels, which while no Charlton Jimerson (1 PA, 1 HR, 5.000 OPS), is pretty decent for a low investment cost.