Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee: How Will Phillies Aces Perform in All Star Game?

Let me start with a shout out to Roy Halladay. There have not been very many Phillies pitchers to start the All-Star game, so he is joining some pretty good company.

I also want to congratulate them Cliff Lee on making the team as well. He has been having a great year as the Phillies' second representative.

For varying reasons as most people know, Shane Victorino, Cole Hamels, and Placido Polanco will not be participating tonight. However, they also deserve recognition for being named.

All that being said, Halladay may have his work cut out for him tonight. It is nothing against him as a pitcher, but the American League has a very heavy left-handed trend in their lineup.

There are six left-handed batters and one switch hitter in the lineup for the American League.

He has been having a difficult time this year with left-handed hitters, who are batting .274 against him.

Halladay tends to come through when it matters for the Phillies, so it is definitely possible that he will dominate the AL, but I worry about him more than I worry about Cliff Lee versus this lineup.

Lee has been dominant against left-handers this year.

They are only batting .195 against him this year, and his ratio of strikeouts to walks against left-handed pitchers is 15.5 to 1.

He is obviously controlling the ball and is getting outs, which is the most important part.

The slight disclaimer here is that by the time Lee enters the game, probably a substantial amount of the starting lineup will be substituted out.

However, it seems like the Phillies are going to have a good showing tonight in the All-Star game.

I realize that there are several complaints about the game, but I do like it, and I like seeing the Phillies represented among the best in the league.