Phillies finally finish with AL foes

The Phillies are just 8-7 in Roy Halladay’s first 15 starts this season.

Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Roy Halladay will attempt to snap a personal three-game losing skid Friday night when he takes the mound at Toronto against the Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series. It will mark the end of interleague play for both clubs.

Halladay is now 1-3 in his four starts since tossing a perfect game on May 29 against the Florida Marlins.

It's not that Halladay has pitched poorly since that perfect game. The offense just hasn't provided him with much support. Philadelphia has scored four runs in Halladay's last three assignments, which includes getting shutout by Florida and scoring just one run against Minnesota.

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In fact, when Halladay tossed his perfect gem against Florida in May, the Phillies gave him just one run of support.

Halladay is off Sunday's 4-1 loss against the Twins as a hefty 200 home favorite. The 33-year-old Denver native allowed four runs (three earned) on a season-high 11 hits (two homers) in eight innings spanning 106 pitches. He fanned eight Twins and did not walk a batter.

Halladay has now gone into the seventh inning or later and allowed three runs or less in eight of his last 10 starts. He is 4-2 with a 2.36 ERA in seven road assignments, with the ‘under' going 5-2. The ‘under' is also 9-6 in his first 15 starts this season, with the Phils going 8-7 during that span.

After Thursday's 12-3 home win against Cleveland, the Phils are 8-7 this season in interleague action, 32-22 against right-handed starters and 10-7 in one-run games. Philadelphia also has a plus-32 run differential, outscoring the opposition by 329-297.

The Phils are 18-17 away from home this season, but have lost seven of their last 10 road encounters. The ‘under' is 11-5 in their last 16 road outings.

Toronto is 39-34 after Thursday's 5-0 home win against the St. Louis Cardinals. That would be good enough to be in a pennant race in any of the other divisions. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays reside in the AL East where they are 6 1/2 games behind the first -place Yankees.

Playing against NL teams also has not been kind to the Jays, evidenced by their 6-9 interleague ledger. Toronto is 20-17 at home, 33-23 against right-handed starters and 10-13 in one-run games.

Though the ‘over' was 36-34-3 in the Blue Jays' first 73 games, the ‘under' is 7-2 in their last nine home outings. Toronto is also 6-2 in its last eight meetings against Philadelphia, including taking four of six matches last season.

Jesse Litsch (0-1, 6.75 ERA) will make his third start of the season for the Jays in Friday's opener of this three-game series. Toronto has split his first two efforts.

The 25-year-old right-hander got off to a rocky start in his first effort at Colorado on June 13. He was tagged for seven runs on nine hits in just 2 1/3 innings spanning 80 innings.

Litsch's latest start (June 19) was the complete opposite, as he blanked San Francisco on three hits through seven innings. The Jays went on to win the game as 145 home underdogs, 3-0, though Litsch was not involved in the decision.

The Jays and Phils are both 14-10 this season in the first game of a series.