But today is a new day; and unfortunately, on that day, the Phillies have to face Stephen Strasburg.

The Phillies-Nationals rivalry is built on years of Nationals jealousy, and hit a fever pitch last year when the Nationals decided that the Phillies were their rivals.  Nationals manager Davey Johnson got things rolling by insulting Phillies fan favorite John Lannan.

Davey says he saw John Lannan this morning: “I told him he looks [expletive] in that uniform.”

— James Wagner (@JamesWagnerWP) March 6, 2013

Naturally, Phillies fans were thrown into a frenzy to defend their insulted player.  John Lannan may be a mediocre, back of the rotation talent who hits a lot of batters and looks like he’s a real scared pooper, but I’ll be DAMNED if I’m going to sit here and let the loose skin hanging off Davey Johnson’s face wiggle out an insult of John Lannan.

“Hrrrmmmf.” Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Of course, as always, there’s nothing we really can do, so let’s talk about how the Phillies are starting Roy Halladay today to take on Strasburg.

I just read something somewhere in which a guy projected Halladay to be a 3-4 starter for the rest of his career, the evidence being that Steve Carlton won the Cy Young in 1982 and was never the same again.  If that’s not a flawless leap of logic to you, then you must be a serial killer.

People don’t think so lowly of Halladay to not find this match-up intriguing.  The two have had similar springs, Strasburg having thrown a bit more (5 IP) and given up a few more runs (3), whereas Doc has hurled a paltry 4.1 innings and allowed opponents two runs to make them feel better.  Strasburg has twice the walks of Halladay (2) but also a higher SO/9 ration (12.6 to Halladay’s 10.4).

What we can conclude from this is that these numbers are very small.

The Nationals won’t be getting many starters out there, but the Phillies will, putting Ben Revere, Michael Young, Chase Utley, Ryan Howad, and Domonic Brown in the starting nine.

Keep in mind that everyone’s outfits will be under heavy scrutiny from Davey Johnson.

For the first time in your career Joe, we missed you on the field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

This may be the only time in the entire pantheon of baseball that people watching the game actually missed that fat turd Joe West.  He missed today’s game between the Phillies and Nationals because of what I can only assume was related either to him being overweight or into country music.  There are a lot of times when we all bitch and moan about the umpiring, but know that in actuality, they got it right and we are just clinging to their incompetence to prevent a nervous breakdown.  Tonight was not one of those nights.  Joe West missed the game rendering the crew down an umpire.  There was no third base umpire and the Phillies were absolutely shafted on two plays preventing them from scoring an insurance run late in the game. (more…)

Strasburg is on a short leash after coming off of Tommy John surgery just a year ago. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

The Nationals staff begins with young phenom Stephen Strasburg. One year removed from Tommy John surgery, Strasburg is showing fans and opposing hitters just what all the hype is about. His 1.42 ERA, coupled with 19 strikeouts in as many innings is impressive. But, is he Roy Halladay good? Doc has a 1.17 ERA through as many games, racking up 4 more innings than Strasburg.  Advantage Phillies.

Cliff Lee and Jordan Zimmerman match up in the number two slot in their respective rotations. Zimmerman is another recovering abuser of his elbow ligament (2 years clean and sober) and has been downright filthy thus far. His sharp slider working off a high 90’s heater coupled with pinpoint control makes Zimmerman look like a right handed Cliff Lee. Lee’s continued success this year was highlighted by a 10 inning shut out performance against the Giants (the Phillies of course neglected to score any themselves). If these two pitchers matchup this season expect a fast game, as they both don’t hand out very many free passes. Its a close call, but Lee gets the edge on experience.

Third up are Cole Hamels and Gio Gonzalez. Both teams feature two of the best lefties in the game, who would easily be the staff ace on most ball clubs. Hamels weapon of choice is his fading change up, where as Gonzalez relies on a hard breaking curve that is equally dominant. Both pitchers have wracked up high strike out numbers (Hamels: 23 Gonzalez: 21) and don’t show any signs of letting up. A shaky start against the Mets has Hamels’ ERA a run higher than Gonzalez’s, but both have been dominant early on. I’ll give the slight edge to Gio. This isn’t a knock against Cole, but on the Phillies front office that traded Gio away for Freddy Garcia, Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

"No love for big Joe?" Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

The fourth spot features two youngsters on both sides in Vance Worley and Ross Detwiler. The Vanimal has picked up where he left off last year, freezing batters with his tailing fastball, including an 11 K performance against the Friars. Detwiler has been even better posting a 0.56 ERA in his first three starts. If these two kids pitched in the 50’s, they would be described as having moxy. I would call it chutzpa, but whatever word you choose these two bring an attitude to the mound that wills them to succeed. I’ll give the win to Detwiler by a nose, but Worley isn’t far behind.

The two rotations appear to be evenly matched based on the individual matchups. The teams 5^th starters don’t offer much of a tiebreaker either as Blanton and Edwin Jackson are the epitome of average. The deciding factor that separates the Phillies rotation from the Nats is experience. It may sound like some hokey intangible attribute, but the Phillies have been their before and won. Hallday and Lee have won Cy Young awards. Hamels is a former World Series MVP, and even Joe Blanton has won a World Series game. By comparison the mantle in the Nationals clubhouse remains quite thin, lined with a few all star games brought over by Gio Gonzalez from Oakland. The Nats young arsenal does boast an array of intimidating fastballs and wicked off-speed stuff, but until they beat the Phillies and win in October their anointment as the best in baseball will have to wait.

You can follow Ethan’s Phillies thoughts on Twitter @Yearinbaseball and on Facebook.