Blangraphs

Friends tonight is a very special night. Two of the greatest pitchers of our generation are going at it in a battle for the division crown. Livan v. Blanton. An epic battle of 80 something mph fastballs vs. the "Blanton Blazer" coming in at 89.4 mph. Set your alarms for 7:05 est. It truly is a clash of the titans tonight.

Blanton to the left, Livan to the right

This graph demonstrates Kentucky Joe's malice with the stick at the plate relative to other well known stars of the diamond. I think the graph pretty much speaks for itself.

Joe Blanton (First start of season, 3-1 career vs. Mets) and the Phillies (3-1) against Mike Pelfrey (opening day starter, 0-1) and the Mets (3-1) in a battle for first place. Be here for the liveblog!

With the Phillies off today, excitement is growing about the first Joe Blanton start of the season. The Mets have skipped a beat in their rotation in a panicked attempt to make Wednesday's contest a fair fight. Opening day starter Mike Pelfrey (0-1, 10.38 ERA) is set to oppose Blanton. In other Blanton news, a compilation of recent Joe quotes can be found on Google.

Blanton fact of the day: #2 hitters have a worse slugging percentage against Blanton (.313) than #9 hitters (.314). Watch out, Willie Harris.

Oswalt v. Bud