Ben Lively will start Tuesday night as the Phillies open what's now a two-game series with the New York Mets at Citi Field after Monday's contest was postponed due to snow.

The Phillies had the option of skipping Lively in favor of Aaron Nola but instead kept the rotation in order to give Nola an extra day of rest.

Lively routinely struggled early in contests last year, surrendering 21 earned runs over the first two innings of his 15 starts. Once beyond the second inning, he tends to calm down allowing a combined 21 earned runs in all other innings pitched.

Lively faced the Mets twice last season and pitched well on both occasions, finishing 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA.

Bullpen Woes
Misuse or not, the Phillies bullpen struggled in Atlanta. Over 15 2/3 innings the bullpen brings an ERA of 7.41 into Tuesday's contest in New York with an OPS against of .948.

Kingery Nearing History
Scott Kingery has collected two hits in each of his first two games at the Major League level. He is one game shy of tying the Phillies modern-day record for consecutive multi-hit games to start a career.

In Great Company
Rhys Hoskins has reached base safely in seven of his 12 plate appearances this year.

Since making his debut in August of 2017 Hoskins has 38 walks to 47 strikeouts, over that time span only two other players in the majors have as many walks and as few strikeouts: the Reds' Joey Votto (50 BB, 30 SO) and the Angels' Mike Trout (40 BB, 34 SO)

Patience at the Plate
Through the first three games of the 2018 season, the Phillies have seen a total of 524 pitches over 122 plate appearances. Philadelphia’s 4.30 pitches per plate appearance are the most among all clubs. Additionally, the Phillies have drawn 15 walks over those 122 plate appearances, an average of one walk every 8.13 plate appearances which ranks 4th in the majors.

Tonight's Lineup vs. Matt Harvey
1. Cesar Hernandez 4
2. Carlos Santana 3
3. Aaron Altherr 9
4. Rhys Hoskins 7
5. Odubel Herrera 8
6. Scott Kingery 5
7. Jorge Alfaro 2
8. Ben Lively 1
9. J.P. Crawford 6
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Follow Patrick on Twitter: @PGordonPBR

BY PATRICK GORDON
Managing Editor
pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com

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