"It's a good challenge," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "Like I said in spring training, I think the Red Sox are the best team in baseball. It's going to be two good teams playing against each other, and hopefully we're up for the challenge."
Record-wise, the Phillies held the distinction of being the best team in baseball heading into their weekend series with the Oakland A's. But the Red Sox were close behind after rapidly recovering from a 2-10 start.
The Red Sox have the best offense in baseball.
The Phillies have the best starting rotation even though they have lost one of their aces (Roy Oswalt) to a serious back injury.
Any time a team with as much history and talent as the Red Sox comes to town, it makes for a supercharged atmosphere. This should be fun, but it should not be misconstrued as a measuring stick for either team.
"I guess it could be, but so many things change from now until July, September, and October," Amaro said. "The team they face today and the team they face later on down the road could be much different."
Proof of that can be found by looking at the Phillies' last two seasons.
In 2009, the Phillies made a late May trip to Yankee Stadium as the defending World Series champions and took two out of three in the Bronx. It was a great time for Phillies fans. It wasn't a sign of things to come, even though the Phillies made the more significant deadline trade by adding Cliff Lee to their starting rotation.
The Phillies won the regular-season series because Brett Myers pitched like an ace in the opening game and Raul Ibanez was one of the hottest hitters in baseball.
