April 18 -- MARQUEE MATCHUP

In order to be a baseball writer, one first must love baseball. Makes sense, right? But, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit this, it's easy to become jaded about baseball when you cover it for a living.

It's a job, much as any other, and while most of us wouldn't trade this particular job for almost anything, the ballparks that once gave us so much joy now remind us of the pressure to write a coherent story while meeting our newspaper's deadlines, the athletes from whom we must coax quotes on a nightly basis, the anxiety that the competition has uncovered a story that we didn't know about, and the many nights and weekends we spend on the road, away from family and friends.

There are times, however, when we're reminded of why we delved into this enterprise in the first place. For me, tonight will be one of those times. There isn't a seat to be had at The Bank to watch the Phillies meet the Mets -- and, more specifically, Cole Hamels meet Johan Santana in a battle of the NL's best left-handers and perhaps the two best changeups in all of baseball. And it'll be my distinct privilege to watch Hamels and Santana and undertake the challenge of writing about them for The Paper and here on The Blog.

This is one of those games that has even the participating athletes excited. After yesterday's game, Phils reliever J.C. Romero told me he doesn't want to miss a pitch. "The first five or six innings, I'll be a fan," said Romero, Santana's former teammate with Minnesota. "I'll be in the bullpen, just watching a nice baseball game. [Santana] is going to bring his best stuff. Cole is going to bring his best stuff. It's going to be fun."

I couldn't agree more.

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Here's how the Phillies have fared over the years against Santana:

Geoff Jenkins: 3-for-12, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Pedro Feliz: 1-for-4, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Jimmy Rollins: 0-for-3, 1 strikeout
Pat Burrell: 0-for-1, 1 walk
Eric Bruntlett, Chris Coste, Greg Dobbs, Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz, Chris Snelling, So Taguchi, Chase Utley and Jayson Werth have never faced Santana in a regular-season game.

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With Rollins and Shane Victorino injured, Charlie Manuel seemingly has been throwing darts at the wall to come up with a top-of-the-lineup combination that works. He found one yesterday with Taguchi and Dobbs, who each had two hits in the Phillies' 10-2, series-winning rout of Houston. Taguchi will start in place of lefty-swinging Jenkins tonight against Santana. Manuel said he will consider giving Coste another start, too. Coste went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs yesterday. Meanwhile, No. 1 catcher Ruiz is hitless in his last seven at-bats and batting only .186.