Phillies Video

Halladay's stellar debut

Howard's home run

Astros Video

Oswalt's solid start

Pence's two-run homer

But with ace Roy Halladay on the mound for Philadelphia, the Astros face a tough task in Sunday's series finale.

Especially given the way Halladay pitched in his Opening Day win against the Nationals.

The Phils' new ace allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings of work. Halladay also tallied nine strikeouts.

"I felt pretty comfortable early on," Halladay said after his first start with the Phillies. "That just goes back to where your focus is. You try not to get too caught up in the outside things that are going on and where you are and who you're playing for and try to focus on your game plan."

The Astros will counter with a veteran ace of their own in Roy Oswalt. Oswalt needs just one more win to pass Larry Dierker and take sole possession of the club's all-time wins record. Both have been sitting on 137 since Oswalt's last win of 2009, which came on Aug. 31.

Oswalt is one of the rare pitchers in the league with strong career numbers against the Phillies. In 11 games, Oswalt is 6-1 with a 3.23 ERA. In his last meeting with Philadelphia on Sept. 5 last season, he held them to two runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings.

He knows it will take a similar effort to pick up a 'W' with Halladay as his opposition.

"I have to throw a quality start and hopefully the guys score some runs, and if you keep the game close you've got a chance," Oswalt said.

In addition to throwing Oswalt at the Phillies, the Astros also have an edge up their sleeve. Pitching coach Brad Arnsberg joined Houston this year after serving as Halladay's pitching coach in Toronto from 2005-09.

"Arnie's seem him more than I have, but at the same time he's got good stuff, there's no doubt about it," Astros manager Brad Mills said. "I think we'll match up well against him, so it will be interesting to see."

Phillies: Bats continue to shine
The Phillies continued their torrid hitting pace this season, plating nine runs in Saturday's win. Ryan Howard smashed a deep two-run home run, bringing his RBI total to 10, while Jayson Werth turned in a three-RBI night. Shane Victorino got in on the act as well, launching a two-run homer of his own in the ninth. Entering play on Saturday, the Phils led the Majors with 32 runs scored. Adding Saturday's nine runs, Philly has now scored 41 runs in five games.

Astros: Offense awakens in loss
While the Astros' offensive woes were certainly present in the season's first few games, the bats seemed to come alive a bit on Saturday. The club compiled 11 hits in the contest Hunter Pence, who had been held hitless until Friday night, launched a two-run homer and center fielder Jason Michaels added a two-run blast of his own.

Worth noting:
Carlos Lee shouldn't mind facing Halladay, after all he has done some of his best work against the Cy Young hurler. Lee is 7-19 with three long balls in his career against Halladay. ... How do the Phils' stack up against Oswalt? Placido Polanco sports a .476 career average and Howard carries a .421 mark vs. Houston's ace.