Phillies Score Five, Give Halladay His Seventh Win of The Year
By: Mike Reisman
Today marked one day after the one year anniversary of Roy Halladay's perfect game against the Marlins. Halladay got the start today against the Nationals, looking to recreate that performance and lead the Phillies to their 34th victory this season. Although Halladay's performance ended up being far from perfect, it would be enough to let the bats bail him out and get the win.
The Nationals were able to get to Halladay early in the 2nd, as they got on the scoreboard first with a Mike Morse solo home run. They would get one more run in the inning when Livan Hernandez put down a sacrifice bunt, making the score 2-0 Nationals.
The Phillies would strike back in the 4th, as Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez would hit the Phillies first back-to-back home runs this year, tying the game at two. They would take the lead later in the inning when Domonic Brown would single, scoring Carlos Ruiz, giving them a one run lead.
However, the Nationals would not be beaten easily as they re-took the lead with solo home runs by Danny Espinosa in the 5th and Laynce Nix in the 6th. But the Phillies would score again in the 7th on a Ryan Howard single to tie the game. Finally later in the inning, Raul Ibanez would hit a sac fly to put the Phillies up 5-4.
Jose Contreras and Ryan Madson would finish off the Nationals, and the game would end Phillies 5, Nationals 4. Roy Halladay would get his 7th win despite not giving his best outing, and reliever Sean Burnett would get his second loss of the year.
For the second time in a row, Roy Halladay did not have his best start, allowing ten hits and four earned runs in just seven innings. Though he struck out five as well, his pitching was not as sharp as normal. Although this may just be a small slump, Halladay might be suffering from overwork. It's no secret that the Phillies like to work Halladay until he can't throw anymore, however, this may finally be catching up to him. What the Phillies need to do is stop forcing Halladay to pitch seven or eight runs in games like today's where Halladay was struggling. Now, the Phillies got lucky today since Halladay made a great play in the 7th to save a run, but it wouldn't have hurt to send him back early and rest his arm.
One of the bright spots in today's game, like the rest of the month, was Raul Ibanez. Right now, Ibanez is playing like he did in the first half of the 2009 season, which in case you forget, is incredibly. Ibanez has really provided that spark to the line-up that the Phillies were missing earlier this month, and he has really made a difference.
Finally, the Phillies last three wins have been comebacks. This is really a key thing for the Phillies, especially since some days the rotation will not be able to carry the team to a win. If the Phillies can keep getting these comebacks, the confidence of everyone, not just the lineup will soar, and many more wins will be in the cards for the Phillies.
The Phillies and Nats continue their series tomorrow at 7:05 as Cliff Lee takes the mound against Jason Marquis.