Roy Halladay came to the Phillies with a reputation as an extreme hard worker, one who likes to finish what he starts and also a person who is extremely detailed.   All of that was evident in the series finale against the Houston Astros as Halladay won an old fashioned pitchers duel against Astros ace Roy Oswalt.

Halladay tossed 110 pitches in a complete game 2-1 victory over Houston. Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home run to give Halladay a quick one run lead.  Carlos Ruiz later plated what would turn out to be the game winning run with an infield out, Halladay took care of the rest.

In the sixth inning the Astros loaded the bases with no one out but Halladay was magical as he coaxed Cory Sullivan to hit into a ground ball double play giving up the run for two outs, he then struck out the next hitter to get out of the jam. Houston again threatened in the seventh putting two runners on with no outs but Halladay got a ground ball out back to him and then struck out the next two hitters.

In the eighth and ninth the Astros went in order, skipper Charlie Manuel never evened warmed up the bullpen, it was that evident that Halladay would finish!   Phillies broadcaster Chris Wheeler  noted the throw back nature of the Phillies ace, stating “This guy is different” and indeed he is, great news for us Philly Phans!

Chatter

The complete game was Halladay’s 50th of his career and his 150th win.   He is so focused on game days that no one dare talk to him, he sits in one spot in the dugout, no one around him and stares straight ahead.  In one inning Astro centerfielder Michael Bourne was dancing off of third to try and distract Halladay as he pitched, big Roy gave him what for after the inning……. after he struck out the last two batters that is!

Phillies home opener of 2010 tommorrow as Cole Hamels takes the hill against the Washington Nationals.

Friday, April 9th

J.A. Happ was the benefactor of yet another tremendous offensive effort as the young lefty tossed five scoreless innings enroute to an 8-0 win over the Houston Astros.  The Phillies offense pounded out 16 hits marking the fourth consecutive game the team had more than 10 hits in a game, the last time that happened for the franchise to start a season was 1926 when the Cy Williams led Phillies were offensive mashers but not much else, that team struggled with pitching and defense, the 2010 Fightins don’t seem to have any problems in the early going!

Raul Ibanez broke out of his early season slump by smacking three hits knocking in three runs.  Placido Polanco had a four hit game while Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley  and Jayson Werth all had two hits.  Utley hit his first homer of the season.  David Herndon, Dannys Baez and Jose Contreras closed out the game on the hill.

Saturday, April 10th

Jamie Moyer made his 656th big league appearance on the hill as he took his first start of the season for the Fightins.   Moyer was his typical self as he danced pitches around the Astros and earned his first win as the Fightins kept Houston winless with a 9 to 6 win.

The team reached double digits in base hits once again and have started 4-1, first time since 1993 when those throwback phillies of Darren Daulton and John Kruk went to the world series.  Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino both belted two run homers in the game, Placido Polanco once again had a multi hit game.  The team scored eight of thier runs with two outs, they have plated 19 runs with two outs thus far this season!  That in itself is a great indication on how locked in they are right now.

The noticable difference with this year’s offense is the fact that they are taking alot of pitches,  Jimmy Rollins has already walked eight times this season!  The patient approach has made the opposing starters get into high pitch counts early on in the contests and also has put the fightins in great hitters counts.  

Chad Durbin, Dannys Baez and Ryan Madson closed the contest for the Phillies, Durbin and Baez looked very impressive in their 1-2-3 innings of work.

Roy Halladay on tap tommorrow against Roy Oswalt in the series finale.

Washington defeated the Fightins 6-5 in the rubber game of the season opening series this afternoon.  Kyle Kendrick was hit hard by the Nationals lasting only four innings while giving up five runs, shows the difference between real games and spring training as Kendrick cruised during the spring. 

Newcomer Nelson Figuerora gave up the eventual game winning run in the seventh inning as Ryan Zimmerman knocked it in with a double.  The Phillies struggled offensively despite scoring five runs, they were a collective 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.   Hard to say a team struggled offensively when they bang out 12 hits but timely hitting was not the case in this one.  Jayson Werth had three hits while Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each had two hits.

Chatter

Raul Ibanez has continued his offensive struggles from spring training, Ibanez has opened the season 1 for 11, the one hit a soft ground ball to right field.  He had a chance to tie the game in the ninth with Utley on third base and one out but popped out to shortstop.   Utley led off the ninth with a hard liner just over the shortstop’s head and turned it into a double by busting out of the box, the Washington centerfielder was playing deep and due to Utley’s hustle and read of the situation Chase was safe at second, he is the epitome of a heady player, a true winner.

J.A. Happ takes the hill on Friday as the Phillies open a three game set in Houston, the Astros will be hunting for thier first win of the year as they were swept by San Francisco in thier season opening series.

Ryan Howard moved into fifth place and passed Greg Luzinski on the all time Phillies team home run list as he belted his second bomb in as many games and drove in three runs overall to lead the team to a 8 to 4 victory over the Washington Nationals. 

Cole Hamels pitched five innings to earn his first win of 2010 and was followed by Jose Contreras, Chad Durbin, Dannys Baez and Ryan Madson on the hill to close the contest.  Madson collected the last four outs to earn his first save of the season.

The series concludes tommorrow with a day game as Kyle Kendrick takes the hill for the Phillies.

Chatter

Nelson Figuerora was signed off waivers from the New York Mets and will join the team as the long reliever.  Drew Carpenter will be optioned back to Triple A Lehigh Valley to resume his role in the starting rotation there.  The Phillies lack depth in starting pitching, Figuerora can provision some of that if needed, they also want Carpenter to work in a regular rotation so that he is ready if needed.  Josh Fogg is also available from Lehigh Valley along with Joe Savery however the team hopes to not have to dig that deep at least for now.

Great to start against the Nationals, more Phillies phans in the Washington stands than Nats, guess it is a football town!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Roy Halladay displayed why he is considered by many as the best pitcher in baseball as he tossed seven strong innings in leading the Phillies to an opening day 11 to 1 win over the Washington Nationals.  Halladay struck out nine batters using an array of five pitches and had the young Nationals off balance most of the afternoon.

The Phillies offense gave Halladay more than enough support led by Placido Polanco who had three hits in the game including a grand slam homerun!  Polanco drove in six runs during the contest.  Ryan Howard also had a multiple hit game including a two run tater of his own.  Jimmy Rollins looked like the J-Roll of 2007 as he had two hits including a triple.

The most impressive part about the Phillie offense was the new found display of baseball 101, runners were moved properly, pitches were taken in the right spots and the 11 runs were scored very efficiently.  This team is already a very potent offense but if they continue this approach they will approach 100 wins this season!

Youngsters Antonio Bastardo and David Herndon made thier season debuts in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the game for Halladay, not that he couldn’t have done so himself as he only tossed 88 pitches. 

Good win for the Fightin’s……..great start.

Chatter

Cole Hamels takes the pill on Wednesday in game two of the season, the Phillies play 15 of thier first 22 on the road, they have proven to be a good road team in the past so hopefully that will continue.  I would be remiss to not express my absolute disapointment in the Eagles trade of one Donovan McNabb.  McNabb was nothing but the epitome of a class act during his 11 seasons in Philly but for some reason many fans blamed every post season failure upon him.  I think that the team will sorely miss what I beleive to be a great qb and I truly expect that he will excel with the Washington Redskins…….. bad bad move by the Birds and those bird brain fans who are elated at his transfer should keep ultra quiet when he delivers in Washington!  Wish you well # 5!

The Phillies season opens with three key arms on the D.L.  Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero and Joe Blanton will have big roles on this year’s squad but at the outset find themselves in rehab.   Andrew Carpenter has temporarily made the team to fill in as long relief and Kyle Kendrick slides into Blanton’s starting role but these three are big time needs for the Phillies to continue to march towards another title.    Lidge and Romero are expected back mid April but Blanton will be out till beginning of May at the earliest.