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.
