Just What The Doctor Ordered
This is why they brought in Doc. On an afternoon when the bats didn’t keep the pace they had set for the first five games of the season, Roy Halladay put the Phillies on his back.
Halladay threw his first complete game with the Phils, the 50th of his career and 150th win of his career, en route to a 2-1 Phillies victory over the Houston Astros.
The game started off right for the bats, as Jimmy Rollins hit a leadoff home run, putting the Phils up 1-0 early. However other than a manufactured run that started with a Raul Ibanez double, and ended with an RBI groundout for Carlos Ruiz that was all the offense the Phillies put together against Roy Oswalt, another one of the best pitchers in the National League, as the Phils mustered only six hits on the day. Thankfully, with Doc on the mound, that was all they needed.
Halladay got himself in a little bit of trouble in the 6th inning, loading the bases with no outs. However, a double play ball and a Carlos Lee popup later, only one run came across, making the game 2-1. Back-to-back hits started the 7th inning for the Astros; however Halladay then proceeded to retire the next nine batters he faced, giving the Phillies the 2-1 win.
The line for Halladay was terrific, 9 IP 7H 1R 0ER 8K and 22 first-pitch strikes to only 33 batters for Houston. He even added his second hit of the season, to lift his batting average to .286. Through two games, Doc is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.56 and a WHIP of 0.94, throw in 17 Ks to go along with only 2BB.
After a 5-1 road trip, the Phillies head back to Citizens Bank Park for the home opener tomorrow, and the start of a six-game homestand. With the Nationals heading into town, it is safe to say anything less than 7-2 to start the season at this point would be a letdown. After the three-game set with the Nats, the Marlins come to town, for what should be the first real test of the 2010 season.
