Halladay Blanks the Nationals
There’s not much to say about last night’s 1-0 win other than I’m glad they actually won. It easily could have turned into another wasted pitching performance with the offense taking the night off. Fortunately, Roy Halladay shines when there’s no margin for error.
Tossing seven shutout innings, Pitcher Perfect improved his record to 16-8 on the season and dropped his ERA to 2.16. The Nats finished the game with more hits than the Phils with Halladay scattering eight of them. It was the ninth occasion this season in which the Phillies ace did not allow a run. He did balk in the first inning, much to everyone’s surprise.
On the flip side, Nationals starter Jason Marquis is still searching for his first win of the season, although allowing just the one run certainly helped his 14+ ERA coming into the game.
The Phillies lone run came third inning and they were lucky to get even that. After a walk by Chase Utley and a single by Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez smacked a scorcher down the first base line. It deflected off the glove of Nats first baseman Adam Dunn and trickled into foul ground to allow Utley to score.
And that was pretty much the game. Madson and Lidge finished the pitching duties without incident; and with the win, the Phils keep pace with the Braves in the division race.
