Halladay and Phils Cruise to 8-4 Win
Roy Halladay could really get used to pitching against the National League, especially the Mets. In four starts this season, Doc is 4-0 against our neighbors to the north.
With tonight’s 8-4 victory he improved his record to 18-10 – the most wins by a Philadelphia pitcher since John Dehnny’s 19 in 1983. Unfortunately his ERA jumped to 2.36 after allowing four earned runs over seven and two-thirds innings. Halladay has pitched 6+ innings in the past 53 road games, which is the most since the great Walter Johnson went 82 games beginning in 1911. Finally, in the Cy Young watch, the Phils ace tied Jimenez and Wainwright for the league lead in wins and recorded his 200th strikeout of the season on his way to the league lead at 201.
Halladay even got into the action at the plate knocking in 2 runs to put the Phillies ahead for good with a single in the fourth. In fact, everyone except for Placido Polanco recorded a hit with Carlos Ruiz leading the way going 3-for-3 with 2 walks. Both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley hit solo homers. The oppo-boppo (are we still saying that?) was Howard’s 29th of the season and 251st of his career – putting him in a third place tie with Pat Burrell on the Phils’ all-time list.
All-in-all it was a solid win to start the weekend series against the Mets. The Braves beat the Cardinals by a score of 8-6.
In other news:
- Kyle Kendrick was announced as Sunday’s starter
- Jimmy Rollins will be on the bench tomorrow, but his right hamstring remains sore – he likely will not play. Wilson Valdez had an RBI and GIDP in tonight’s game.
- Brad Lidge will be available after hyperextending his right elbow last Saturday. He threw with Rich Dubee before the game for the second time this week and said he felt good. Ryan Madson pitched for the second consecutive night.
