The Phils finished their series with the Cardinals this afternoon. Roy Halladay got the start and was magnificent again. He allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 9 over 7 strong inning. He didn't get in a jam in the 7th with 2 on and 2 out for Matt Holliday, but where he wouldn't have for any other pitcher, Charlie Manuel stuck with Roy and he got out of it. Meanwhile the Phils beat up on Kyle Lohse for 5 runs on 9 hits. Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard did all the damage with respectively, a 3 run homer in the 1st and a 2 run single in the 2nd.
Later, with Lohse out of the game, Raul Ibanez added to the Phils tally with a solo shot in the 5th. Then Carlos Ruiz put the icing on the cake with an RBI single in the 7th. From there Chad Durbin pitched a scoreless 8th. Then Danys Baez finished the afternoon with a scoreless 9th to cap off the easy 7-2 win. So just like that the Phils walked off with an impressive series win over the Cardinals. The fact that they took 3 of 4 from the Cards is in itself impressive but the more impressive thing is that the Phils did it mostly with their much maligned pitching. So as far as I am concerned the Phils pitching is okay after all and will only get better in next couple weeks as J.A Happ returns to the rotation. For now the Phils move up to 17-11 overall, 2 games up on the Mets for 1st in the NL East.
In some more somber news Robin Roberts, arguably the greatest righhanded pitcher in Phils history, passed away today ate age 83. In a hall of fame career, Roberts won 286 games, including 20 wins for 6 straight years, with 45 shutouts, 2,357 strikeouts, a 3.41 ERA and 305 complete games. None of those complete games were greater than his 10 inning gem in the final game of 1950 season that sent the Whiz Kids to world series, at the time the Phils first such venture in 35 years. He'll be remembered not just as a great player but a great person off the field as well who always had stories to tell this generation of Phillies' players. He will be sorely missed at Phils alumni weekends from here on out.
2 comments:
That series against the Cards turned out to be better than I expected and Halladay continues to be a monster...On the sad note Philadelphia will greatly miss a great person such as Roberts and he will always be rememberd in a good light.
-to ph1llysports
agreed
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