Having lost 4 in a row coming in the Phils needed something, anything to be positive about night. Fortunately it was Roy Halladay's turn to take the mound and he did not disappoint. No he wasn't perfect again but pretty close to it. In 7 strong innings he allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 7. Just like Florida the Padres could never really figure Roy out. Despite Halladay's mastery he nearly took a no decision before a bases loaded walk by Jayson Werth in the 5th gave the Phils a 3-2 lead. Before that Halladay himself started the Phils only rally singling in front of a homer by Shane Victorino.
After that Halladay was almost reduced to a no decision again before J.C Romero got out of a bases loaded jam in the 8th by forcing Chris Denorfia into a double play. From there it was up to Brad Lidge to close things out in the 9th and boy did he. He got David Eckstein to ground out. Then he struck out the great Adrian Gonzalez with a well placed fastball on the outside the corner. Finally he got Chase Headley to chase a couple nasty sliders for strikeout number 2 and out number 3. Just like that the losing streak was over and perhaps now the Phils will begin to come out of the slump. If nothing else it seems like after quite a bit of rehab and a lot false starts Brad Lidge is out of his funk. He really looked like the Lidge of 2008 out there and if that's case the Phils are going to be okay. No matter how many runs they score, if they can just get leads late in games from here on out they should be able to close them out.
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