Do eight innings of five-hit, one-run ball mark the
beginning of Roy Halladay’s turnaround? Who knows when it comes at the hands of
the Marlins, but for one day at least Doc silenced naysayers, reaching a major milestone
in the process.
The Phillies escaped Miami with the series win by a final of score 2-1 on Sunday,
with all three tilts being decided in the eighth inning or later.
That’s way too tight against a club whose record drops to 2-10 on the season
and looked every bit as pitiful as we had heard heading into the weekend. That
said, the end result – taking two of three – met bare minimum expectations.
Halladay’s effort was good enough to earn career
win number 200, joining Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees as the only
active pitchers in the club (Atlanta’s Tim Hudson is at 199). Despite his
struggles of late, Roy should feel pretty good about the achievement, although
something tells us he won’t celebrate for too long.
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The fact is while Doc handled business, it was only the
Marlins after all. Miami hitters are batting just .204 while producing a Major League-worst
1.67 runs per game. Especially in that big ballpark where the home team has yet
to knock one over the fence this season, Halladay had to feel comfortable
knowing he could probably get away with a bit more than usual.
Regardless, it was a solid outing, one you can only hope is
a sign of things to come.
It looked for awhile like no. 200 might elude Halladay once
more as the Phillies struggled mightily again with runners in scoring position
(10 LOB). Doc exited the game with the score tied, but Laynce Nix’s pinch-hit
home run – a bomb into the second deck – helped deliver the historic W, while Jonathan
Papelbon’s scoreless ninth entered it into the record books.
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The Phillies are back to .500, and now head to Cincinnati
for their three-game series beginning Monday.
>> BOX SCORE [Yahoo!]
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