Roy Oswalt pitched eight shutout innings, striking out nine, and the offense plated five runs against John Lannan, giving them a win in the second game of their series in Washington.
What went right?
Jimmy Rollins went 2-4 and drove in two runs.
Hunter Pence was 1-4 with a home run.
John Mayberry had two more hits and scored a run.
Carlos Ruiz went 2-3 with two runs scored.
Wilson freaking Valdez did his job again, driving in two with a triple in the fourth inning.
Roy Oswalt looked like the pitcher the Phillies traded for last year. He went eight innings, giving up eight hits and no runs. He struck out nine and walked one.
Michael Stutes pitched a scoreless ninth inning to finish the game.
What went wrong?
Chase Utley was 0-3 with a strikeout.
Ryan Howard went 0-4 and stuck out once.
Game Analysis:
After the implosion by the bullpen in the ninth inning last night (that's all I'm going to say about that), the Phillies needed not only a bounce back game, but a good effort from Roy Oswalt to help keep the bullpen fresh. Tonight, they got both of those things, as Oswalt found his Fourth Ace form, pitching eight shutout innings and striking out nine as the Phillies beat John Lannan once again, this time by a 5-0 score.
Oswalt looked better in his last start against the Nationals, but tonight, he was on a totally different level. His nine strikeouts were the most since he was traded to the Phillies last season, and were the most he had in a single game since the 2008 season. He still gave up some hits, but was rarely in a lot of trouble, and looked excellent out on the mound. It's the kind of performance that reminds you why the Phils wanted to trade for him last year, and it makes you more confident going into this last month and a half of the season. Since coming back off the DL, Oswalt is 2-1 and has 18 strikeouts in 21 innings of work, compared to just four walks, and he's looked better in each start. He's getting his feel back out there on the mound, and it's only going to get better with every start from here.
At the plate, the Phillies still took advantage of the big inning, like they did last night, but this time, they had two innings with two or more runs. The first came in the top of the fourth, when Wilson Valdez drove in John Mayberry and Carlos Ruiz on a triple. Just like Oswalt's last start, the Phils took advantage of a mistake by Washington, as Ian Desmond committed an error when Mayberry attempted to steal second base. Without that error, Mayberry is out, and the inning is over. Instead, Ruiz walked, and Valdez brought them both in. Mayberry had a solid defensive play in the bottom of the fourth, throwing out Ryan Zimmerman at the plate and ending the last real threat that the Nationals mounted.
The sixth inning started out well when Hunter Pence led things off with a home run and Mayberry and Ruiz followed with back to back hits to chase John Lannan from the game. Wilson Valdez grounded into a fielder's choice, luckily avoiding grounding into a double play before Oswalt sacrificed Ruiz and Valdez over. Jimmy Rollins did the rest, driving them both in with a two run single that capped the scoring. Even though the Phillies didn't need any insurance runs, it was nice to see them added to the board, especially following last night.
This was exactly the type of game that the Phillies needed tonight. They bounced back well against a pitcher that they usually own, and they got a great showing out of their starting pitcher, which helped save the bullpen a lot of work. With the win, the Phillies move to 81-43 and still have a 7.5 game lead on the Braves in the division.
Tomorrow, Roy Halladay (15-5, 2.53 ERA) goes for his 16th win of the season as he faces off against Chien-Ming Wang (2-2, 4.22 ERA).
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