Game Recap:
The Phillies finished their first homestand of the season with an 11 run beatdown of the New York Mets today. Roy Halladay pitched seven innings to get his first win of the season.
What went right?
Where do I even begin with this one?
Shane Victorino was 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
Placido Polanco went 2-5 and drove in four runs.
Ryan Howard went 1-4 and scored twice.
Raul Ibanez was 1-3 with a walk, a hit by pitch and a two run home run. He scored three times.
Wilson Valdez had an excellent game, going 4-4 with three RBI and three runs scored.
Roy Halladay picked up his first win of the season, pitching seven shutout innings while giving up seven hits. He walked one, struck out seven and went 1-2 at the plate.
The bullpen had another solid showing, as Danys Baez and David Herndon pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to finish off the Mets.
What went wrong?
The Phillies hit into two double plays. Yes, I'm nitpicking.
Game Analysis:
If last night's game was an early season gut check for the Phillies, today's game was a punch to the gut of the New York Mets. The Phillies got started in the third inning against Jon Niese and never looked back, scoring two or more runs in four of the next five innings. Niese only lasted four innings, and the Phils capped their first homestand of the year at 5-1.
Is anyone still questioning if this offense can produce runs? In six games this year, the Phillies have scored 43 times, including 21 runs in the last two games. That comes out to over seven runs a game, and that's impressive. What's even more impressive is that out of the six games that the Phillies have played this season, only once has a pitcher made it through the sixth inning. That was Brett Myers on Opening Day. The best pitcher for the Mets was Chris Young, and he only got into the sixth inning, he couldn't finish it. That means that this offense is showing great patience at the plate and are making the opposing pitchers pay for their mistakes. That's what they couldn't do at times last season. To see them doing it this early in the season is a very, very good thing.
I wrote about how hard Placido Polanco plays the game yesterday, and today, he looked even better, driving in four more runs, giving him eight on the season. For those of you keeping track at home, that's seven more than Jayson Werth currently has. Wilson Valdez had a great game, going 4-4 to improve his average to .429 with five RBI and four runs scored so far this season. Would fans rather have Chase Utley in at second base? Of course, but at least Valdez is making this injury to Chase sting a lot less.
Even though Ryan Howard didn't drive in a run today, the rest of the offense did their jobs. Aside from Polanco and Valdez, Carlos Ruiz drove in a run and Raul Ibanez hit a two run home run, his first of the season. That's the way this offense has worked so far this year. When one player doesn't drive a runner in, the next batter gets it taken care of. That's the mark of a good team. They should be able to do this and get the job done. The Phillies were 6-14 with runners in scoring position today, which is a .429 clip. What else can you say about that? When a team is hitting almost .500 with runners in scoring position, they're going to win, and usually by a large margin, which is what happened today.
Then, there's Roy Halladay. After allowing just a single run on Opening Day, Halladay was even better today, striking out seven while pitching seven shutout innings for his first win of the season. Despite not giving up any runs, Halladay did get into a little bit of trouble today, but, like any good pitcher, he was able to get out of it. That's what anyone should expect out of Roy Halladay. So far this year, he's done nothing to make fans think he can't get a second straight Cy Young Award, and his 0.69 ERA after two starts is right at the top of the National League. For Halladay though, it was just another day at the ballpark. He did what he is supposed to do, and that's pitch seven shutout innings and look very good, even in April.
For the first homestand of the season, things couldn't have gone much better for the Phillies. Yes, they dropped the first game of this series against the Mets, but they came back in the next two games to score 21 runs and pick up two wins. No Met pitcher made it through the sixth inning, and the pitching, especially out of the bullpen in the first two games, was excellent. Roy Halladay looked great on the mound today, and the team supported him with 11 runs. Compare that to the none that he got on Opening Day, and it's a very nice change. To put it simply, this season, for the moment, is so far, so good.
Tomorrow, the Phils go on the road for the first time this year as they head to Atlanta to take on the Braves. Cliff Lee (1-0, 3.86 ERA) pitches for the Phillies, and Tim Hudson (1-0, 1.29 ERA) goes for the Braves.
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