Roy Halladay won his 15th game of the season as the Phillies took care of the Dodgers to win their 75th game of the season. They're 7-1 on this ten game road trip.
What went right?
Jimmy Rollins was 1-4 with a two run double.
Shane Victorino went 3-5, scoring three times and driving in one with a solo home run in the ninth.
Ryan Howard went 2-5 with two RBI.
Hunter Pence was 2-3.
Roy Halladay didn't have a great start by his standards, but it was still good enough to win another game. He allowed one run in 6.1 innings while giving up nine hits. He walked two and struck out four.
Ryan Madson worked a scoreless ninth inning for his 20th save of the season.
What went wrong?
Raul Ibanez went 0-4 with a strikeout.
Michael Stutes had a rough night, getting charged with two runs and an error while recording just a single out in the eighth inning.
Brad Lidge pitched the rest of the eighth, but he looked more like the 2009 Brad Lidge, giving up a walk and a base hit.
Game Analysis:
It wasn't always pretty, but the Phillies won their 75th game of the season last night behind Roy Halladay and some big hits by the offense. Halladay didn't have his best stuff and allowed nine base hits, but they were all singles, and just one Dodger was able to score with him on the mound. So it wasn't a perfect Roy Halladay start, but it was still pretty damn good.
Considering the lack of success that the Phillies have had against Hiroki Kuroda in the regular season, it was very nice to see them jump on him in the first two innings. Shane Victorino set the table in the first, and Ryan Howard brought him home with a single, and then Carlos Ruiz and Michael Martinez came around in the second inning on a double by Jimmy Rollins. Howard would drive Victorino in again with the eventual game winning run in the seventh inning, giving the Phils four runs off of Kuroda last night, which was a good showing for them. Kuroda normally has the Phillies' number, so to get three runs early off of him and another one late was a nice bounce back after facing Tim Lincecum on Sunday.
Like I said before, Halladay didn't have his best stuff last night, but he still pitched well. Just like in his last outing against the Rockies, Halladay gave up a lot of hits, and last night, he had just one 1-2-3 inning. The good thing about Halladay is that he can pitch himself out of trouble very easily, and he did that last night. The Dodgers couldn't get a real rally going until the eighth inning, and by then, Halladay had been lifted and Michael Stutes and Brad Lidge were doing their best to let the Dodgers back into the game. Fortunately, Lidge got out of the eighth inning jam, and Ryan Madson shut the door in the ninth. It was a good team effort from the pitching staff, who did exactly what had to be done to ensure another win.
Through 115 games, the Phillies stand with a 75-40 record. That's not just good, that's franchise record good right there. Their 8.5 game lead on the Braves is by far the largest in baseball, and with the way the pitching staff is working and the offense is getting together, things are only going to get better as the rest of the season goes along. There's still 47 games to go in the regular season, so buckle up. It's going to be a fun ride.
Tonight, the Phillies play their last 10:10 game of the season. Cliff Lee (11-7, 2.96 ERA) goes against Ted Lilly (7-11, 4.86 ERA).
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