Happ, Howard Lead Phillies to Sweep of Padres
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The Phillies young lefthander J.A. Happ threw a brilliant 7 inning 4 hit shutout while 1st baseman Ryan Howard solved San Diego’s Chris Young for a 2 run homer in the 1st inning. Happ was only in hot water in second inning as San Diego loaded the bases with 2 out but he got opposing pitcher Young to fly out to end the inning. With some support from both the Phils’ offensive supporting cast and from the bullpen, Happ and Howard led the Phillies to a sweep of Padres winning the series final by a 5-1 score on Wednesday.
The Phillies picked up 1/2 game on the Mets who were rained out of game 3 of their 4 game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Phillies 1st place lead in the NL East now stands at 3 games.
Suddenly, the Phillies have put together a 6 game winning streak, 5 of those games marked by oustanding starting pitching. Happ’s 112 pitch seven inning outing against the Padres might just have the best of the 5.
AP sports writer Bernie Wilson reports on Happ’s line in this impressive outing for Yahoo sports:
Happ (4-0) held the Padres to four hits in seven scoreless innings, the longest of his eight career starts over two seasons. He struck out four and walked two.
Howard helped Happ immensely early on by putting the Phils on the board in the first inning with a 2 out 2 run centerfield homer, his 16th dinger of the season. The homer turned out to huge as Happ ran into trouble in the second inning. San Diego loaded the bases on 2 singles sandwiched between 2 outs. Then Happ issued a walk to load the bases before retiring opposing pitcher Young on a fly out to evade damage. The Padres could muster no forth offense against the young undefeated lefthander.
While Happ was throwing zeros at the Padres nursing a 2-0 lead, leftfielder Raul Ibanez and rightfielder Greg Dobbs opened the fourth inning with singles with Ibanez taking 3rd base on Dobbs’ single. 3rd baseman http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6578 Pedro Feliz then drove in the 3rd run wih a sacrifice fly to leftfield. The Phils could have had more runs as Dobbs stole 2nd base and Young walked catcher Chris Coste. Happ tried to help offensively as well laying down a sacrifice bunt toward 3rd base moving both runners up a base. But shortstop Jimmy Rollins ended the inning by popping out to shortstop.
Young pitched a respectable game as well in a losing cause, although outshined by Happ. Young’s line was six innings, 95 pitches allowing 3 runs on 5 hits while walking and striking out 3 each.
The Phils got their final 2 runs in the seventh inning off of Padres reliever rookie reliever Greg Burke as centerfielder Jayson Werth singled in the 4th run and, aided by a fielding error and a walk, the Phillies loaded the bases. Ibanez grounded into a fielder’s choice for the 2nd out as the Phils’ 5th run scored. Then Dobbs flied out to rightfield to end the inning.
Lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero, just back from his 50 game suspension, replaced Happ to pitch the eighth inning as things got a bit dicey. A single, a strikeout and a passed ball put a runner on 2nd to be driven in by a single to leftfield by 2nd baseman David Eckstein. Then Romero walked 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez, MLB’s homerun leader who got nothing to hit all game, on 4 pitches. With runners on 1st and 2nd, 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff lined Romero’s 0-2 pitch into a line-drive doubleplay to shortstop to end the inning.
Romero came out for the ninth inning retiring the 1st hitter he faced on 6 pitches. Manager Manuel then went to Ryan Madson who got the final 2 outs on a ground out and a liner to 2nd base to end the game.
Phillies Nation’s Tim Malcolm adds these comments in tribute to J.A. Happ and to Phils:
With… a 2-0 Phillies lead still well in the balance, JA Happ pounded the linebacker Adrian Gonzalez with fastballs, until the slugger punctured the ball high to deep third base. Easy as pie, Pedro Feliz cupped the ball for the second out. No run would score. No finger raised high, but assuredly, that revelation slid in: JA Happ had arrived as a major league pitcher.
Happ mastered the Padres Wednesday night, guiding the Phillies to a 5-1 win. The 31-20 pinstripes swept San Diego in their own back yard, a place a road team couldn’t win before the sweep. They improved to a world-best 19-6 away from Philadelphia, and that 31-20 record is second best in baseball, behind those Los Angeles Dodgers, who the Phils meet Thursday.
One piece of news of concern to the Philies, Jayson Werth replaced Shane Victorino in centerfield in the sixth inning as the “Flyin’ Hawaiian” exited the game with a left hip strain. He will be further evaluated in Los Angeles.
For all of the scores of Wednesday’s games, click here.
From San Diego, the Phils head to Los Angeles to begin a 4 game series with the Dodgers. Ace Cole Hamels faces Clayton Kershaw in a series opening battle of lefthanders on Thursday.
For all of Thursday’s games, click here.
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