Phillies, Blue Jays Split 2 Games; Halladay’s Gem, Hamels Clubbed
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In a series transplanted, because of the of the G20 Summit, from Toronto to Philadelphia with the Blue Jays in the role of the home team, the Phillies gave new meaning on Friday and Saturday to that old Flip Wilson expression; “When you’re hot, you’re hot and when you’re not, you’re not.” On Friday, ace Roy Halladay threw another masterpiece, this time against his former team, the Blue Jays while the Phils, who had scored 20 runs in previous 2 games, uncorked their offense yet again pounding starter Jesse Litsch for 6 runs in four innings. Saturday saw almost a virtual reversal. Lefthander Cole Hamels was pounded for 3 Blue Jay homers in four innings while Shaun Marcum carried a 4 hit shutout into the sixth inning and lost the goose-egg on DH Ryan Howard’s 1 out solo homer. The Phillies and Blue Jays split their first 2 games with the Phils winning 9-0 on Halladay’s gem, while the Blue Jays prevailed by a 5-1 score as Hamels was clubbed in game 2.
While the Phils split of their first 2 games with Toronto, the Atlanta Braves moved to 3 1/2 games ahead of the 3rd place Phils with 2 wins over the Detroit Tigers, while the Mets, who lead the Phils by 2 games, split their 2 games with Minnesota.
As the series is considered as Blue Jay home games, even though they are being played in Philly, Friday’s and Saturdays’s games featured Ross Gload being installed at 1st base with Ryan Howard in the DH spot. Gload, starting in only his 4th game of the season, batted 8th but went 3 for 4 on Friday with 4 RBIs — 3 of them on a bases-clearing in the 6 run fifth inning as 2nd baseman Chase Utley drove in 2 runs and Howard drove in 1. 10 Phillies hitters came to the plate in the sixth as they peppered Litsch and lefthanded reliever David Purcey to put away what was a close 2-0 until the fifth.
Centerfielder Shane Victorino put icing on Friday’s cake by greeting the Blue Jays’ other lefthanded reliever Brian Tallet with a leadoff homer to open the eighth inning. 2nd baseman Jimmy Rollins had 5 plate appearances on Friday, walking 4 times and scoring 1 run while striking out once.
Halladay, who suffered through comatose offense in 2 of his last 3 losing starts, threw 106 pitches throug seven innings while cruising spreading out 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4. Relievers Jose Contreras and David Herndon made short work of the Jays with Contreras giving up the only other Toronto hit, an eighth inning single. To read more about Friday’s win, click the AP game recap here.
In Saturday’s game, Toronto had little trouble against Hamels breaking through with 2 runs in the second inning, 1 in the third and 2 more in the fourth — all on 3 homers as Hamels again showed himself inconsistent and very homer-prone.
Meanwhile, Marcum cruised through six innings holding the Phils to 5 hits, the last one being Howard’s 1 out solo shot in the sixth. After Marcum left, 2 Toronto relievers went clean on the Phillies over the final three innings as the Phils offense returned to hyernation after scoring 29 runs in the previous 3 games. 3 Phillies relievers gave up but 1 hit while walking 2 over Toronto’s final four innings.
Saturday’s AP game recap for Yahoo notes:
Manuel held 3B Placido Polanco out of the lineup as a precaution after Polanco’s left elbow was sore following a dive in Friday night’s game. Polanco missed six games from May 28 to June 3 with a bruised left elbow and inflammation.
To view the scores of all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
The Phils hope to come out of this series winning 2 of the 3 games in a battle of lefties in the series final with “the old man”, 47 year old Jamie Moyer opposing 2nd year hurler Brett Cecil.
To view all of Sunday’s games, click here.
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