Atlanta starter Derek Lowe tossed a 6 inning 2 hit shutout at the Phillies on Friday, retiring in the sixth inning because of a blister on his right foot.  Then 3 Braves relievers closed the door on the Phils over final three innings issuing only a ninth inning walk.   The pitching performance by the Braves totally overshadowed a seven inning 16 strikeout performance by lefthander Cliff Lee.   The Braves struck for 3 third inning runs off of Lee who struck out the side in the third, fourth and sixth innings.  The Braves scored 2 more runs in the ninth inning, predictably off of reliever Danys Baez as the Braves completely shut down the Phillies cold-again offense by a 5-0 score in their series opener.

On Saturday, the Phillies put together single runs in second, fourth and fifth innings to stake Kyle Kendrick to a 3-0 lead as 1st baseman Ryan Howard homered and centerfielder Shane Victorino tripled in a run.  Kendrick was replacing Roy Oswalt who was originally scheduled to start but went on the DL with persistent lower back pain.  Kendrick pitched a 2 hitter through five innings and 4 Phils relievers shut down the Braves speading out 3 hits and issuing 2 walks over the final four innings as it was the Phillies turn to shut out the Braves by a 3-0 tally in series game 2.

Despite their offensive woes, the Phillies continue to put space between themselves and the 2nd place Florida Marlins who now trail by 3 games in the NL East race.Regarding Friday’s game 1, we could rave about Lee’s pitching exhibition — 16 strikeouts over 7 innings, but the offensive melt-down was was beyond embarrassing.   Lee deserved a far better fate that to end up as the losing pitcher.  Lowe had a no-hitter going for six innings until Victorino led of the seventh with a shallow single to leftfield and 3rd baseman Placido Polanco followed with a shot to deep centerfield for a ground-rule double.  But with runners on 2nd and 3rd, lefthanded reliever Eric O’Flaherty got Howard, rightfielder Ben Francisco and leftfielder Raul Ibanez on swinging 3rd strikes — so much for Ibanez’s tare — to end the only Phils threat of the game.  Howard went down on strikes 3 times for the game making contact only in second inning for a weak ground out to 2nd base.  The Braves scored their 3 runs on Lee in the third with 2 outs (on strikeouts), on a single and 3 doubles before he finally struck out the side.  All told, Friday’s game was a total humbling of the Phils offense as one can read in AP’s game recap for Yahoo sports.

For all of Sunday’s scheduled games throughout MLB, click here.

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Phillies ace Roy Halladay made his first-ever post-season appearance in high style against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday by making Major League Baseball history as only the 2nd pitcher to ever pitch a no-hitter in post-season play.  The only other holder of that historical distinction was  Don Larsen who threw an El-Perfecto at the then Brooklyn Dodgers in the  5th game of the 1956 World Series. The Yankees went on to win that series in the full 7 games.  Halladay’s shot at perfection was only marred by a fifth inning 2 out walk to Reds’ rightfielder Jay Bruce. But Halladay got the Reds’ next hitter, centerfielder Drew Stubbs to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning as Halladay’s no-hitter made MLB history and the Phillies shut out the Reds by 4-0 in their NLDS opener.

Halladay’s prowess was not limited to the pitcher’s mound.  Nursing a 1-0 first inning lead acquired due to centerfielder Shane Victorino’s 1 out double, his steal of 3rd base and 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s sacrifice fly RBI, Halladay’s 2 out second inning RBI single off of Reds’ starter Edinson Volquez was in the center of the Phils’ 3 run second inning which added cushion to the lead, as if “the Doc” really needed cushion.

Halladay threw 104 pitches, a miraculous 79 of them for strikes, in completing his no-hitter.  Having gotten Bruce on the 2 out fielder’s choice in the fifth inning, Doc faced the regulation 27 Reds hitters.
He struck out 8 while yielding 12 ground balls and just 6 flies to the outfield.  Former Phil 3rd baseman Scott Rolen took an 0 for 3 collar — all strikeouts and leftfielder Jonny Gomes struck out twice.

After Volquez got a groundout and fly out to start the second inning, he walked catcher Carlos Ruiz and then 3rd baseman Wilson Valdez singled to left centerfield putting runners on 1st and 2nd base. Valdez, who has been clutch through the season when he has played replacing Utley, shortstop  Jimmy Rollins or Polanco, was subbing for Placido Polanco who was scratched from the lineup with an ailing back.  That brought up Halladay who nailed Volquez’s 1st pitch to leftfield driving in Ruiz with the 2nd Phils run. 

From there, Volquez fell apart.  He went 3-0 to Rollins before walking him on a full count to load the bases.  Victorino chased Volquez with his 2nd single in two innings driving in Valdez and Halladay as the Phils took the 4-0 lead.  Rookie reliever Travis Wood entered and got Utley to ground out to 2nd base to end the inning.  Wood tossed 3 1/3 innings of scoreless ball only giving up a single and walking 1.  Two other Reds’ relievers held the Phils hitless through the final three innings but it didn’t much matter.  Halladay cruised to his no-hitter tossing but 9 pitches in the ninth to get a pop out to 2nd base, a foul out to 3rd base and 2nd baseman Brandon Phillips’ nubber which Ruiz jumped on and winged to 1st baseman Ryan Howard for the final out sealing the no-hitter.

The AP game recap for Yahoo notes:

Cincinnati didn’t come too close to a hit. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins made the toughest play, going deep in the hole and making a strong throw to retire Joey Votto in the fourth.

Pitcher Travis Wood hit a sinking liner to right that Jayson Werth caught in the third. Pinch-hitter Juan Francisco hit a hard grounder up the middle in the sixth, but Rollins scooted over and made it look easy.

Halladay became the fifth pitcher to throw two no-hitters in the same year. He joined Nolan Ryan (1973), Virgil Trucks (1952), Allie Reynolds (1951) and Johnny Vander Meer (1938).

The Phils have announced their post-season roster.  The big surprise here is the dropping of Kyle Kendrick from the roster in favor of young left-hander Antonio Bastardo.  It was previously thought that Kendrick would relieve in the playoffs.

To view the scores of all Wednesday’s playoff games, click here.

The Phils and Reds have Thursday off and renew play at Philadelphia’s Citizen’s Bank Park on Friday as Roy Oswalt is scheduled to start  game 2 opposed by Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo.  The two teams are off on Saturday before switching venues to Cincinnati for game 3. 

To view the schedule of all Thursday’s and Friday’s playoff games, click here and here.

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Phillies rightfielder Jayson Werth went 3 for 5 with a second inning leadoff solo homer and 4 RBIs, 3rd baseman Placido Polanco and catcher Carlos Ruiz each went 3 for 4 driving in a run each as the Phils scored a run in the first inning, 3 runs in the sixth on Monday KO’ing Washington lefthander  John Lannon, and 4 more runs in the ninth off of former Phil prospect Joe Bisenius.  Staff ace Roy Halladay really only needed that first inning run as  Halladay tossed a masterful 97 pitch complete game 2 hit 8-0 shutout of the Nationals while the Phillies clinched their 4th straight NL East crown.

With the Phils winning the division title, the Atlanta Braves are now tied with the San Diego Padres for the NL Wild Card spot with the Colorado Rockies now 4 1/2 games behind.  The magic number for either the Braves or Padres is 7 games.

The celebration in the Phils lockerroom was wild after the game and their ace “The Doc” Roy Halladay was at the very center of it being doused with bubbly Champagne by rightfielder Jayson Werth.  This will be Halladay’s first trip to the post-season in his 12 year career.

Halladay was masterful, by any measure, on Monday against the Nationals — even though they are last in the division and undoubtedly will lose over 90 games.  It was Halladay’s 4th shutout, including the perfect game against Florida, and his 9th complete game of the season.  And Werth led the offense with his second inning leadoff solo shot as well as a 2 run double in the sixth off of Lannon and an RBI single in the ninth knocking in the Phillies 8th and final run.

For the game highlights, click here for the AP recap for Yahoo.

To view the scores of all Monday’s games, click here.

In Tuesday’s game 2, the other Roy, Roy Oswalt faces Jason Marquis for the Nationals.  Marquis lasted but 1/3 of an inning in his previous start against the Phils.

This blog will be periodic for the remainder of the regular season as the remaining 5 Phillies games will be anti-climatic with the Phils undoubtedly giving exposure in the lineup to a number of September call-up prospects while resting regulars for the playoffs.

To view the schedule of all Tuesday’s games, click here.

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Phillies ace Roy Halladay became the first Phil pitcher in 28 years to win 20 games, since Lefty Steve Carlton’s last 20 win season in 1982.  With the score knotted at 0-0 in the third inning and 2 men on and 1 out, rightfielder Jayson Worth solved Atlanta’s rookie lefthander Mike Minor for a 3 run homer, his 25th of the season to put the Phils up 3-0.  The Braves managed single runs off of Halladay in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings. But in-between, in the bottom of the fifth, leftfielder Raul Ibanez’s 2 run double gave the Phils and Halladay some cushion in what turned out to be the winning margin.  Halladay went seven full innings throwing 103 pitches and allowing 3 runs on 7 hits, including pinch hitter Freddie Freeman’s seventh inning solo shot, his 1st MLB homer.  Reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge shut the door on Atlanta the rest of the way with Lidge credited with his 25th save in 30 opportunities as Halladay won his 20th as the Phillies beat the Braves by a 5-3 score and their NL East lead jumped to 5 games.

The Phils extended their 1st place lead in the NL East to 5 games over the Braves with the other Roy set to face the Braves on Wednesday.  Meanwhile, the Braves lead in the NL wildcard race dropped to 1 1/2 games over the San Diego Padres, who shut out the L.A. Dodgers, and remained at 3 games over the Colorado Rockies who lost to Arizona.

With Tuesday’s win over the Braves, the Phils pushed their winning streak to 9 games and reduced their magic number (any combination of Phils wins and/or Braves losses) to clinch their 4th straight NL East division title to 6 games.

Five Phils got 2 hits in this one, among them Ibanez who has been charging in the stretch drive pushing his batting average to .275 and driving in runs.   Jayson Werth continues on a tare with his 4th homer in 5 games. 

It seems like in every game, various Phils rise to lift the team — one day  Ryan Howard, the next day Carlos Ruiz and Ibanez, Werth and Chase Utley.  Let’s not forget Placido Polanco, Utley’s predecessor at 2nd base, who the Phils traded for to play 3rd. He’s played a mean 3rd base, his batting average has been around .300 all season and he’s been the Phils’ most consistent hitter.  And lest we not forget Wilson Valdez who has capably spelled Jimmy Rollins and Utley, to a lesser extent, and who comes through in the clutch repeatedly. 

The starting pitching — the 3 aces has been nasty down the stretch and the bullpen is approaching it’s 2008 white-hotness.  One of the great mysteries of life though, which hopefully I’ll discuss post-season:  In retrospect, what did GM Reuben Amaro Jr. know which made him trade lefthander Cliff Lee?  We all know what Lee did for the Phils from when they acquired him, through to the World Series.  But when you look at Lee’s season — the suspension, the injuries, the inconsistence down the stretch, makes one wonder whether money and/replenishment of the Phils farm system was really what was on Amaro’s and the front office’s mind.   

But call me a perfectionist, I still wanna see more scoring from the offense and less runners left on base — the Phils left 12 on in this one. 

To view Tuesday’s game highlights, click here for AP’s game recap for Yahoo.
 

To view the scores of all Tuesday’s games, click here.

The Phils seek a sweep of the Braves as other Roy of the Ace Troika,  Roy Oswalt goes for the Phils in Wednesday’s series final against Atlanta’s  Tommy Hanson.  The Phils have the day off on Thursday before beginning a 3 game series with the Mets.

There will be no blog posts here until Friday.

To view the schedule of all Wednesday’s and Thursday’s games, click here and here.

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Phillies ancient veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer pitched his best game since his May 7th complete game shutout of Atlanta.  But the Phils offense continued in a moribund state on Sunday making Anibal Sanchez and the  Marlins bullpen look like world-beaters.  For the 5th time in 8 games, the  Phillies were shut out again in a 1-0 loss to Florida in their series finale.

With the loss, the 2nd place Atlanta Braves crept to within 1/2 game of the NL East division leading Phillies with their win over Pittsburgh. The 2 teams are slated to meet in an early-season 3 game confrontation beginning Monday in Atlanta with the division lead on the line.  The Mets picked up a game on the Phils by beating Milwaukee and now trail by 3 games.  Washington and the Marlins are now tied 4 games off the pace.

Unfortunately, the Phillies offense is still moribund.   Even after Halladay’s perfecto, the Phils let 47 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer’s 2nd best outing of the season go for naught for lack of any offense.  This is not a power-shortage, its a power outage.  The Phils have hit for a paltry .186 average since May 22 and have gone 54 innings through Sunday’s game without a homer.  Check these stats out:  The Phils 3 Big Boppers, aside from leftfielder Raul Ibanez who is in a season-long slump, 1st baseman Ryan Howard (1 HR, 2 RBIs in last 10 games, 4 homers, 10 RBIs for May with 52 strikeouts in 215 plate appearances for the season - 49 games), 2nd baseman Chase Utley (1 HR, 2 RBIs in last 10 games, 4 homers, 9 RBIs for May), rightfielder Jayson Werth (1 HR, 2 RBIs in last 10 games, 49 strikeouts in 192 plate appearances over 49 games — a strikeout ratio worse than even Howard’s).

For his part, Moyer retired 14 of the first 16 hitters he faced, while getting the first 2 outs in the fifth inning before hitting a batsman and surrendering a single to opposing pitcher Sanchez.

AP sports writer Tim Reynolds recaps the game and Phillies offensive woes for Yahoo:

In the sixth, …Florida finally got to Moyer.

The Marlins had runners on first and second with none out, before Jorge Cantu lined into a double play. But two batters later, [Ronny] Paulino’s grounder found a hole and bounced into right field, giving [Hanley] Ramirez—who had stolen second after Moyer threw over to first repeatedly in an ultimately failed effort to keep him close — plenty of time to come around.

During the three-game series, the Phillies outscored the Marlins 4-3, Florida getting its other two runs of the weekend on a throwing error Friday night. According to STATS LLC, it was the first time since April 2009 that teams combined to score seven or fewer runs in a three-game set; the Giants and  Diamondbacks played three straight 2-0 games, San Francisco winning two, last April 17 - 19.

Jamie Moyer (5-5) gave up one run and four hits in six innings, failing in a bid to join Phil Niekro and Jack Quinn as the only pitchers to win 100 games after turning 40.

He was good. The way the Phillies are flailing at the plate, perfect might not have been enough.

Moyer threw 96 pitches in six innings while giving up the run on 4 hits and walking 2 while striking out a pair in suffering the loss.  Reliever David Herndon threw 2 fine innings giving up a hit in each inning. 

Winning pitcher Sanchez (5-2) threw 104 pitches in 6 2/3 innings holding the Phils to 3 hits while walking 3 and striking out 7.  The Florida bullpen held the Phils to 2 baserunners the rest of the way.

To view the scores of all of Sunday’s MLB games, click here.

The Phils now head for Atlanta for a 3 game series with the Braves, with the NL East division lead on the line, to end the 9 game road trip.   Joe Blanton goes in Monday’s opener opposed by Tommy Hanson for the Braves.

The Phils have Thursday off before heading home for a 7 game stand at Citizen’s Bank Park.

To view all of Monday’s games, click here.

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Am I dreaming, or did Phillies ace Roy Halladay throw a perfect game at  Florida?  Marlins starter Josh Johnson threw a brilliant seven inning 1 run, 7 hitter at the Phils on Saturday, but 2nd baseman Chase Utley reached in the third inning on centerfielder Cameron Maybin’s fielding error as shortstop Wilson Valdez scored from 1st base giving The Doc the only run he needed in an 11 strikeout, 115 pitch masterpiece as the Phillies’ Halladay goes perfect in a 1-0 win over the Florida Marlins.

With the win, the Phils held on to their 1 1/2 game lead over 2nd place Atlanta in the NL East division as the Braves kept pace by defeating Pittsburgh.  The  Mets and Washington both lost and fell to 4 games back.  The Marlins are now 5 games back in last place in the division.

Halladay’s el-perfecto was the 20th in MLB history and the 2nd this month.   Oakland’s Dallas Braden went perfect on the Tampa Bay Rays on May 9th.  It was the first time in modern MLB history that there were 2 perfect games in the same season and the first perfect game by a Phils hurler since Jim Bunning’s 1964 Father’s Day gem against the Mets. 

AP sports writer Tim Reynolds recaps the game and Halladay’s landmark performance for Yahoo:

At 9:23 p.m., when he got pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino to hit a grounder to third for the 27th out, only then could Halladay bask in his moment—breaking into a big smile and wrapping his arms around catcher Carlos Ruiz before disappearing in a joyous, jumping gray-and-red mob of teammates.

“It’s never something that you think is possible,” Halladay said. “Really, once I got the two outs, I felt like I had a chance. You’re always aware of it. It’s not something that you expect.”

Halladay struck out 11, and was cheered by a crowd of 25,086 throughout much of the night. Another fan called later—Vice President Joe Biden dialed up the Phillies’ clubhouse to offer his congratulations when it was over.

“Early in my bullpen I was hitting spots more than I have been. I felt like I just carried that out there,” Halladay said.

While there were a couple of good plays behind him—shortstop Wilson Valdez went deep into the hole for a grounder, backup third baseman Juan Castro went to his knees for another, second baseman Chase Utley ranged well to his left for another fine play—Halladay didn’t need any great defensive work in this gem.

“I think everybody knows you have to have those kind of plays to do something like that,” Halladay said.

Yes, but on this night, the 33-year-old righty known as Doc was a veritable one-man show.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to Doc,” Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “That’s why he is who he is. That’s what they got him for.”

Steely-eyed, standing tall and always working swiftly, Halladay (7-3) broke into a big smile as his teammates rushed in to congratulate him.

The Marlins said they would give Halladay the pitching rubber as a souvenir…  Working in the dark, four men went to work on the mound, digging up the slab where Halladay made history.

“Look who’s pitching,” Marlins outfielder Cody Ross said. “It’s Roy Halladay, the best pitcher in baseball. It’s not embarrassing.”

Halladay faced three Marlins pinch-hitters in the ninth.  Mike Lamb led off with a long fly ball, but Shane Victorino had plenty of time to backtrack in the super-spacious outfield at Sun Life Stadium and squeeze it for the first out.

Another pinch-hitter, Wes Helms, struck out, and the crowd… simply began to roar.

From there, it was all up to Paulino, who fouled the first pitch into the seats along the first-base side, took ball one, swung and missed for strike two, and then stabbed at Halladay’s 115th and final offering. Castro ranged to his left to get it and threw across to first baseman Ryan Howard, who caught the ball and jumped in the air.

…Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “We gave him one run. He made it stand up. That was good. Super for him.”

Halladay credited catcher Carlos Ruiz for a smooth ride.

“We felt like we got in a groove early and about the fifth or the sixth I was just following Chooch,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the job he did today. Mixed pitches. For me it was really a no-brainer.”

The NL East leaders’ lone run off Josh Johnson (5-2) came in the third, and fittingly in this battle of aces, it was unearned. Valdez singled, then scored when Chase Utley’s fly to center skipped off Cameron Maybin’s glove for a three-base error.

“It’s one of those things where everything has to go right and it did,” Maybin said. “J.J. did a great job of competing. Unfortunately, one play … that was the ballgame.”

Valdez scored easily. And Halladay had all the support he needed.

Phillies 3B Placido Polanco (bruised left elbow) was sidelined again, Castro getting the call to start for the second straight night. Polanco is expected to undergo an MRI exam on Sunday to see if the problem is more serious than originally thought.

To view the scores of all of Saturday’s MLB games, click here.

The Phils go for a sweep in the series final as ancient veteran lefthander  Jamie Moyer is opposed by Anibal Sanchez for the Marlins.

The Phils head for Atlanta following Sunday’s game for a 3 game series with the Braves to end the 9 game road trip.

To view all of Sunday’s games, click here.

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