Phillies Continue Winning Streak with 3-2 Win Over Dodgers; Halladay Goes Five in First Appearance Back from DL

Roy Halladay made his return to baseball tonight after missing 42 days total with his latissimus dorsi strain. He did so against Stephen Fife, a 25-year-old making his major league debut for the sidelined Chad Billingsley. 

Much like they've been doing more of recently, the Phillies scored first. Jimmy Rollins scored in the top of the first on a groundout from Chase Utley. 

Roy Halladay looked good in the first, striking out his first two batters faced. In the second inning, Doc allowed four straight hits which resulted in two runs scored. James Loney singled to left scoring Andre Ethier to tie the ballgame, then Luis Cruz singled to score Adam Kennedy, taking the 2-1 lead.

After five innings and 80 pitches (limit for tonight), Roy Halladay was done. He fanned six and walked none, allowing just those two runs on five hits. 55 of his 80 pitches were for strikes.

Michael Schwimer and Jeremy Horst pitched a scoreless sixth, and Kyle Kendrick allowed one hit in the seventh, striking out one. 

As for the rookie, Stephen Fife, he gave up one earned run on four hits, striking out one and walked three in six innings. He threw 90 pitches, 53 for strikes. 

In the top of the eighth, Ronald Belisario loaded the bases with a walk and two hit batters- Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz (Chooch nows leads the majors in amount of times hit). There were two outs for Hunter Pence, who sent a ball right up the middle to bring home Chase Utley and John Mayberry, Jr. (running for Howard). Just like that, the Phillies took a 3-2 lead.

Kyle Kendrick got the first two outs in the bottom of the eighth before Antonio Bastardo closed the inning with a backwards K to Andre Ethier. And yes, it was nasty.

Jonathan Papelbon entered in the bottom of the ninth looking for his 21st save of the season. Paps did just that with an excellent 1-2-3 inning, securing the 3-2 lead and sending the Phillies to their fourth straight win. 

Tomorrow features a marquee matchup with Cliff Lee on the mound against Clayton Kershaw, both Cy Young award winners. Don't miss it, game time is 3:10.