Roy Halladay Pitches Another Masterpiece

Posted by Danielle Wilson

Roy Halladay's stats against the Nationals in 2010: 3-0, 23 IP, 16 hits, 1 earned run, 20 strikeouts. Holy wow, this should be fun tonight.

Shane Victorino led it off with a double (what else?) and made a genius play moments later when Polanco almost grounded into a double play, but Shane freaked out second basemen Ian Desmond by running like a lunatic,  somehow ending up safe at second, and Polly was safe at first. Jimmy Rollins proceded to ground into a double play, and Ryan Howard struck out swinging to end the half of the inning.

Roy Halladay threw just nine pitches in the first inning, popping up two, and striking out one…Jayson Werth.

It got a tad bizarre in the top of the fourth inning. Jimmy Rollins reached on an absolutely hilarious fielding error by Ian Desmond, and that was only the beginning. Ryan Howard grounded out to third baseman Jerry Hairston, and Jimmy Rollins was off and running like hell. After making it to second, he was interfered by Desmond, and flipped over on his side, but he popped back up and continued to run, and was safe at third. Ben Francisco grounded out to score Jimmy, and the Phils took a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

After Roy Halladay was nearly decapitated by a broken bat, he retired the side (duh) with just eight pitches.

In the fifth inning, Wilson Valdez was at third and Roy Halladay was at first when Placido Polanco singled and scored Valdez. 2-0 Phils. The bases were loaded for Ryan Howard in the fifth when he was hit in the hand by John Lannan, and Roy Halladay scored from third (he had bunted to get on base). 3-0 Phillies.

Roy Halladay was just breezing through this game, pitching four straight scoreless innings. In the ninth, he allowed a double to Rick Ankiel, a single to Jayson Werth, and then a single to Laynce Nix who scored Ankiel. No more shutout. Danny Espinosa singled and scored Werth to make it a 3-2 game, but luckily, Roy Halladay got Ivan Rodriguez to strike out to end the game. Phew.

Much to the Nationals' dismay, Cliff Lee will take the mound tomorrow. Be prepared (I mean that in a way that doesn't insult Cliff from his last outing).