Posted by Danielle Wilson
It's the matchup that means a whole lot to Phillies fans, Roy Halladay against Josh Johnson. Roy Halladay (5-1, 2.15 ERA) has no difficulty against the National League East, posting a 26-5 record in 34 career starts. As for Josh Johnson (3-1, 1.68 ERA), he had an interesting record of 1-1 against the Phillies last year. I say that it's interesting because his loss came against Roy Halladay when Doc pitched his perfect game, and his win also came against Roy Halladay when he shut out the Phillies 2-0 at Citizens Bank Park. Needless to say, this game should be…interesting.
From the get-go, I didn't know what to expect tonight. Both pitchers are aces and have been incredible thus far in the season, but Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Pete Orr have good numbers against Johnson, so I didn't expect too much of a pitchers duel, even though I secretly wanted one, they're more entertaining.
Ryan Howard led off the top of the second inning with an opposite field home run, his eighth of the year. The bases were loaded later in the inning, but no runs were scored. The same applied for the third inning; bases loaded, no runs.
Emilio Bonifacio popped up a sacrifice fly in the third to score Josh Johnson. 1-1 game, and this was now a pitchers duel.
After Roy Halladay walked Hanley Ramirez in the third, he retired the next 13 batters that he faced, striking out five of them, and striking out the side in the fourth inning. However, Roy Halladay also walked Josh Johnson in the third, and Josh was the very first pitcher that Roy has ever walked in his entire career. Wow. Roy was not happy at all.
Josh Johnson's pitch count was getting rather high, and at 114, he was taken out after seven innings. He allowed six hits, one earned run, walking three and striking out seven.
Roy Halladay allowed an unearned run to score in the eighth, Chris Coghlan singled to score Omar Infante from third, giving the Fish a 2-1 lead.
Leo Nunez closed it out for the Marlins, striking out Shane Victorino with John Mayberry on second base to end the game. Roy Halladay suffered his second loss of the season.
Roy Halladay's line from tonight: Eight innings pitched, five hits, two runs (one earned), two walks, and nine strikeouts.
Rubber match tomorrow, Cliff Lee against Ricky Nolasco. Be there or be square.
