Halladay gains 15th win.

by Joseph Birmingham

Sunday August 15, 2010 

Halladay threw another strong game today pitching 8 innings, striking out 7, allowing 4 hits and no runs.   Madsen mopped up the ninth and maintained the shutout, but with a 4-0 lead, did not earn a save.

Maybe he should have.  As easily as the Phillies at times seem to score runs in bunches, they are equally prone to have their pitching staff do likewise.  The starting pitchers have actually shone for the most part of late, with Hamels getting an undeserved loss in a 5 hit 1 run 8 inning outing Friday night and Roy Oswalt throwing 7 innings of 5 hit shutout ball in a 2-0 victory over the Dodgers.  Of course, in between these pitching gems was the 10-9 come from behind unbelievable game which just goes to show how versatile these guys are when it comes to scoring runs, and in a hurry !

Offensively nearly everyone seems to contribute.  The combination is enough to keep the Phillies in the NL East race as they try to inch closer to the Atlanta Braves.

Rollins, Polanco, Werth and Victorino all had hits, as well as Halladay who scored the first run in the third off a Polanco Texas Leaguer. 

The Phillies, at 65-51 remain 2 games back with 46 to go.

The team is anxiously waiting for word on slugger Ryan Howard, and his status down the stretch will probably figure in the race as we hit September.  Even after missing 10 games this season, he still leads the team in home runs by 7   and RBI by  21. 

As intense as the competition is, he still ranks second in the league in RBI.

Victorino seems to have hit the ground running, going 2 for 4 with a run scored today in his second full game back. 

It seems there is a good feeling in the dugout; this team that went 14-3 to get back in the race, in the dog days of summer,  is not about to give up now, with their eyes so close to the prize.   Philly fans are tough, they got a World Series, but  now they want a threepeat for the NL and a return to the World Series and to fall short will be unsatisfying for everyone. 

I, for one, think they are going to give it one heck of a shot.

  • Share this on Facebook
  • Post this to MySpace
  • Tweet This!
  • Share this on Technorati
  • Share this on del.icio.us
  • Digg this!
  • Share this on Reddit
  • Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon
  • Buzz up!
  • Blog this on Blogger
Filed Under Phillies

Comments

Got something to say?