Roy Halladay almost threw a complete-game shutout yesterday afternoon in San Diego but it took Antonio Bastardo to finish the game, with one pitch. Halladay went 8.2 innings, striking out 14, which tied his career high, and the Phillies finished the four-game sweep of the Padres with a 3-1 win. Shane Victorino had his first ever inside-the-park home run.
Roy Oswalt got the series going on Thursday, against Padre ace Matt Latos. Oswalt, rebounding from back issues in his previous game, went six innings and the bullpen finished the 3-0 shut-out.
On Friday it was Cole Hamels' turn. He went a dazzling eight in a 2-0 shutout, vs. Clayton Richard. On Saturday the Padres got on the board early against Joe Blanton, who gave up just two runs in seven innings. The game went to extra innings. With one on and two out in the 11th, Pads' manager elected to walk Jimmy Rollins to pitch to Ryan Howard, who was already wearing a golden sombrero. (Ryan had struck out four times in a previous game in the series as well.) Ha, ha, ha. Ryan smacked a double off the left field wall just out of reach of the lunging leftfielder. Two runs scored and the Phillies won the game 4-2.
Quite a sweep. Taking four games in any series is a feat. On the down side, 'closer' Jose Contreras was put on the DL with elbow issues, supposedly caused by overuse. With the loss of Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero, and now Contreras, the bullpen is getting to look like a sieve. Michael Stutes has been called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Hope his debut goes well and betokens great success.
