Rally vs. Phillies ace falls short in the ninth
How long has it been since the Washington Nationals beat Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay? It’s been so long, in fact, that they weren’t the Nationals. They were the Montreal Expos.
It was June 28, 2002, when the Expos edged Halladay and his Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1. Since that day, Halladay has started nine times against the franchise and won them all.
On Wednesday night, Halladay was on his way to silencing Washington as thoroughly as ever, before the Nats made it interesting with a ninth-inning rally.
Summoning his best stuff on a night when he threw 123 pitches, Halladay whiffed pinch-hitter Matt Stairs and catcher Ivan Rodriguez on his final six pitches, protecting a 3-2 victory before 16,914 at Nationals Park.
| Up Next |
| Phillies at Nationals |
| Cliff Lee (1-1) vs. Jordan Zimmermann (1-1) |
| When » Thursday, 7:05 p.m. |
| Where » Nationals Park |
| TV » MASN2 |
After scratching together just two singles and three walks in the first eight innings, and then watching Halladay (2-0) receive a standing ovation in their own ball park when he batted in the top of the ninth inning, the Nationals (5-6) came alive, trailing 3-0.
Following Rick Ankiel’s doubled to right center and Jayson Werth’s single, Halladay fanned Adam LaRoche (two hits). Singles by Laynce Nix and Danny Espinosa brought home two runs.
“It might be naïve, but I never felt like I was in trouble,” Halladay, a two-time Cy Young award winner, said. “There was never a panic or rushed feeling. I just thought I needed to make good pitches.”
With runners on first and second, Halladay fanned the two Nationals who had had the most success against Halladay in their careers, Stairs and Rodriguez had a combined 24 hits against the ace. But Halladay made them his eighth and ninth strikeout victims.
“I wish I was smart enough to be able to remember how they did against me,” Halladay said. “I couldn’t tell you.”
When Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel went to the mound after the Nats scored their first run, Halladay didn’t have to say much to convince him to stay in the game.
“I said I felt like I had it. That was it – short and sweet,” Halladay said. “There’s times he’s adamant. Today he wasn’t.”
Philadelphia (8-3) mustered six hits in six innings against Nats left-hander John Lannan (1-0) and failed to get a hit in an inning each against relievers Chad Gaudin, Doug Slaten, and Brian Broderick.
The Phillies seized their opportunities however, taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning without the benefit of a hit as shortstop Ian Desmond committed two errors.
In the fifth inning, the Phillies used three singles, a walk, and hit batsman to score two clutch runs with two out to take a 3-0 lead, the RBIs were delivered by Placido Polanco (single) and Ryan Howard (hit by pitch).
After that, Philadelphia cruised until Halladay was finally tested in the ninth.
“It’s not a sense of pride. You just want to go as far as you can and be as helpful as you can,” Halladay said. “You cause yourself trouble, you feel like you should clean it up on your own.”
