The Florida Marlins blanked the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 last night at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies were only able to muster four hits last night as Philadelphia was shutout for the seventh time this season which matches the number of times they were shutout all of last year.
It is also the sixth time this season Philadelphia has been held to four or fewer hits.
It was pretty obvious that Halladay wasn't going to throw a perfect game last night allowing a single to the first batter he faced in the game, Marlins left fielder Chris Coghlan. Halladay allowed another single and a walk in the inning before before Jorge Cantu hit a sacrifice fly to score the first run of the game.
As it turned out, that run would be the difference as Marlins starter Josh Johnson was on his game going eight dominant innings only giving up three hits while only walking one and striking out five. Johnson lowered his ERA on the season to 1.91.Johnson retired his last 17 batters in a row before leaving after the eighth inning.
Halladay righted the ship after that shaky first inning and didn't allow more than one baserunner in any inning following the first. Halladay went eight innings as well giving up one run with one walk and struck out eight.
Halladay picked up the loss on the night, making it his fourth loss this season while lowering his ERA to a tidy 1.96. The Phils have lost for the fourth time in Halladay's last six starts and have struggled to score runs for him as well. According to philly.com, in Halladay's last six starts, Philadelphia has only scored only 1.8 runs per game.
Now to the on again, off again concern about the Phillies bats. Last night, they returned to form. That form being a team that has struggled to score in recent weeks and have raked up the strikeouts.
Jayson Werth returned to the lineup last night, but the two days rest didn't make much of a difference in his performance at the plate. Werth went 0-3 with two strikeouts and left two men on base.
The Phillies are back in action on Friday as they resume inter-league play against the Boston Red Sox.
Jamie Moyer will be on the mound for the Phils as they travel to Fenway for an important weekend set.
Moyer is 6-5 on the season with an ERA of 3.98 and has been the Phils second best pitcher with his recent stretch of quality starts. He's coming off his second complete game of the season last Saturday against the Padres and has an ERA of 2.83 in his last six starts.
The Red Sox have had the Phils number this season, winning two of three the last time they met in Philadelphia last month. That series is largely remembered for sending the Phillies into their tailspin, maybe a return engagement is in order to get the Phils out of their prolonged funk.
First pitch for Red Sox/Phillies is set for 7:10 pm tonight at Fenway Park.
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