Halladay loses Game 1 to Yankees

Roy Halladay had his third bad start of the season and it couldn't come at a more inopportune time

The Phillies (32-30) are still mired in their worst slump of the season as they lose Game 1 of this 2009 World Series rematch to the Yankees by a score of 8-3. The Yankees struck first blood in the second inning and piled it on their old friend from the AL East.

Halladay gave up six runs in a game for only the second time this season and it came versus an opponent that he knows all too well. He was 18-6 with an ERA of 2.84 against the Yankees going into tonight's start. Tonight, Halladay gave up six earned runs on eight hits while allowing three home runs in a game for the first time this season.

The Phillies could only muster hits on the night as they fall to two games over .500.

C.C. Sabathia got the start for New York and had some struggles in the third inning as the Phillies struck back in the fourth inning again, like on Sunday against the Red Sox. The Phillies scored all three runs in the fourth inning to pull within two, but that's as close as it got.

Sabathia ended up going seven innings while giving up the three runs on five hits while striking out seven on the night.

Shane Victorino had a horrific night at the top of the order as he generated nothing. Victorino went 0-5 with two strikeouts and couldn't set the table for the rest of the order.

The Yankees now stand at 18 games over .500 which is a season-best for New York and has won seven of the last eight.

The Phillies are back at it tomorrow night with Game 2 in this series when Jamie Moyer will take the mound after the worst start of his career last Friday night in Boston when he allowed nine earned runs in just over a inning of work.

Moyer will be opposed by A.J Burnett who is 6-4 on the season with an ERA of 3.86. Burnett hasn't pitched well against the Phillies in his career with a ERA of 4.75 and a record of 5-8. First pitch for Phils/Yanks tomorrow is set for 7:05pm.

Top 5 Games in Philly Sports the last 5 Years

5) Phillies vs Yankees: Game 1, 2009 World Series, Phillies 6, Yankees 1

 Game Highlights

The first game on this list marks the point where every Philadelphian thought Cliff Lee was immortal. Lee came to the Phillies in a mid-season trade last season and for the most part was dominant in a Phillies uniform.

Lee had a rough September and thus people began to doubt the magic that was Cliff Lee, but then the playoffs hit and the guy was automatic. He had heard the criticism about never making a playoff appearance and whether or not he was ready, well he squashed all that talk.

Coming out of that Game 1, Lee had thrown 33 and 1/3 innings and gave up a total of two earned runs which equalled an ERA of 0.54.

In that now-legendary Game 1, Lee threw a complete game while striking out ten and walking none. The most amazing part of his performance was how effortless Lee made it look in Yankee Stadium in October, it was a pitching clinic for the ages and it made life-long Cliff Lee fans out of the entire tri-state area. 

4) Villanova vs. Pittsburgh: 2009 East Regional Final, Villanova 78, Pittsburgh 76

Game Highlights

Anytime Pittsburgh loses is a plus, but in this fashion and to the Villanova Wildcats made this glorious. The Wildcats have become the undisputed D1 basketball power in Philadelphia unseating the Temple Owls, who are certainly no slouch.

This game helped the Wildcats' image in the city and made fans out of millions of people in the Philadelphia dying to support good basketball (sorry Sixers).

No one will ever forget big shot Scotty Reynolds' drive towards the rim for the winning basket with .5 seconds left on the clock that sent the 'Cats to the Final Four. Villanova improved to 30-7 on the season and made it to a Final Four where they played North Carolina, that one didn't turn out so well, but this was a classic March Madness game.

3) Eagles vs. Cowboys: Final game of the 2008 regular season, Eagles 44, Cowboys 6

Game Highlights

This...was...awesome. There are few moments in sports that feel as good as winning a championship to fans, but this game almost captured the euphoria that would result from winning a championship. It was the perfect ending to the not-so-perfect season.

The above picture is what I will always remember from that day, a day where everything was on the line and the Cowboys turned in one of the worst efforts in team history. Romo completed only 21 of 39 passes with an interception.

The Eagles needed to win this game to make it to the playoffs as they were aided by the Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans of all teams to make it to the wild-card round to play Minnesota. The landscape for the Eagles is a little different now, but for one day the Eagles were able to silence all the critics and the Cowboys at the same time.

2) Flyers vs. Bruins: Game 7 of 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Flyers 4, Bruins 3

Game Highlights

This one just happened as well, but it's no less important in the Philly sports pantheon. Everyone not only counted out the Flyers, people forgot about them.

The Flyers got into the postseason thanks to a last day of the season shootout victory against the New York Rangers which secured the Flyers the seventh seed in the playoffs. The Flyers began shocking people from that point forward.

Philadelphia dismissed the New Jersey Devils in five games and went on to play the third seeded Bruins and then the hot at the moment Brian Boucher was suddenly not so hot and then injured.

Just returning from injury was Michael Leighton and so he was inserted into the starting goaltender role and the comeback was on. The Flyers were down three games to nothing and after Leighton entered the net, they just kept chipping away at the series lead until the impossible became possible.

Game 7 echoed the story of this series, the Flyers quickly got down in the first period 3-0 and then Flyers coach Peter Laviolette called a timeout, it's been labelled the timeout that saved the season because after that point the Flyers played more agressively and Leighton was better in goal and the Flyers successfully climbed out of a 3-0 hole in the series and completed a 3-0 comeback in Game 7 which was piunctauted by Simon Gagne's power play goal with seven minutes left in the game.

The Flyers went on to beat the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals but fell to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals, but overall, a great year for the orange and black.

1) Phillies vs Rays: Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, Phillies 4, Rays 3

Game Highlights

So good it spanned three days, the reason this game tops the list is obvious. This game ended all the frustration, all the "can't get over the hump" talk. the cursed talk, the Phillies ended our 25 year championship drought and created a buzz for baseball in Phialdelphia that the city hasn't seen in about 15 years. 

Baseball is now an event in Philly, Citizens Bank Park is the "it" spot in town and part of the reason is this game.

This game was unique because Game 5 originally began on Monday night, was postponed due to rain in the sixth inning and finished on Wednesday.  

Cole Hamels was crowned as World Series MVP as he started Games 1 and 5 in the World Series and went 4-0 in 5 postseason starts, but in the end this was important because we didn't fall short, we lived up to the expectations and surpassed them. Without a doubt, the greatest moment I've experienced as a Philadelphia fan. Now back to the current day...

Phillies Week in Review

Going into a big World Series rematch tonight with the New York Yankees, what better time to look at where the Phillies stand after a tumultuous week. Let's take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly.

                                    Philadelphia Phillies (32-29)

Week Description: The Phillies entered the third game of a four game set with the NL-leading San Diego Padres last Sunday with a 2-0 series lead and it was starting to look like the Phillies had turned a corner after scoring six runs the night before, it was the first time since May 17th that the Phillies had scored more than four runs in a game.

Joe Blanton got the start and continued his poor play on the mound as the Phils got behind the eight ball and ended up losing in extra innings and was hamstrung by the play of Jayson Werth who struck out to end the game, Werth went 0-5 with three strikeouts.

The Phillies went on the lose the next day as well to split the series with the Padres as they wasted another quality start from Cole Hamels who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Adrian Gonzalez homered. In support of Hamels, the Phillies only mustered one run going into a three-game set against the Florida Marlins.

And for one night, the Phillies look like they are supposed to look and scored 10 runs, which was the first time since mid-May that they scored in double-digits as the Phils won 10-8. All the important players got hits and Ryan Howard hit a home run, something he hasn't done as frequently this season. But, the Phillies were shutout the next day, not by the Marlins, but by rain.

Wednesday's Game 2 against the Marlins was rescheduled to September 6th and turned into a day-night doubleheader with the rescheduled game being the 1:05pm start time, so that meant the Phillies suddenly hot bats had to wait another day and face Josh Johnson which turned out to be double whammy.

The Phillies were shutout officially in this one as Johnson outpitched Roy Halladay in a pitching duel that ended with a 2-0 Marlins victory. Shutout for the seventh time this season, Philadelphia matched their shutout total from all of 2009 and was only able to manage four hits on te night and then the team traveled to Boston...

And proceeded to be schooled on the field in humiliating fashion, the Red Sox took Game 1 by a score of 12-2 and Jamie Moyer had the worst start of his career lasting just over a inning while allowing nine earned runs as Boston jumped out to a 12-0 lead in just three innings of play. It was the worst loss for the Phils in almost a year and it was followed by another massacre.

Joe Blanton's string of bad starts continued as he went four innings and gave up 13 hits and allowed the same number of earned runs Moyer gave up the night before, nine. As the Phillies lost again 10-2 and looked lifeless and defeated again and a players-only meeting followed. Blanton fell to 1-5 on the season and adding insult to injury, J.D Drew had a home run in the blow-out.

Cole Hamels ended the week on a good note though, getting the Phillies a 5-3 victory on Sunday. Hamels performed well following a second inning home run to Adrian Beltre as the Phillies now prepare for the New York Yankees tonight at "New" Yankee Stadium.

Record: 2-5
Avg Runs Per Game: 3.0

The Good: 
Roy Halladay- This one's obvious, Roy has been everything we've expected of him this season. He's only had two bad starts this year, games in which he's given up more than five earned runs. If you take out those two starts, then Halladay would have an ERA of 1.12. And even though he lost on Thursday, he still managed to lower his ERA to 1.97 in the process, Halladay has been great as advertised.


Placido Polanco- He has the highest batting average of any regular Phillie, minus the injured Jimmy Rollins who only has 41 at-bats. Polanco has proven that manager Charlie Manuel knew what he was talking about when he put Polanco in the number two spot in the lineup to start the season. In the last week, he's batting .400 and is batting .394 in June, he's been a tough out at the top of the lineup and the only consistent Phillie in the starting lineup.

The Bad: Chase Utley- Utley started out the season on an epic tear, and has since gone through what's been considered the worst slump of his career. There has been talk of a potential injury, but there has been no evidence to support that rumor. His average has dropped to a season-low .256 and he's only hitting .153 with no homers since May 20th.

Ryan Howard- Howard has hit a little better of late, but is experiencing a power outage much like Chase Utley. Howard has only 10 home runs this season, while last year he had 19 home runs at this point in the season. Howard is hitting .230 since May 20th.

The Ugly: Jayson Werth- It's been no secret how poorly Jayson Werth has played in the last month, but what makes his play worse is that while Howard and Utley have shown some signs of life, Werth has shown approximately two signs of life in the past month, the home-run last weekend and the big single on Sunday before a two-run shot by Raul Ibanez that gave the Phillies the lead for good. The reason Werth gets so much flack for his slump is because of how important he was earlier in the season, he was in a zone and now...not so much. His end of game strikeouts on back-to-back days, were definite low-lights from this past week.

Joe Blanton- He has been without a doubt, the worst Phillies starter this season and his two starts this past week displayed how bad he has been on the mound. He has the highest ERA on staff of any Phillies pitcher, both reliever and starter, it stands at 7.28. The record sits at a immensely disappointing 1-5 and he has an ERA in June of 14.00 in only nine innings of action while giving up two home runs in each start.

Hopefully, this week will spell better fortunes for the Phils as the defending National League Champs are going into the Bronx to take on the champs tonight in a World Series rematch that isn't really getting the hype it deserves because of the Phillies recent poor play.

I mean, this is the first World Series rematch we've had in season since 2002 when the D'Backs and Yankees played each other following the 2001 seven game epic.

It's Roy Halladay vs C.C Sabathia in what should be an interesting one and this series will definitely be a good way to determine where the Phillies are since they will be facing the same 1-2-3 punch they faced last October. Burnett and Pettitte will be following Sabathia tomorrow and Thursday night. All the baseball eyes will be on New York for the next three days, let's hope the Phillies show up.