Friday, October 22, 2010

Halladay, Bullpen Force Game 6

It was clear that Roy Halladay didn't have his best stuff yesterday. He had a lot of trouble getting ahead in counts, and even more trouble putting hitters away. To top it off, he wasn't getting much love from home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson. Nevertheless, he stayed out of big innings and got outs when he needed them. He was at times helped, and at others hurt, by an inconsistent Phillies defense. After the game, we learned that Doc was pitching with a mild groin pull. Manuel asked if wanted to leave the game, but Halladay refused. Great story. Hopefully, though, Doc is healthy and ready to go should we need him again --- including, perhaps, in Game 7 out of the bullpen.

Some other interesting notes from the game:

1. The bullpen looked great, even better than Halladay. Ryan Madson, in particular, was having huge success with his change-up.
2. Nice to see Jimmy steal two bases on that hamstring.
3. The blown call by Nelson on Halladay's bunt is one of the worst calls I've ever seen in the post-season (and that is saying something). He was literally standing in front of the plate and missed the fair/foul call.
4. The Phils left two runners on 3rd with less than two outs. Very frustrating and not acceptable. One was a Howard strikeout. The other, though, was tough luck on a Ross Gload line-drive hit to Aubrey Huff.
5. Pat Burrell and Tim Lincecum reinforced their douchebag images. Burrell started screaming at Halladay when it was clear Doc was staring down Jeff Nelson after the 1st inning. And Lincecum yelled "You stay there" to Rollins after he stole 2nd and 3rd on him, but was stranded by the Phils. How about looking back the runner, Tim? How does it feel to give up two steals to a guy with a bad hammy on the wrong side of 30? Also, newsflash, Ross Gload smoked the hanger you left in the middle of the plate. If not for Huff holding Ruiz on, it's a 5-2 game.

Go Phils!

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