Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum had excellent careers so far. Halladay won a Cy Young Award and won 20 games in 3 different seasons. Of course he is also the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in the regular season and a no hitter in the post season. Tim Lincecum is a 2 time Cy Young winner in back to back seasons in 2008 and 2009 and led the National League in strikeouts for the third straight year. Both pitchers have never pitched in the playoffs before this season, but they both had outstanding playoff debuts. Halladay of course pitched his no hitter, while Lincecum struck out 14 in a 2 hit shutout against the Braves. Game 1 was sure to be an outstanding pitching matchup between 2 of the most active elite pitchers in the majors.
It turned out that Lincecum would pitch slightly better than Halladay (who has not fared well against teh Giants in his career). Halladay went 7 innings and allowed 4 runs on 8 hits, no walks and struck out 7, while Lincecum went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, 3 walks and struck out 8. Halladay retired the first 7 batters he faced to continue his hitless streak. Lincecum only allowed 1 hit in the first 2 innings which was a leadoff double by Ryan Howard in the 2nd inning. Halladay’s hitless and scoreless streak was snapped when ex-Marlin Cody Ross homered with 1 out in the 3rd inning. Lincecum allowed his first run in the postseason when Carlos Ruiz homered to lead off the 3rd inning. The Phillies could have tacked on some more runs when Roy Halladay followed Ruiz’s home run with a single, but Shane Victorino hit into a double play. Placido Polanco doubled and Chase Utley walked and they would both advance to scoring position on a passed ball by Buster Posey. However, Ryan Howard struck out to end the inning. Cody Ross would hurt the Phillies again with another solo home run in the 5th inning with 1 out. After Halladay got the first 2 out in the 6th inning, Buster Posey singled, then ex-Phillie Pat Burrell would double in Posey. Juan Uribe would then single to score pinch runner Nate Schierholtz who ran for Burrell for the Giants to take a 4-1 lead after 5 1/2 innings. Lincecum allowed a single to Chase Utley to start the bottom 6th, then after striking out Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth would hit a home run to make it a 1 run game for the Giants. However, that was the closest the Phillies would get since the Phillies would only get 1 hit in their next 14 at bats, and only 3 base runners all together.
In ALCS news, the Yankees made a miraculous comeback after trailing 5-0 to win 6-5 by scoring 5 in the 8th inning to take Game 1. However, the Rangers beat them 7-2 in Game 2 to tie the series at 1 apiece.
Caught 4-0 (4)<-
Missed 0-0 (0)
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Charlie's Liberty Phun Phacts! 