You know what? Having Roy Halladay on your team is pretty awesome, even when he's a touch below his top-notch self.
The Phillies plated six runs in the bottom of the third, and Halladay survived a rough top of the fourth, striking out ten batters and walking none in seven innings en route to a 7-3 victory and a sweep of the Washington Nationals in the mid-week series. Halladay's line probably would have looked better, and his pitch count would have been a lot lower, due to a play at the plate where catcher Dane Sardina, shall we say, failed to properly apply the tag on Jayson Werth, who slid into the plate safely despite arriving at the dish well after the ball's arrival from the outfield.
That above mentioned third inning was something to see: the Phillies first seven batters reached base, with the scoring kicked off by a Shane Victorino two run home run. Nationals starter and criminal defendant John Lannan failed to get an out in the third, and was charged with all six runs on seven hits.
The Raul Ibanez mini-Renaissance continued, with the left fielder going 3-for-4 with a single, a double, and a mammoth 430 foot plus home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ibanez is one of the really good guys in the game, so it's nice to see things clicked for him finally.
Antonio Bastardo worked a rough top of the eighth, allowing two hits, one wild pitch, and one run, but escaped further damage with a nasty swinging strikeout to Adam LaRoche to end the Washington threat.
Every Phillies starter aside from Ryan Howard and Halladay had at least one basehit.
The Phillies prepare for a bellwether weekend series against the rival Atlanta Braves in Philadelphia this weekend. CLIFF LEE.
