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Mark Whited gives his thoughts on Halladay's outing

During the offseason, many fans grumbled about the trade that put Cliff Lee in a Mariners uniform, and Roy Halladay in a Phillies uniform. We believed that all we did was trade an Ace for an Ace. We also saw it as a move that made the Mariners an exceptionally better baseball team, while the Phillies didn’t really upgrade. As it stands today, Lee has started the season on the DL, and the Mariners are in 3rd place (2-4) in the AL West. As for the Phillies, they improved their record to 5-1 after a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros, behind Roy Halladay’s 2nd win of the season.

Roy Halladay pitched brilliantly. He went 9 innings, allowing 7 hits and struck out 8. He got into a couple jams in the 6th and the 7th, but got out of them with little damage. The only run he let up was an unearned run in the 6th, which came after a throwing error on Halladay. Overall, Halladay has performed as advertised. It was his first complete game as a Phillie, and the 50th of his remarkable career. However, he wasn’t the only pitcher named Roy to pitch great in this game.

Astros’ pitcher Roy Oswalt had the Phillies number all day. Despite giving up a leadoff homerun to SS Jimmy Rollins, Oswalt would settle down, punching out 8 in his 6 innings of work. He would allow only one more run the rest of the way. As for the Phillies offense, they only collected 6 hits as a team today. The 3-4-5 hitters in the Phillies lineup went a combined 1-11, with 5 strikeouts.

Monday afternoon, the Phillies have their home opener, taking on the Washington Nationals. Taking the mound for the Phillies is LHP Cole Hamels. He makes his 2nd start of the season, which is also his 2nd start against the Nationals. In his first start last Wednesday, Hamels pitched 5 innings, allowing 3 runs to score (2 were earned runs), and struck out 5. He will be looking to pitch with better location this time around, after walking 4 in those 5 innings last Wednesday. The Nats will send RHP Jason Marquis to the mound. He was knocked around in his first start against the Phillies, allowing 6 runs in 4 innings of work. There will be many festivities before the game, so show up to the ballpark early! First pitch is at 3:05, and if you’re one of the unlucky ones who couldn’t get tickets, the game can be seen on CSN.