Well, it is finally here....the start of baseball season. Sure the Red Sox and Yankees kicked off 2010 last night with a thriller but the Fightin' Phils took the field today for the first time this season against the Washington Nationals. It was just what Phillies fans wished for...a lot of runs scored by a fantastic lineup and a dominant performance by the Doc himself, Roy Halladay.
To kick off the festivities this afternoon, Barack Obama threw out the first pitch...which was pretty much an intentional walk ball to a right handed batter. The Phillies did not capitalize on a scoring opportunity in the first inning when Jimmy Rollins was gunned down at the plate after a bad base running decision on a botched ball at second base. Howard reached on an error and Rollins tried to go from second to home and was out by about 10 feet. Surprisingly, the Nationals got to Halladay early as Nyjer Morgan led off with a single. He would then steal a base and score on a double, just a few feet away from a homer, by Ryan Zimmerman. Little did the Nats know was that the first inning was the only time they would score.
Both teams exchanged zeros until the top of the fourth when the Phillies lineup started to heat up. Chase Utley got on base and Ryan Howard jacked his first homer of 2010 into deep right field to give the Phils a 2-1 lead. A single by Shane Victorino scored Jayson Werth for a 3-1 edge and Roy Halladay helped out his own cause with an infield single that scored Raul Ibanez. Placido Polanco picked up his first of six RBI's on the day with a sac fly to score Victorino and the Phillies headed into the bottom of the fourth with a 5-1 lead.
Halladay would continue his roll as he retired 14 batters at one point after giving up three hits to the first seven batters. In the top of the sixth, the Phils offense struck again. J-Roll tripled in Carlos Ruiz and Rollins scored on a single by Polanco to push the lead to 7-1.
The top of the seventh was the last inning that involved scoring for the Phils, but it was in a big way. Placido Polanco put an exclamation on his already impressive day as he hit a grand slam into the left field bullpen to increase the rout to 11-1.
That was all of the offense Halladay needed through his seven innings of work. Doc gave up one run on six hits and struck out nine in his debut in the NL and as a Phillie in the regular season. With the exception of the bullpen pitchers and pinch hitter Greg Dobbs, all of the Phillies starters had a hit. Every Phillie starter, sans Halladay, scored a run as well. Antonio Bastardo, Danys Baez and David Herndon finished out the final three innings out of the pen as they combined to give up three hits, one walk and struck out two.
The newest additions to the Phils family stole the spotlight on opening day. Halladay pitched seven strong and Polanco tallied three hits and six RBI's in five at-bats.
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The Phillies will try and keep their bats hot through their day off on Tuesday. They are back in action on Wednesday as Cole Hamels looks to erase last years doubts and redeem himself. Hamels will oppose Jason Marquis. Marquis was an offseason acquisition for the Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 on the Comcast Network.
APTER THOUGHTS: A very impressive day for this squad but we have to keep in mind that this is the Nationals. Even though they have some great players that can produce (Zimmerman and Dunn), I do not think we will really get a taste of true victory until we beat the class of the NL. The Braves and Mets won big over the Cubs and Marlins today and the NL East is looking to be one of the toughest, if not the toughest, in the league.
Today it was great to see Polanco thrive in the two spot in the order. If you think about it, Pedro Feliz could not have topped Polanco's day. Polly is a perfect fit for this lineup...he moves runners over and he gets hits on a consistent basis. It was also nice to see "Big Brown", Ryan Howard look good at the plate. His homer was a deep one and he looks to be on his game. Given, it is the Nationals, but these guys are major league players and whether your a bad team or not, you can win on any given day. I mean, the Pirates beat the Dodgers today and scored in double digits.
I was impressed by the Phillies efforts today and just hope that they do not take this win for granted. Cole Hamels has a lot to prove on Wednesday and the run support that was shown today could play a big factor in the next game. Last season, the Phillies scored a lot of runs one game just to get shutout the next. I look for Cole to go a solid six plus innings in his start....at least that is what I am hoping for.
Catch the next Apter Hours after Wednesday night's game and stay tuned to Philly Sports Port on facebook and twitter for all of the latest updates on your favorite Philly teams.
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