MLB: Roy Halladay out pitches Lincecum to lead the Phillies to victory (Part 3)
The Philadelphia Phillies had a hard task on their hands and they were in dire need of a win in the National League Championship. The side that had most of the critics supporting them for their bid to win the World Series was on
the losing end of the championship. The series against the San Francisco Giants was entering the 5th
fixture and the score line favoured the West division winners. The scheduled was going to be played in the AT&T Park and that was going to be a problem for the visiting side.
The Visiting Phillies were not in the best of positions and with a deficit of 3 games to qualify, the team looked derailed and down. The inclusion of Roy Halladay was the key to a resurgent strike on the Giants, but the effort
was not going to be easy to execute as the ‘freak’, Tim Lincecum was pitching for the opponents.
The game was entering the top 5th inning and Giants had just struck back with a run from Pat Burrell who scored off Cody Ross’ double in the bottom 4th inning. The hosts were down 2 – 3 and pitching as they
were, this wasn’t a surprise. Nevertheless, a chance to secure the top position wasn’t hard but both teams had good ball throwers.
Doc Halladay was effective against the Giants and Freak Lincecum was proving his quality by dispelling the Phillies attack. With no runs in the next 4 innings, the score remained 3 Philadelphia – 2 San Francisco. The fixture was
about to end with just one inning left and it was going to be a hard conclusion.
With the series on stake, the Phillies took some ground as Jason Werth executed a beautiful 347 feet home run which he boomed to the right. The hit meant Werth availed the 11th homer of the post season campaign. This
made him the leading hitter in home runs for the Post Season record.
The match ended with the Phillies in the winning position and given their swift scoring initiative, it must be said the victory was a deserving win. Unfortunately, for the Giants, they rued the chance to progress and pushed the
battle to game 6.
However, the night was owed mostly to the Giants’ miscued error in fielding which led to two runs in the game. Given the situation, Raul Ibanez and Carlos Ruiz would not have scored if Aubrey Huff had not fumbled in the third inning.
Whatever the case, Roy Halladay was the man of the hour and it was his pitching that kept the Giants quite for a long time. The maestro was effective with his pitching as he took out 5 hitters in 108 pitches. The contest between
him and Lincecum was intense and it was entertaining for the Doc to square the duelling contests as both won one game each. Roy allowed just 6 hits and 2 runs. He was lucky that his last performance wasn’t on the cards again. Otherwise, this could have easily
been a Giants victory. He reduced his Earning Runs Average (ERA) to 4.15 and for a man who was in great pain, this was one stellar outcome.
Time Lincecum, on the other hand, was the wrong man of the result this time. His mistake wasn’t his alone. Aubrey Huff made an error and that was a reason the 25 year old pitcher conceded more runs. He may have not been fortunate
in winning the game for San Francisco but he was effective, nevertheless. The maestro was strong with his throws and he pitched 104 times, striking out 7 hitters in the process. In addition to that he allowed 3 runs off 4 hits in 7 innings.
With two games left, it’s a wonder whether the Phillies can win the rest of the matches, because the New York Yankees were not so successful against the Texas Rangers. All will be revealed in a few days.
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