Roy Halladay shines as Philadelphia Phillies defeat Texas Rangers 3-2 - Part 1
Roy Halladay put in a brilliant performance as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated Texas Rangers 3-2 at Citizens Ball Park in Philadelphia on Friday, May 20.
The Texas Rangers travelled to Philadelphia to go against the Phillies in a three game set. A lot has changed for the Phillies and the Rangers since last year, but perhaps the biggest change would have to be Cliff Lee. He is a Cy Young winner and is one
of the top pitchers in baseball, as he was playing for the Rangers last year. It was Lee that took the Rangers to the World Series finale.
This time around, the Rangers don’t have Lee by their side as he was signed on to the Phillies after he hit the free agent market. The Rangers along with the New York Yankees were competing head-to-head to acquire the pitcher par excellence but in a truly
shocking and unprecedented move, Lee chose the Philadelphia Phillies who were paying him a lot less than what the Rangers and Yankees were offering so that he could return to the team that he had once played for and loved. To make matters worse Josh Hamilton
is currently resting in the Disabled List. Hamilton is easily one of the top players in the Rangers line-up but he was sent to the Disabled List a while back after a reckless body first slide into a base. Since then the Rangers can be seen to be struggling.
The Phillies on the other hand have definitely been on a roller-coaster ride since the month of May came along. The current National League leaders have the best record in baseball and have been on top of Major League Baseball for over four weeks now. That
coupled with the team possessing one of the best pitching rotations in history which has the likes of Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels in it, one would think that this team as the ultimate recipe for being the World Series contender but
alas, it is not.
Their offence is lack luster and there is absolutely no run support from the team to back up their pitchers. There have been many incidents where a match that could’ve easily been won and ended up in a loss for the Phillies because of the inability of the
offence to perform in par with the pitchers.
Another apparent problem that seems to be hindering the Phillies success this season is the fact that all their best men are either on the Disabled List, or resting so they could get better from their injuries. Shane Victorino, the only saving grace of the
Phillies’ offence has been an on and off fixture at the Disabled List and him being there instead of being on the already below average offence is not good news for Philadelphia.
Tags: