Photo courtesy of Google images.
The first key to winning the series against the always-dangerous Phillies is to win the first two games of the three-game set. Of course, in a perfect world, a team would love to take the first two games of any series.
However, Game 3 will feature one of the best starting pitchers over the last decade or so: Roy Halladay. He is what you call a game-stopper, and if the Phillies win either of the first two contests, there is a good chance they will take the series.
Entering Tuesday, Halladay sports a 4-3 record and a 3.22 ERA. In his last outing, he tossed eight strong innings, allowed just three earned runs on seven base hits for his fourth win of the year.
Before that game against the Cubs, the two-time Cy Young had only fallen to the .500 mark one time in his career with the Phillies, but quickly moved back to above .500 with the win in his last outing.
This season, Halladay has tossed at least seven innings in eight of his nine starts, and he has lasted eight innings on three different occasions; the only game in which he failed to reach the seventh inning came against the Braves after he got knocked around for eight earned runs.
Other than that one outing, he has not surrendered more than three earned runs in any start this season and he has allowed two or fewer in six of those nine games. Not to mention, he has only been tagged for three home runs, two of which came in his last outing.
So, the Cardinals definitely need to find a way to win each of the first two games if they want to be in a good position to win the series because game three will be a battle.
(Although they have to face Cliff Lee in Game 1, he is 0-2 with a 2.66 ERA and has been victim to low run support. The Cards will counter with one of their best starters, Kyle Lohse, who is 5-1 with a 2.91 ERA. So, yes, they have to face Lee, but if they are able to stay in the game, they have a good shot at winning with the struggling Phils pen; later I’ll discuss their troubles.)
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