BOX SCORE
The Washington Nationals have been hanging around the top of the National League East all season, but it may not have been until Tuesday night that they really arrived as a force in the division.
The Nationals? second straight win over the sad-sack Phillies, a 5-2 decision at Citizens Bank Park, moved them back into first place in the division (see Instant Replay).
It wasn?t just the win over the five-time division champs that left the Nats walking tall.
It was who they beat.
Roy Halladay.
There was some symbolic value in beating the Phillies? ace. After all, the Nats had been 0-9 against Halladay in 10 starts against the righthander since relocating from Montreal.
Halladay was tagged for nine hits and five runs in six innings. He gave up solo homers to Ian Desmond and Rick Ankiel and a two-run triple to Bryce Harper.
The 19-year-old Harper?s triple may have foreshadowed a baton pass in the NL East as he got the best of the 35-year-old Halladay ? physically and mentally.
After the game, Harper said he?d been watching Halladay pitch on television the last few years and he?d noticed that the pitcher likes to throw first-pitch curveballs to get ahead in the count. Harper was looking for one, got one, and didn?t miss it.
Ten starts into the season, Halladay is 4-4 with a 3.58 ERA. For some pitchers, those are nice totals. Not for Halladay.
He was asked if he was healthy.
?Yeah,? he said. ?Yeah.?
He said he was just making more mistakes than he has in the past. His velocity is down a tick or two and it becomes tougher to get away with mistakes when that happens. He said he will bounce back.
But Halladay isn?t the only Phillie that needs to bounce back.
This team is playing awful baseball. It has lost a season-high four in a row to fall to 21-23, last place in the NL East.
Halladay said he senses that the team is pressing ? badly. Nowhere is that more evident than at the plate, where hitters are consistently coming up small with runners in scoring position. The Phils were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position Tuesday night. They are 5 for 38 in those situations over the last four games.
No one has struggled more with runners in scoring position lately than Hunter Pence, who struck out swinging at a bad pitch from Jordan Zimmerman with one out and runners at second and third in the third inning. Pence is just 2 for his last 23 with a runner in scoring position. The responsibility of being the man in the Phils? lineup while Ryan Howard is out sometimes seems to get the best of Pence.
?I think that?s him thinking that he definitely has to knock the run in,? manager Charlie Manuel said. ?He?s kind of amped up and when you?re overanxious you?re definitely subject to chase balls out of the strike zone.?
The Phils had a runner at third in the third, fourth and fifth inning and got nothing each time. Their two runs were driven in by players who were recently called up from Triple A ? Hector Luna and Erik Kratz.
Halladay allowed four runs in the third inning. Given the Phillies? offensive struggles, everyone in the ballpark knew that was the game. Fans stuck around a few more innings, but by the seventh inning the exodus had begun. Some of the fans who stayed until the end booed after the final out.
Frustration is beginning to show in Manuel.
?Our starting pitching, they?re going to give up some runs,? he said. ?They?re only human, too. We should be able to come back and win some games now and then when we get behind, but we just don?t put it together. We just don?t hit the ball good enough to win the game. You score runs by hitting the ball hard.?
Manuel said the team?s offensive problems are putting pressure on the pitchers and it?s not easy for a pitcher to be effective when he feels he has to be perfect.
Halladay acknowledged the pressure.
?Yeah, there?s a certain weight that ultimately falls on our shoulders,? he said. ?But we should be able to overcome that.?
Halladay has noticed that the whole team is feeling pressure. He urged his teammates to relax and remember the game is supposed to be fun.
?It?s been a frustrating two months for all of us,? he said. ?We need to play a little more loose. Guys are trying to carry the weight of the team and you can?t play that way. We need to go out and have fun and stop pressing.
?Ultimately this is a game. It?s important to keep in mind that regardless of the expectations you?ve got to play the game and enjoy it. Guys are beating themselves up.
We have so many guys here that care and want to win. We just have to get back to having fun playing the game.?
Fun comes from winning.
The Phils have lost four of five to the Nationals this season. They will look to have some fun behind Cole Hamels on Wednesday night.
E-mail Jim Salisbury at jsalisbury@comcastsportsnet.com
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