Phillies 2, Astros 1

Sunday, April 11th

All killer, no filler

Roy Halladay carved up the Astros, earning career win No. 150 and complete game No. 50 on getaway day in Houston.

Halladay scattered seven hits, struck out eight, walked none and allowed one unearned run. He was masterful.

On a day when the bats weren’t clicking — Roy Oswalt pitched very well in defeat — Halladay did what all good aces are paid to do.  Halladay got into trouble in the sixth inning, loading the bases with no outs, but forced Cory Sullivan to ground into a rally-killing double play before getting Carlos Lee to pop up to Jimmy Rollins.

Rollins hit his 34th career leadoff homer and Carlos Ruiz knocked in Raul Ibanez with a fielder’s choice in the second inning to make it 2-0.

The Phils produced only six hits, the first time this season they failed to reach 10 or more knocks.

In two games, Halladay is 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA. Stunning.

The Phils’ 5-1 record is their best start since 1993 (8-1).

Phillies vs. Astros

7:05 p.m. EST at Minute Maid Park

After last night’s disaster, the Phillies look to even the four-game series behind the arm of Joe Blanton (9-6, 3.77 ERA).

In the last four games, the Phillies scored only three runs and were shut out on two occassions. Friday night, Wandy Rodriguez stymied the Phillies and the Astros jumped all over Cliff Lee… whose gone from folk hero to Adam Eaton-esque over his last two outings.

But the real problem is not the Phillies’ ace. It remains the slumping offense, which is basically hit or miss right now… and more often than not, it’s been miss.

Blanton logged his career-best 10th quality start in a victory over the Braves on Sunday. He threw seven strong innings, allowing only one run and three hits.

Roy Oswalt (8-5, 3.80 ERA) is starting to resemble Roy Oswalt again. The hard-throwing rightly won for the second time in three starts against the Cubs on Monday. Lifetime against the Phillies, Oswalt is 6-1 with a 3.28 ERA in eight starts.