Roy Halladay Fights His Way Through Injury to Keep Phillies’ Season Alive
October 22, 2010
by Tom Krasovic
Filed under: Giants, Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Championship Series
SAN FRANCISCO — Football players will chuckle when they hear the latest big baseball story. This one is about how gimpy pitcher Roy Halladay gutted through a groin strain Thursday night to keep the Phillies alive in the National League Championship Series .
The media loves these kind of purple-hued stories, and here at West Coast Bias, I’m guilty of writing some of them too.
Watching him slog through a rainy night without his good fastball, I likened the Colorado-bred Halladay to an ailing cowboy who stoically led his charges to greener pastures — namely, a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants that sent the series to Philadelphia for Game 6 Saturday.
Pretty corny, huh? And football players who slam heads every Sunday will ask, all this fuss over a little groin strain?
Heck, Halladay was still able to run full speed, like when he covered first base. He didn’t have any broken bones. Nor torn muscles.
But for a pitcher, little things can mean a lot. One of the better ones, Dizzy Dean, was never the same after hurting a toe. Pitchers need each link in the kinetic chain to hold up. If one sprocket springs, the whole machinery can go kaput.
Halladay, though, kept it together, and the Phillies did too, so now San Francisco’s lead in the best-of-seven match is three games to two.
“It’s satisfying,” Halladay said. “You don’t always overcome those things, but it’s a good feeling when you do.”
The Phillies trailed 1-0 when Halladay, throwing a pitch in the second inning, suffered the injury. They led 3-2 when he handed the ball to an inspired bullpen for the seventh.
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California Corps Leads Phillies as NLCS Moves to West Coast
October 19, 2010
by Tom Krasovic
Filed under: Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Phillies, Rockies, MLB Playoffs, National League Championship Series
SAN FRANCISCO — Without the Golden State, where would the Philadelphia Phillies be today?
Likely, somewhere other than California and not playing in yet another National League Championship Series.
When the knotted NLCS moved here for Monday’s workout as prelude to Tuesday’s Game 3, another happy October homecoming awaited Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels and Ryan Madson. Californians all drafted and developed by the Phils, they’ve played major roles in Philly’s franchise-record runs of four NL East-winning seasons and three NLCS visits.
“Where would we be without those guys?” said Phillies scout Jim Fregosi Jr, who lives in Southern California. He laughed. “We’d be in trouble.”
Rollins, Utley and Hamels have combined for nine All-Star selections. Rollins was MVP of the NL in 2007, Philly’s breakthrough year that gained the club its first NL East title in 14 years. Two Octobers ago, Hamels, the left-handed pitcher who will face the San Francisco Giants in Game 3, merely led Philadelphia to its first World Series title since 1980 and the city’s first sports championship since 1983. Last October, Utley hit five home runs against the Yankees, a World Series record for an NL player. Madson, like Hamels, is a vital contributor unfazed by Philly’s home ballpark that’s a hitter’s delight.
“I’d like to see another club with a group of Californians as good as ours,” Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth told West Coast Bias, and I had no snappy reply.
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Playoff Pulse: It’s in the Manuel
September 2, 2010
Filed under: Phillies, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, World Series, Playoff Pulse
Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Looking Forward …
Much will be made in the lead-up to Game 6 of another Yankees starter — Andy Pettitte — going on three days’ rest, assuming of course that that is officially announced Tuesday. Of course, there wasn’t much of a choice for Joe Girardi.
The Phillies do have some interesting options as they head back to New York. Game 6 starter Pedro Martinez was the easy part, but you can’t expect him to go all nine innings, so, especially if the Phillies have a lead, what happens then?