Cardinals 1, Phillies 0: But Mostly I Still Hate J. P. Ricciardi

A tough one to leg out, especially if your leg explodes en route

After giving up a lone run in the first off a leadoff Rafael Furcal triple and a Skip Schumaker double (lol wut?), Roy Halladay totally pitched like Roy Halladay the rest of the way, even working his way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth without allowing a run. He was terrific, but not as good as Chris Carpenter, who opted instead for the three-hit, complete-game shutout (an excellent selection, sir, if I may say so). In the buildup to this one, there was a lot of talk in the national sports media about how Halladay and Carpenter are quite close friends dating back to their time together in the Blue Jays' minor league system. Closer to home -- like, literally in my house -- there was also a lot of talk about how galling it was/remains that J. P. Ricciardi wouldn't offer the then-injured Carpenter a league-minimum contract, and instead let a future Cy Young Award winner just walk for nothing when he totally wanted to stay. That is the lens through which I watched last night's game, from earliest goings-on to Ryan Howard blowing out his leg while making the last Phillies' out for the second year in a row. Thanks again J. P. 


Hey, isn't it odd that there are no teams from either the AL or NL East left now? We would have all agreed that those were the two best divisions in baseball this year, right? But the playoffs, man: just a crapshoot, a rad, rad crapshoot.


Finally, look at how sad this Phillies fan with the profane flask is:

The flask is asking to much of this man right now

KS

Phillies 11, Cardinals 6: "That's More Like It"

Pictured above: baseball

The monster three-run shot Roy Halladay gave up in the top of the first -- off the bat of the surprisingly excellent Lance Berkman -- completely silenced the Philadelphia crowd and upset the WPHT radio guys like I had not previously heard the WPHT radio guys upset. "Roy Halladay just doesn't do that; he doesn't give up three-run home runs," they quite rightly observed. It wasn't just that the Phillies were behind, which would be understandably disappointing to them; it was that the fundamental order underlying the universe that keeps hamburgers from taking bites out of us had been undercut by Roy Halladay allowing a three-run home run in the top of the first inning. When the tide turned in the sixth on home runs from Howard and Ibanez, I honestly lost track of how many times the WPHT crew said, "That's more like it," but believe me when I tell you that it was kind of a lot. Halladay was Halladay the rest of the way, and finished the night with a completely respectable line of just those three runs on three hits and a walk, striking out eight. In the end, all was well. But for about an hour there, the very fabric of space and time was nearly rent asunder, or something. 

More riding on that right arm than you can ever imagine.

KS

Phillies 5, Blue Jays 3: This Was Pretty Awesome

Maybe the coolest thing to happen so far this year.

I do not have, nor do I know any Blue Jays fan who has, anything even remotely resembling mixed emotions about Roy Halladay. He was the best, and we loved him; he is still the best, and we wish him every success. He stayed a Blue Jay an awful, awful long time while J. P. Ricciardi -- who we also do not have mixed feelings about, as we simply do not care for that guy -- failed utterly to build a contender around the best pitcher in baseball, a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Fame ace. When it finally got to the point where Halladay was not going to re-sign with the club, because he quite reasonably wanted a chance to pitch in the postseason before it was all said and done and time is an arrow, man, he handled the situation admirably, and gave everybody enough room to operate so that in the end Blue Jays were able to salvage something better than two compensatory draft picks (probably). We all loved Roy Halladay, and the way he left town was perfectly in keeping with the kind of quiet dignity yeah I said it quiet dignity with which he carried himself throughout his many years as the best reason to actually get on the streetcar and go down to the stadium. In summation, if you actively dislike Roy Halladay, you are probably a bad person.  


So it wasn't like booo this dude forsook us at all as Halladay returned to Toronto this weekend. This was not some A. J. Burnett nonsense, nor was it like when George Bell came back as a Cub at the '91 All-Star game, his hat as barely atop his head as ever, booed to within an inch of his life. This was totally different. When Halladay brought out the scorecard to the home plate umpire Friday night, he was greeted with a standing ovation. When he took the mound for the first time on Saturday afternoon, he was met with another. This is all right and just and good.


It was also all of those things when the crowd of 44,078 went completely bananas in the fourth when Jose Bautista ripped a home run off the windows in centre field. The best hitter in the game squared off against the  best pitcher, and while in a sense they're both totally our guys, the guy who is clearly a little more our guy right now got the best of it, and it felt good, man. It just felt good. And again, not in the way it feels good when somebody gets a hold of A. J. Burnett, not like that at all. A totally different thing.


Of course, Halladay went the distance, and was pretty awesome despite clearly not having his absolute best stuff. He still works as quickly as anybody, hits his spots like a machine, and man oh man do I wish he threw that changeup when he was a Blue Jay, but no, only in spring training. There was some kind of stat they gave on the radio yesterday about how Halladay has gone at least six innings in the most consecutive road starts since Walter Johnson or something? Of course he has. What can you say. Doc is the best, and may he have just enough success with the Phillies that he retire completely satisfied, but not so much success that he go into the Hall of Fame without a Blue Jays cap on. That's how I feel about Roy Halladay right now.


Also, Jon Rauch lost his mind and got ejected yesterday after getting squeezed pretty bad in an at bat against Ryan Howard. Dude is almost seven feet, and is apparently capable of much, much anger. Click here and you'll find it. Were I tiny and generally very good umpire Alfonso Marquez, I would have been shook.


KS