Skip to main content

New Season, New Stars

The Phillies got the new season off to a great start on Monday, as they pounded the Nationals 11-1, in Washington DC. Led by Roy Halladay's 7 strong innings and Placido Polanco's bat, the Phillies won their first season opener since 2005 when Jon Lieber was the winning pitcher for the Phils.


On a day when President Obama threw out a very wide ceremonial first pitch, Halladay got off to a bit of a shaky start, as he allowed the Nationals to score in the opening frame, when Ryan Zimmerman slugged an RBI double off the right-centerfield fence. Following that inning, however, Halladay really settled in and kept the Phillies rolling along as he shut down opposing batters with under 10 pitches in multiple innings throughout the game. In 7 innings, Halladay struck out 9 batters on 88 pitches.

On the offensive side, it was a nice return to regular season action with the Phils for Placido Polanco. Polanco had a sacrifice fly in the 4th, to cap off an inning where the Phillies sent 11 batters to the plate and took a 5-1 lead. He added 3 hits, including a grand slam in the 7th inning to complete the scoring for the day as the Phils went up by 10 runs. Polanco, who was traded to Detroit by the Phillies in 2005 and re-signed with Philadelphia this past off-season, had 6 RBI on the day.

In true Philadelphia phashion, phans traveled to DC in abundance and seemed to perform as the team's 10th player, rattling Washington pitchers and adding to the discomfort level for the fans of the home team, who seemed to flood out of Nationals Park following the Polanco Slam.

Since 1914, the Phillies have scored double digits on opening day just four times, in 1932, 1962, 1994 and now 2010.

The Phillies' all-time record on opening day is 60-69-2. The two ties came in back-to-back seasons in 1923 at Brooklyn & 1924 vs. Boston.

----------------------------------------
Photos- Reuters

Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE.

BallHype: hype it up!
Share on Facebook

Comments

mvr joe said…
So the big question is can we lead the east from the first game to the last?


I have phaith!
Jay Floyd said…
Happy opening day to you!

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page .  For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature.  Thank you.   On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool.  Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island.  However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon.  Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

Weekend Preview: Phillies at Yankees

The Phillies (22-17) head up to New York to take on the Yankees (24-17) in their new digs this weekend. It should be a fun Memorial Day weekend at the new Yankee Stadium. A record 75 homeruns have been hit at Yankee Stadium in the first 20 games there. The Phils haven't visited the Bronx since 2000. Read on for pitching match ups, game times, and plenty more notes. Friday, 7:05pm. Brett Myers (3-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. AJ Burnett (2-1, 5.02 ERA). Myers has had one career start against the Yankees. He won that game, in June 2006, by throwing 6 2/3 innings, striking out 11 and giving up just 2 earned runs. Myers is 3-0 on the road this season. Burnett has a 5-7 record in 16 career games against the Phils with a 4.57 ERA and 2 complete games. Burnett at home this season has no record in 4 starts, with a 4.15 ERA. Greg Dobbs is 4-for-6 in his career against Burnett with a double and 2 RBI. Matt Stairs is 2-for-8 off Burnett...both hits are homeruns . Saturday, 4:10pm. "Jay" Hap...