Roy Halladay dominated the Cubs over seven scoreless innings while the Phillies offense rocked Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano to the tune of seven runs… however, thanks to a disastrous five run 8th, mostly due to Jose Contreras, the Phils ended up holding on for a 7-5 win.
It was Halladay’s major league leading 9th win of the season. Doc was masterful striking out nine over his seven innings of shutout ball. Charlie Manuel opted to end his night as the Phils headed into the 8th with a commanding 7-0 lead. Halladay had just reached 100 pitches and It seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do at the time. However, Jose Contreras would give up four runs on two hits and a pair of walks while only recording one out. J.C. Ramirez then came in and proceeded to give up a pair of hits and a walk leading to another Cubs run. Finally, Michael Stutes was brought in to get the final two outs. Stutes also got two in the 9th and Antonio Bastardo came in to strike out Carlos Pena for the final out.
The Phillies offense looked a lot more like its old self as they did their damage with the long ball. Domonic Brown hit a two run shot in the bottom of the second and Placido Polanco hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.
Carlos Zambrano was making his first start since issuing an apology to his team for saying they looked like a AAA squad while in the midst of an 8 game slide. This evening, Zambrano lived up to his own evaluation. He went six innings giving up seven runs on seven hits with seven walks. So much for lucky sevens… for him at least.
Cliff Lee faces Matt Garza tomorrow afternoon at 4 in the third of the four game series.