As the year comes to a close it’s time to look back at some of the top moments from the Philadelphia Phillies 2010 season. While the team came short of their ultimate goal of winning a World Series championship, there were still several great memories from the past year. Here is a look back on the top 25 moments of 2010 Philadelphia Phillies season.
#6 Staying Alive – October 21st
Roy Halladay waited his entire career for the opportunity to pitch meaningful October baseball. Nothing was going to stop him on this particular fall night.
With their season on the line Halladay gutted his way through 6 innings on the mound and the Phillies won Game 5 of the National League Championship Series by a final score of 4-2 to send the series back to the city of Brotherly Love.
San Francisco looked to close out the NLCS with their best pitcher, Tim Lincecum, on the mound in front of a raucous crowd at AT&T Park. However, for just the seventh time in MLB history the Phillies were able to defeat a multiple time Cy Young award winner in an elimination game.
The Giants took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks in large part to a miscue by Chase Utley on a Buster Posey grounder to 2nd base. In the bottom of the 2nd, Halladay felt a sharp pain after pulling his right groin during an at-bat against Cody Ross. However rather than leaving the game due to injury, the 2010 Cy Young award winner continued to move in between innings to keep his leg from tightening up and pitched his way through pain to keep his team in the game.
Roy Halladay reacts to a great throw from RF by Jayson Werth
“He was determined he was gonna stay in there,” said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. “Once he got up to 108 pitches and got us to a place where I felt our bullpen could save him, that’s when we got him out. His velocity on his fastball fell off and he was having trouble pushing off the mound. He threw a lot more cutters and curve balls.”
“He wasn’t gonna let us take him out,” continued Manuel. “He tried to really pump up on (Ross) in the 2nd inning. Came in the dugout to Dubee and the trainers but he was determined he was going to stay in the game. He said he wanted to try. He wanted to keep going. I think he gutted it out. I’ll tell you something else, that was really big and we needed him to.”
“There was a sense that something wasn’t entirely right but the fact that he went back out there. He’s a man,” added Jayson Werth. “He goes back out there and competes. He definitely wasn’t going to give up.”
“That’s him,” Shane Victorino said. “I don’t know what word you can put on him. Do you want to use ‘Superhero?'”
With his fastball velocity significantly down and struggling to find a comfort zone on the mound, Halladay battled his way through 6 innings and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.
“I felt like it was something I could get by with. I was going to try to find a way,” Halladay said. “You just hope that way is good enough to get you through, and fortunately it was today. You go as long as they let you go. Especially at this point. You want the ball and want to be out there. I just told them what was going on. Rich would check with me between innings. I was able to do enough.”
Raul Ibanez is safe at 3rd after a controversial Roy Halladay bunt
The Phillies offense was able to do enough sparked in large part due to a three run 3rd inning. After a leadoff single by Raul Ibanez snapped a personal 0 for 11 steak during the NLCS, Carlos Ruiz was hit by a pitch to set up a sacrifice situation for Halladay. The Phillies pitcher bunted at the first pitch and after the ball clearly rolled foul, Buster Posey pounced on it and fired down to 3rd to try and get the lead runner. However, Pablo Sandoval was unable to find the bag and both runners advance on what ended up being a wacky 2-5-3 sacrifice bunt.
With 2nd and 3rd and 1 out, Shane Victorino hit a grounder to the right side of the infield and Giants 1st basemen Aubrey Huff booted the ball and knocked it into shallow CF allowing two runs to score. Placido Polanco added an RBI single and the Phillies took a 3-1 lead.
“I always look for a fastball and I try to adjust to anything off,” Polanco said. “And he threw me a fastball and I was able to hit it good.”
Back to back doubles by Pat Burrell and Cody Ross in the 5th inning cut the Phillies lead to one but Halladay was able to work his way out of a jam. After walking Buster Posey to start the next inning, Halladay beared down and got Cody Ross and Juan Uribe to strike out swinging.
Roy Halladay gutted his way through 6 innings on the mound
“After a couple innings, I was like, ‘This guy is pitching on one leg. Really?'” said Victorino. “His velocity wasn’t 92, 93 mph. It was 89, 90. That shows what he’s about. He wasn’t coming out of the game, I can tell you that much.”
“He’s a warrior,” added Jimmy Rollins. “He’s a big-game pitcher. When he gets the ball, he wants to go. If he can go, he’s going to go.”
After not stealing a base since September 7th, Rollins showed he was ready to go by swiping both 2nd and 3rd base in the top of the 7th to set up a 1st and 3rd situation with 1 out for pinch hitter Ross Gload. Gload hit a rocket to the right side but it was right at Huff and led to an inning ending 3 unassisted double play.
With the Giants regaining momentum, Jose Contreras and JC Romero combined to pitch a scoreless 7th inning. After pitching an inning and two-thirds on Wednesday night, Ryan Madson came in for the 8th to face the heart of the Giants order. Madson was brilliant in striking out Buster Posey, Pat Burrell, and Cody Ross in order.
The Phillies bench reacts to Jayson Werth's insurance home run
In the top half of the 9th inning the Phillies added some insurance when Jayson Werth hit just the 34th home run by a right handed hitter to RF in AT&T park history. Brad Lidge shut the door on the Giants and the Phillies held on to win Game 5 by a 4-2 final.
“When your backs are against the wall, the only thing you can really do is come out fighting,” Rollins said. “Either you’re going to live or you’re going to pack it up. We were able to get another game out of this and go home. I think we’re all looking forward to what it’s going to be like.”
With the victory, the Phillies completed the first step in trying to fight back from a 3-1 deficit in the National League Championship Series. Roy Halladay capped off his brilliant season by pitching through pain and willing himself to allow his teammates to fight another day.
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