Game 1 of the Cardinals/Phillies NLDS matches Kyle Lohse against Roy Halladay. Simple, right? Lohse and the Cardinals give up five or six runs. Halladay and the Phillies give up one or two runs. The Phillies win, and they don't break a sweat.
Lance Berkman Pounds Roy Halladay, Gives Cardinals Early Lead
There’s just one problem - games aren’t all about the starting pitcher matchups. Roy Halladay is an absolutely phenomenal starting pitcher, yes. Maybe - probably - the best in baseball. But the Cardinals have a good offense. They led the National League in everything this past season. And in the top of the first inning on Saturday, the Cardinals got out to a lead.
A solid lead. Rafael Furcal grounded Halladay's second pitch of the game into right field for a single. Two batters later, Albert Pujols walked on four pitches, bringing Lance Berkman to the plate. Berkman posted a .959 OPS during the year, and Halladay did this:
That’s bad. If you’re Halladay. That’s good, if you’re Berkman. Berkman jumped all over the first-pitch centered fastball and blasted it out to right for a three-run homer that certainly took everyone in the ballpark by surprise.
Halladay wouldn’t surrender any more runs in the inning, but in the bottom half Lohse went 1-2-3, and after one it’s Cardinals 3, Phillies 0. Weird, right? Sometimes, good hitting beats good pitching. Sometimes, good hitting crushes good pitching.
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