CHICAGO — It’s been five starts since Roy Halladay’s last win.
Never thought you’d read those words in one sentence since Halladay (3-3, 3.20) joined the Phillies in the offseason before 2010. Well you just did, so let it soak in for a bit.
Halladay’s last winning decision came on April 16 against the San Francisco Giants. Over a month has passed and Halladay has gone 0-3 in his last five starts, his ERA spiking up from 1.17 to 3.20.
The ERA spike was due to one awful start against the Braves and the blame for a lack of a win could be pitted on the offense and bullpen failing to show up on separate occasions. But you can’t tell that to Halladay, who wants to shake that monkey off his back.
He will get another chance to do that against the lowly Cubs tonight. The Phillies are riding a four-game winning streak, their longest of the season, and are hoping to extend that streak to five games on the arm of Halladay.
Halladay allowed three runs in seven innings against the Cubs on April 27, taking the loss because his team could only muster one run off Cubs start Paul Maholm.
Fortunately for Doc, Maholm isn’t taking the hill tonight. Instead, it’s Chris Volstad, who hasn’t won a game all season, and has allowed less than four runs only once in his seven starts this season.
Volstad is 0-5 with a 6.92 ERA, averaging under 5 2/3 innings pitched per start. And in 13 career starts against the Phils, Volstad is 2-5 with a 5.89 ERA.
Tonight’s Lineup (posted later today)
Rollins 6
Pierre 7
Victorino 8
Pence 9
Ruiz 2
Wigginton 5
Luna 3
Galvis 4
Halladay 1
Blog of the Day: It’s a short post today up on the Phillies Zone (Philadelphia Inquirer) about Antonio Bastardo’s early success. In 16 appearances, Bastardo has a 1.50 ERA, the lowest in the bullpen currently.
TTB 