Game 30 - Thursday Night, May 5th in Philadelphia
One Sentence Summary: The Phillies completed the sweep of the Nationals behind the suddenly hot bat of Raul Ibanez and Roy Halladay's standard, ho-hum well-pitched game.
What It Means: The Phillies, at 21-9, have the best record in the National League and they're tied with the Cleveland Indians for the best record in the Majors. They'll open a three-game set with the Braves tomorrow night as the home stand continues.
What Went Right: Halladay allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings of work while striking out ten. He lowered his ERA to 2.19 and improved his record to 5-1 on the season. That's pretty good.
Ibanez remained torrid, falling a triple short of the cycle and driving in three runs. Shane Victorino started the Phillies six-run third inning with a two-run home run.
The design is taken from a tobacco card set released in 1887 by the New York City-based Goodwin & Company. Goodwin's two popular cigarette brands at the time were Old Judge and Gypsy Queen. For the record, there are nine Phillies cards in the original 1887 set, including this Ed Dailey card, courtesy of the interwebs.
Other Stuff: Jimmy Rollins and Victorino executed a double steal in the sixth. For Rollins, it was his 350th career stolen base and it was Victorino's 150th of his career . . . Roy Oswalt returned to the team today after tending to his family and friends in his tornado-ravaged home town in Mississippi . . . Chase Utley could begin a rehab assignment in Clearwater as early as this weekend.