MILWAUKEE |
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - During five seasons together on the Toronto Blue Jays starting rotation, Shaun Marcum got a good look at Roy Halladay but on Friday, he saw the Cy Young award winner from new perspective - the opposition dugout.
It might have been a different angle but the result looked all to familiar as Halladay improved his record to 17-5 leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-3 victory over Marcum and the Milwaukee Brewers.
"This is my first time standing in against him, he's got a couple of Cy Youngs and is definitely one of the top five (pitchers) for sure," praised Marcum after watching his record slip to 12-6.
"He goes out there, he competes, he goes deep into the game, he throws strikes. If there's somebody better I want to see who it is."
While it was their first meeting since their days in Toronto, Marcum and Halladay could be seeing a lot more of each in the coming weeks with the Phillies and Brewers running away with their respective divisions putting them on a collision course for a National League Championship showdown.
It was another clinical performance by the "Doc" as he limited the Brewers to four hits and a single run over eight precision innings of work before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
Marcum's night was not nearly as smooth, the righthander getting the game off to a bumpy start serving up a first inning three-run homer to Ryan Howard staking Halladay to a 3-0 lead.
That would be all the run support Halladay would need as the Phillies ran their win streak to five games and picked up a Major League best 93rd victory of the season.
"I never take it for granted," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "You look up there and see a 'W' and that is the priority of our game, everything is to win.
"When you see him pitch like that and win a game it's never taken for granted."
If the series is indeed a preview of the NLCS, it is not promising for the Brewers, who have labored against razor sharp Phillies pitching with another Cy Young winner Cliff Lee (14-7) on deck for Saturday.
It was the four straight loss for the Brewers but the late season skid has not triggered any panic in the Milwaukee clubhouse with the St. Louis Cardinals still a distant seven games in the NL Central.
"When you got guys like Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels on the mound with their good stuff it's going to be tough," said Brewers third baseman Casey McGehee. "Halladay is up there throwing what seems like eight different pitches throwing them all for strikes whenever he wants.
"We're not in any playoffs yet we aren't guaranteed anything. Our works not done we can't look to far ahead...we got our work cut out for us again tomorrow against another pretty good pitcher.
"Hopefully we get another shot at them down the road."
(Editing by Alastair Himmer)
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