Halladay finally finishes off Nationals

WASHINGTON - Charlie Manuel emerged from the visitors' dugout at Nationals Park and immediately it was clear he had no intention of removing Roy Halladay from the game.

Instead of his familiar gait, Manuel jogged. He came to the mound with one out in the ninth inning of Wednesday's 3-2 Phillies win over the Nationals and gathered the infield. Soon, Manuel left and Halladay remained.

Nine pitches later, Carlos Ruiz leaped from his crouch and dashed to Halladay, who slammed his glove into his fist. No, it was not another no-hitter or perfect game, but Halladay had gutted his way through a shaky ninth inning for his first complete game of the season.

Until the ninth, it had been so easy. The end was not.

The Nationals managed to snap a 30-inning scoreless streak Halladay had mounted against them by scoring twice in the ninth. But with the tying run on second base, pinch-hitter Matt Stairs looked at three straight strikes and Ivan Rodriguez was rung up on three pitches to end it.

That was Halladay's ninth strikeout of the night. It was his 123d pitch of the game, making it the second-most he's thrown as a Phillie. But there was no chance Halladay was coming out, even with closer Jose Contreras warming up, unless the game was tied or the Nationals won it walking off.

Halladay had allowed just two hits in eight innings, both to Washington first baseman Adam LaRoche, who had talked his way into the lineup while battling a groin strain. In the ninth, Rick Ankiel led off with a double and Jayson Werth followed with a single. When Werth scored the second run of the inning on Danny Espinosa's single, he clapped his hands as he crossed home plate. But that was the final run.

The two runs did represent more than Halladay had allowed in his previous 21 innings combined this season. His ERA is 1.23. And you were wondering how he could top a perfect game, no-hitter and Cy Young in Season One.

OK, he has yet to achieve anything close to those feats in 2011, but Halladay is every bit as dominant on the mound so far. He did everything else, too. He scored a run in fifth. He even caught a pop-up in foul territory.

Not that this is something new. Remember, Halladay's ERA did not climb above 2.00 until May 23 last season.