Lincecum outduels Halladay in Phils' 4-3 loss

FROM THE MORNING CALL

PHILADELPHIA — Bleeders and bloops were what was expected.

Home runs are what took over.

With two of baseball's best pitchers in a highly touted matchup on the mound for Game 1 of the NLCS -- San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Philadelphia's Roy Halladay -- the two teams combined for four home runs on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.

But it was the Giants who got some timely, two-out hits, one by long-time Phillie Pat Burrell, in the sixth inning to edge the Phillies 4-3.

Game 2 is at 8:19 on Sunday night at Citizens Bank Park.

"The way the series was built up, if anyone got a hit it was going to be a miracle," said Phillies closer Brad Lidge, who wiggled out of a bases-loaded ninth to keep it a one-run game. "You've got too good offensive clubs playing. Sure, you're always surprised when Roy gets hit, but that's once every blue moon."

The Phillies, who are hitting just .212 (28-for-132) in four postseason games this season, had won each of their previous seven postseason Game 1s, which tied the National League record.

"You wanted to get off to a better start," Phils left fielder Raul Ibanez said. "Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. But you've got to come back [Sunday] and grind it out again."

It was almost hard to believe the Phillies were going to lose, even when they were heading into the eighth inning and ninth innings.

In the last two years, they've had three come-from-behind wins when trailing going into the eighth (Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS against the Dodgers, Game 4 of the 2009 NLDS against the Rockies and Game 4 of the 2009 NLCS against the Dodgers).

But neither the eighth, nor the ninth, followed previous game plans.

The Phillies had the tying run on first base in the last two innings, but left them stranded.

In the eighth, the Phillies had Jimmy Rollins at the plate as the go-ahead run (Jayson Werth was at first as the tying run), but Rollins struck out swinging at a 95 mph Brian Wilson fastball to end the inning. He is now 1-for-15 in four postseason games this year.

"After the game, I looked at some footage," Rollins said. "I see what I'm doing. I'm just not executing. I'm pretty close, but it got worse as the night went on."

One inning later, Carlos Ruiz drew a one-out walk. But Wilson, the Giants closer, got pinch hitter Ross Gload and Shane Victorino to strike out to end the game.

Despite coming in hitting .186 (3-for-16, no extra-base hits) against Halladay, Cody Ross had him figured out. His solo home run in the third put San Francisco out front 1-0.

The eight-hole hitter's second homer came in the fifth and put the Giants ahead 2-1.

"I made some bad pitches," Halladay said. "The first pitch to Ross I didn't think was that bad. The second one, I left the ball over the plate. In the sixth, a couple pitches there cost me. At this point, if you make a couple mistakes they end up costing you."

The Phillies' two home runs came from Ruiz and Jayson Werth.

Trailing 4-1 in the sixth, Chase Utley hit a leadoff single. After Ryan Howard struck out on three pitches (two changeups and a slider), Werth drilled a ball into the right-field seats to bring the Phillies within 4-3.

The Giants extended their lead in the sixth. Cleanup hitter Buster Posey hit a two-out single. Burrell then smoked a ball to left field. Ibanez had a beat on it, but missed it at the last second. The ball hit off the wall, was ruled a double and it allowed Posey to make it a 3-1 game.

"I thought he hit it better than that, actually," Ibanez said. "I thought it was going to go up off the top of the wall. By the time I jumped against the wall to get a little leverage and get a little height, the ball was lower than I thought."

Juan Uribe's base hit scored pinch runner Nate Schierholtz to put the Giants ahead by three runs.

The Phillies, who struck out 13 times, made it 1-all in the third thanks to Ruiz's home run. They had a chance to turn the third into a full-blown rally when Halladay followed with a base hit to left. But Victorino hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

Enter Howard. The cleanup hitter struck out on three pitchers with two runners in scoring position. He has now whiffed eight times in 15 postseason at-bats.

To jumpstart the offense, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said he's thinking about moving Rollins back to the leadoff spot Sunday.

"We've gotta hit better and we have to score more runs," Manuel said. "We're capable of doing it. It's up to us to do it."


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