2010 Chachi #52 Phillies Clinch East HL

The Philadelphia Phillies are the 2010 National League East Champions!

Phillies 8, Nationals 0
Game 157 - Monday Night, September 27th in Washington

As my two boys slept soundly, Roy Halladay made it look easy as he punched his ticket for his first taste of Postseason play.  For the fourth consecutive season, the Phillies are the National League East champions, defeating the Nationals and eliminating the Braves from contention for the pennant.  This one is particularly sweet, as there were definitely times throughout the season when it looked as if injuries and slumps would derail the season and leave the team without October baseball for the first time since 2006.

Halladay dazzled, needing just 97 pitches to 2-hit the Nationals while striking out six and walking none.  There was some doubt if Halladay would come out for the bottom of the 9th, as the top of the inning took a little more than 25 minutes.  But he jogged out of the dugout, caked in mud from diving out of the way from a ball at his head in the top of the inning, and put the Nationals away in quick order.  Nationals' second baseman Danny Espinosa swung and missed on a 0-2 changeup and the celebration was on!

Jayson Werth accounted for half of the Phillies' eight runs, hitting a solo home run in the 2nd (his 26th), driving in two more with a 2-out RBI-double in the 6th and beating out an infield hit in the 9th to drive home another.  Carlos Ruiz and Placido Polanco also enjoyed 3-hit games.  The Phils added four more runs in the 9th for good measure on Ruiz' second double of the game, a double from Chase Utley and just a pure lack of defensive hustle on the part of the punchless Nationals.

So now it's time to rest the regulars, get Jimmy Rollins some at-bats and prepare for the Reds, Padres or Giants in the NLDS.  Go Phils!

Looking Back:  This is also the fourth consecutive year there's been a Chachi highlight card celebrating a NL East pennant, following the cards I created in 2007, 2008 and 2009.  (Upon further examination, I've never posted the 2008 Chachi card highlighting their division clinching game.  I'll look to fix this soon.)