SAN FRANCISCO — The Hall of Fame curators, the ones Roy Halladay knows on a first-name basis, didn’t come calling Thursday night after Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. But the Grim Reaper was nowhere to be found, either.
Halladay, the Phillies’ ace and the proud owner of a perfect game and playoff no-hitter in this, the Colorado native’s most remarkable season ever, wasn’t about to pull off any more amazing feats against the Giants. Not after pulling his right groin while throwing a pitch in the second inning.
What to do? What else — grind. Gut it out. Find a way. What Halladay may have lacked in sheer brilliance, he more than made up for in true grit in pitching the Phillies to a 4-2 victory that sent the series back to Philadelphia for Saturday’s Game 6.
Halladay lasted six innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs. No, it wasn’t the dominating, complete-game performance his teammates had seen so many times. But in a way, given what was at stake and how much Halladay’s injury was bothering him, it was better.
“We knew he wasn’t at 100 percent, and that makes it all the more impressive what he did,” said Phillies closer Brad Lidge, the second half of the Phillies’ Colorado connection. “Man, he competed out there and battled and he didn’t have one of his legs underneath him. That’s not an easy thing to do.
“This might be one of his best outings he’s ever had, to be honest. You could see his velocity was down a click or two, and he was still able to get execution on his pitches. Once we got the lead, you could see on his face he wasn’t going to give it back to them.”
Halladay was acquired to pitch in October. But these weren’t exactly the circumstances the Phillies had in mind. He had no margin for error, what with Philadelphia in lose-and-go-home mode after dropping Games 3 and 4 to fall behind 3-1 in the series.
He wasn’t his masterful self even before the groin pull. To wit: Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee paid a visit to the mound 10 pitches into the bottom of the first inning, after which Halladay was staring at two base-runners and a 2-0 count on Aubrey Huff.
One inning later, he felt his groin pop.
“It’s not ideal, but at this point, nobody wants to come out,” Halladay said. “You want the ball and you want the ball regardless of what’s going on. It’s there a little bit no matter what, but you try and make due. Early on, I was kind of overstriding, so I tried to shorten it up.”
The result? Halladay’s velocity dropped 3 or 4 miles per hour, leaving him vulnerable. Asked if the injury kept him from unleashing his best heater, Halladay said: “We threw it a lot. There just wasn’t much on it.”
But somehow, some way, he prevailed. It certainly wasn’t because the Phillies piled on the runs against Tim Lincecum. They scored three in a third inning that, for the Giants, was right out of “The Twilight Zone.”
It all started when Halladay tried to lay down a bunt with Raul Ibañez at second and Carlos Ruiz at first. The ball hit in front of the plate, whereupon Giants catcher Buster Posey fired to third for what should have been the start of a double play.
Instead, Pablo Sandoval, retreating to the bag after inching toward the plate in anticipation of the bunt, caught the ball and couldn’t find the bag, leaving Ibañez at third and Ruiz at second.
“Actually, it’s a bad bunt,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “They got a break there. We’re inches away from getting a double play.”
Moments later, Shane Victorino hit a groundball that Huff kicked at first base, with the ball bounding high into the outfield as both runners scored. The shock that permeated AT&T Park was palpable and only got worse when Placido Polanco singled to score Victorino.
Jayson Werth homered in the ninth for an insurance run, but the Phillies didn’t need it. Not with Halladay weaving his way in and out of traffic on one leg.
