HALLIDAY? HOLLIDAY? BOTH STAR ON GAME DAY

NO-HIT BID IN YUM

NO-HIT BID IN YUMA

Roy Halladay (4-2, 2.65) got all the run support he could ever want against visiting Frostbite Falls, as the Firebirds repeatedly tagged Squirrels starter Paul Maholm (0-1, 6.94), scoring at least one run in each of the first six innings against Maholm and relievers Nick Masset and Jason Frasor. Ryan Theriot, playing SS with Yunel Escobar on the DL, collected three hits and Ryan Braun smacked a two-run homer to lead the scoring.

By the seventh, Halladay was nursing an 8-0 lead....and, other than a leadoff walk in the first to Jose Reyes, had not allowed so much as a baserunner. Halladay made things dramatic, walking rookie Jason Heyward with two out in the eighth before punching out Rickie Weeks on an 0-2 slider for his ninth ‘K’ of the contest.
That would set up a ninth inning drama, and something of a letdown for the home team. David DeJesus had come in to play the outfield on a double switch back in the sixth, and he led off the ninth with a solid single past a diving Theriot to break up the no-hit bid:



After Halladay issued yet another walk to Jose Reyes, he was lifted in favor of reliever Chad Qualls to a standing ovation.

The anticlimax was not finished, however. Qualls loaded the bases, then grooved one to Albert Pujols. The Lord of the Squirrels crushed his get-ahead fastball WAY back, a GRAND SLAM to end the shutout bid. Qualls settled down after that, but there could be no doubt that the previously-befuddled Squirrels had a little life in their step after the ninth-inning outburst, and that the Freebirds were sorely missing both Escobar and sidelined 2B Brian Roberts:

YUMA 8, FROSTBITE FALLS 2!

EXTRA-INNING DRAMA IN MADTOWN

The Moabs hit three home runs in a painful fourth inning for Jered Weaver, but Brooklyn’s bullpen could not hold a 5-1 lead in the sixth, as the surprising Murlocs scored four times off Scott Baker and reliever Neftali Perez to tie the game 5-5, the key knock being Prince Fielder’s double to score Matt Holliday.

Erstwhile starters Zach Duke and Jon Garland, known for their slow pace, nevertheless handcuffed Brooklyn over the next four frames to force extra innings. Troy Tulowitzki singled with one out, but was promptly picked off by Garland and the Moabs failed to score against reliever David Aardsma (2-0, 1.35).

In the bottom of the frame, little-used 11th man Matt Guerrier (0-1, 13.50) retired rookie Alcides Escobar, but with one down Pablo Sandoval somehow beat out a slow roller for his third hit of the contest. Holliday, who had started the previous rally, then hit a hanging slider over the left-field wall to end the contest, a WALKOFF HR that was little more than a line drive that kept climbing, leaving the park so quickly that it took a moment for the crowd to realize it was gone! The tumult of the Madtown inmates began about two seconds after the ball cleared the wall in left, and a dejected Guerrier could only trot off the field ahead of a jubilant Holliday!

In more bad news for the (so far) underachieving Moabs, lackluster starter Scott Baker tweaked his calf covering first base in the big four-run inning, and after the game it was learned he would be placed on the DL and miss at least three starts, if not more.

HALLADAY? HOLIDAY?