0000000swalt Does It Again ...

August 22:  PHILLIES 6, Washington 0

While it should have been obvious why the Phillies went out and got Roy 0swalt, those who may still have wondered should wonder no more.  Roy pitched seven scoreless innings this afternoon and shot down any notion the Nationals may have had at taking the weekend series from the Phightins.

The only thing Phillies fans won't see is 0swalt, facing his old team, the Astros, when a four-game series begins tomorrow night at Citizens Bank Park.  The Phils will, however, be seeing a pair of old friends when Brett Myers starts Monday night's game against Joe Blanton, and J.A. Happ starts Wednesday night's game against Roy Halladay.

Getting back to 0swalt, he was extremely efficient this afternoon, scattering five hits over his seven innings of work, striking out eight and walking just one.  He threw 106 pitches on the day, 75 of them for strikes.  When you're getting roughly three of every four pitches over the plate, or making them unhittable, you're going to put up some nice numbers and quite a few zeroes (which is why I've chosen to use the zero ["oh'] in Roy's surname today).

The Nats tried the running game to rattle 0swalt, but to no avail.  When they got Desmond to second on a stolen base in the first, Roy simply struck out Dunn and Zimmerman.  When Chooch's throwing error allowed Bernadina to reach third after stealing second, Roy merely struck out Morse and Kennedy.

Make no mistake -- the 0swalt trade was a "make-up" for the Cliff Lee deal.  And for as great as Lee has been (he set the MLB record on Thursday night for the most strikeouts recorded before issuing his 10th walk of the season: 147, breaking the record of 143 held by Curt Schilling), 0swalt is proving to be, in 2010, what Lee was in 2009.

It's fun to see us once again heading toward September with a Big Three that can not only match-up with the best the National League has to offer, but who will also prevent the long losing streak that can cripple a playoff run.  Once in the post-season, being able to trot out Halladay, Hamels, and 0swalt will once again put fear into the hearts of the other NL playoff participants.

The rest of the season starts tomorrow night.  Four with the Astros before that seven-game Western swing that includes a make-up game on September 2 in Denver.  After hosting Milwaukee for three, from Labor Day on, it's all Eastern Division, all the time, including six big games against the Braves.

So, get out the deck chairs and pop up some popcorn ... this is gonna be one fun ride to the finish.