PHILADELPHIA -- When the Philadelphia Phillies face
Dontrelle Willis, the game historically is one-sided. It was
again Sunday, but this time in favor of Philadelphia.
Vicente Padilla tossed seven outstanding innings and the
Phillies pounded Willis en route to an 8-4 triumph and a rare
series victory over the Florida Marlins.
Willis (13-5) previously had dominated the Phillies, going 5-1
with a 2.24 ERA against them, including a 3-0 mark and 0.82 ERA
this season.
However, the lefthander - who had given up just 17 earned runs
in 10 previous starts vs. Philadelphia - surrendered eight runs
and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
"I think (Willis) will (bounce back)," Marlins manager Jack
McKeon said. "This is his second time plus the All-Star Game
(that) he's been a little shaky. Guys go through those periods.
Get it out of his system now. Come on back and be the 13-4 guy
we saw earlier."
The offensive assault against Willis began with the most
unlikely of hitters.
With an .083 career average, Padilla came to the plate in the
second inning with two runners on and drilled Willis' second
pitch into the left-center field gap for his first career triple
and the first by a Phillies' pitcher in more than six years.
"Matter of fact, (Padilla) put a real good swing on a high
fastball," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I know (his
teammates) liked it. That got them going. They wanted to get up
there and hit."
"It definitely pumped us up," said Phillies catcher Mike
Lieberthal, who hit a solo home run in the sixth. "Especially to
see Padilla. He's not really one to swing the bat, but he hit a
rocket and scored two runs for himself, so it was definitely a
momentum shift."
Padilla's 10th and 11th career RBIs set the tone for
Philadelphia, which scored seven runs with two outs.
"I was just missing a lot in the strike zone and they did a good
job of just getting a lot of two-out hits in key situations,"
Willis said. "I've just got to go back to the drawing board and
start to work a little harder on throwing a lot of strikes early
in the count."
Among the Phillies' two-out run-scoring hits were an RBIs triple
by Jimmy Rollins in the fourth, a two-run double by Tomas Perez
in the sixth and RBIs singles by Chase Utley in the third and
sixth.
"Obviously, anytime you score that many runs with two outs, it
kills the opposing pitcher," Lieberthal said. "He's almost out
of the inning. Next thing you know, you put a four-spot up."
The offense was more than enough for Padilla (5-8), who entered
with a 6.27 ERA in 13 starts - none of which had lasted longer
than six innings. He had allowed 78 hits - including 14 homers -
and walked 37 in 60 1/3 innings, but all of his problems seemed
to vanish Sunday.
"I think it's been a change in his attitude," Phillies pitching
coach Rich Dubee said. "Vicente's come up pretty determined that
he's gonna turn the page and get himself righted. He's pitched
with a much better tempo and a much better look in his eye and
he's been very successful the last two times out."
The righthander allowed just two singles and a pair of walks. He
struck out five and threw 69 of 104 pitches for strikes in
extending his scoreless streak to 13 innings.
"Confidence is a big thing," Dubee said. "We've had a number of
talks with Vicente. He's a big factor in our ballclub. He's one
of our five starters. He's got the potential and the ability to
pitch very, very well for us.
"We've tried to continue to pound that he's very, very talented
and that he's got a lot of capabilities and hopefully, it's
sinking in."
Ramon Martinez collected two hits and scored three runs and
Rollins added two singles and a run for the Phillies, who scored
38 runs in the four-game set and finished the series with a
.359 (52-for-145) average.
"That's something that we needed to do," Rollins said. "It
doesn't matter who's on the mound."
Florida scored four runs off Tim Worrell in the ninth but
dropped its first series against Philadelphia since September
30-October 3.
"The Marlins have always kind of took it to us and this was a
big series for us," Manuel said. "This definitely shows that we
can play in our division and that we can beat the Marlins."