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Halladay goes for Phils in D.C.

Apr 13, 2011 - 2:36 PM (Sports Network) - Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth haunted his former Phillies teammates in last night's opener of this three-game series. Hopefully he has some tips on how to beat Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay.

The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner aims for his ninth straight victory over Washington this evening when the two NL East rivals battle at Nationals Park.

Werth faced the Phillies for the first time since signing a seven-year, $126 million with the Nats this offense, leaving a Philadelphia club that he won the 2008 World Series with. He wasted little time showing the Phillies what they were missing, hitting a solo homer, scoring twice and stealing a base in a 7-4 victory.

The right fielder even admitted it was extra sweet going deep against his former club.

"Was it extra special against those guys? Yeah, it was," said Werth after hitting his second home run of the season.

Wilson Ramos added two hits and drove in two runs and Livan Hernandez scattered one run and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings for the Nationals, who have won two straight and four of their last five. They also picked up a victory despite putting third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the disabled list before the game with a left abdominal strain.

Washington's victory was just its second in its past eight games against the Phillies, as Philadelphia is an outstanding 51-22 in this series since the start of the 2007 season.

Ryan Howard hit a solo homer for the Phillies, who had a two-game win streak end and fell to 7-3 on the season, but Joe Blanton was tagged for five runs over six innings to take the loss. He also served up the homer to Werth.

"He knows Joe," Phils manager Charlie Manuel theorized as the key to Werth's success against his former teammate Blanton.

Manuel now hopes that Werth doesn't have Halladay figured out. The Nationals as a franchise sure haven't done so.

Halladay is 8-1 with a 1.96 earned run average in his career versus the club, with that lone loss coming back on June 28, 2002 with Toronto. The 33-year-old won all three of his starts versus Washington a season ago, giving up a single run over 23 innings.

Halladay has been sharp over his first two starts to this season, limiting to the Astros to a run over six innings of a no-decision on April 1 before shutting the Mets out for seven innings in a victory on Thursday. The righty yielded six hits and a walk, striking out seven and escaping a bases-loaded jam in the third inning.

"There are times when you feel like you're in trouble, but I felt like I could make pitches to get out of it," Halladay said of his one rough patch. "It's something you want to avoid, but it's something I felt I could control."

While Halladay has been nearly unbeatable when facing Washington, Nats starter John Lannan has had the opposite result when facing the Phillies. In 11 starts against tonight's opponent, the left-hander is 0-8 with a 6.09 ERA.

Lannan, though, has been solid over his first two starts, going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA. He beat Atlanta in his first start on April 2 with five innings of one-run ball, then got a no-decision at Florida on Thursday after allowing three runs on seven hits over five innings of his club's 5-3 victory.