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Moyer carries Phillies past Cardinals

Jun 23, 2007 - 6:14 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Jamie Moyer pitched six scoreless innings and the Philadelphia Phillies opened a weekend series with a 6-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Moyer (7-5) yielded seven hits with a season high-tying six strikeouts and two walks to improve to 4-1 when facing the defending World Series champions.

The lefthander has been stellar on the road this season, holding opposing clubs to three earned runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts away from home.

"To me every game is important," Moyer said. "You can't take any game or any situation lightly. That's how I try to approach every game. In these ballparks, in (Friday's) game, with the hitters in today's game, you have to bear down more. A base hit, an error, a couple of hits together and they're back in the game. I have a lot of respect for the Cardinals and you can't give them an inch."

Phillies relievers Ryan Madson and Jose Mesa picked right up from where Moyer left off, tossing three scoreless frames combined in handing the Cards their seventh shutout defeat of the season.

The 44-year-old Moyer got plenty of run support from his teammates in the third inning.

"We scored six runs and Jamie Moyer did an outstanding job," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "He controls the tempo of the game and also the rhythm. He has tremendous command of his pitches. He's not afraid to use them all and he'll throw everything he's got. We played well and that one inning was a big inning for us and I like the way we played."

Shane Victorino and Chase Utley delivered back-to-back RBI singles, and Victorino came home on right fielder Juan Encarnacion's fielding error to make it 3-0.

Reigning National League MVP Ryan Howard then drove in Utley with a run-scoring double and Greg Dobbs capped the five-run uprising with a sacrifice fly off Cardinals starter Anthony Reyes (0-9).

"We just stayed within ourselves and stuck to the game plan," Dobbs said. "(Moyer's) so in depth at reading hitters and making adjustments. It's amazing. It's like he's got that sixth sense that he can pick stuff up like that so quickly. He's prepared for everything and he knows how to react in those situations and he reacts in the right way."

In the sixth, Jimmy Rollins lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Carlos Ruiz, who led off with a double to left-center field off St. Louis reliever Troy Cate for a 6-0 edge.

Reyes gave up five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings to remain winless this season. The righthander has not won a regular-season start since defeating Pittsburgh on September 3 here.

"I just didn't pitch well," Reyes said. "I tried to make sure I came out aggressive and threw strikes. My command was a little shaky. They were able to get the bat on the ball. I thought I threw some good pitches. I don't think of the wins and losses, I'm just trying to give the best effort that I can out there."

"I was really hoping that we would have given him the lead," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "We missed a chance there early and I don't know if it would have been different or not but it would have given his game a little different feel. To me, I think you give credit to their hitters."

Earlier Friday, St. Louis acquired lefthander Mike Maroth from the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named.

"Mike is a young pitcher who we feel is only going to get stronger as he continues his recovery from last season's surgery," Cardinals senior vice president and general manager Walt Jocketty. "He is an established starter who is going to provide us with innings and help take pressure off of our bullpen. We think the change in leagues will also benefit Mike."

Despite his 5-2 record, Maroth was the odd man out in the Tigers' rotations after Kenny Rogers came off the disabled list.