Earlier this week, with his spot in the Phillies rotation seemingly in jeopardy after four dismal starts, Chan Ho Park sat in front of his locker in St. Louis and admitted his confidence had been shaken.
On Wednesday, he stood on a mound in New York and matched zeros with Johan Santana. How's that confidence now?
"Whenever you have a good outing, there are a lot of good memories there," Park said after allowing one hit in six shutout innings to cement his place among the Phillies' five starters. "So, I think it's only going to help."
If only Park had gotten more help Wednesday night, the Phillies may not have seen their winning streak end at three games. But as masterfully as Park pitched, Santana, the Mets' ace lefty, was equally brilliant, yielding two hits and striking out 10 in seven scoreless innings.
Park was in total control, throwing more four-seam fastballs and a better sinker and retiring 11 of the first 12 Mets batters. After hitting Carlos Delgado with a pitch to open the fifth inning, he got dangerous David Wright to ground into a double play. And after Daniel Murphy broke up his no-hitter with a two-out double, Park got Jeremy Reed to ground weakly to second.
When the Mets mounted a two-out rally in the sixth, Park challenged sizzling Carlos Beltran, who is leading the league in hitting, getting him to fly out to left field.
"Park was completely different than he has been all year as far as his tempo and rhythm," said manager Charlie Manuel, who hadn't threatened to remove Park from the rotation but didn't give him a vote of confidence either. "He showed he's capable of pitching a good game. It just goes to show you how good he can pitch."
Said center fielder Shane Victorino, "To do what he did, it shows us, hey, he can do it."
The Phillies had a chance in the eighth against lefty Pedro Feliciano. Victorino extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games with a bloop double, but Chase Utley grounded out and Ryan Howard struck out.
"(Park) threw the ball so well," reliever Chad Durbin said. "It's something to build on for him. In a 1-0 game, he gave Santana a run for his money."
METS 1, PHILLIES 0: Chan Ho Park tossed six scoreless innings Wednesday night, but the Phillies mustered only three hits against Mets ace Johan Santana and two relievers and lost the opener of a two-game series at Citi Field. The game's lone run scored on Pedro Feliz's seventh-inning throwing error.
