Major League Baseball

Giants hitters thrive by being aggressive;BEATING ROY HALLADAY

Published Oct. 17, 2010 10:12 p.m. ET

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The Philly talk shows had involved one-sided chatter, naturally. It wasn't about which team would win the National League Championship Series. It was about whether the Phillies would get it done in a sweep or need to take it to a fifth game. Whatever the duration, one thing was sure: Roy Halladay wasn't going to drop the opener.

Not the Doc.

Something went terribly wrong on the way to a Game 1 high-five line for the Phillies.

The Giants "attacked" Halladay - baseball lingo for being aggressive early in the count - and made him look ordinary 10 days after he no-hit the Reds in the Division Series.

This time, Halladay surrendered eight hits, including two homers to Cody Ross, and the Giants beat the Phillies 4-3 to snag the series' early momentum, surely a shock to all talk-radio devotees in this town.

How did the Giants do it?

By studying how the Reds went after Halladay. And doing the opposite.

In his pregame meeting, batting coach Hensley Meulens harped on being aggressive at the plate and not falling behind in the count. In his no-hitter, Halladay threw an astounding 25 first-pitch strikes to 28 batters, and Meulens wanted no part of a repeat a la Johnny Vander Meer, the only pitcher in history with consecutive no-nos.

"We watched Halladay's last couple of games, and he was getting strike 1 repeatedly," Meulens said. "Batters wanted to wait in the count. It's not what we wanted to do."

So on the first pitch of the game, Andres Torres took a mighty cut and lined out to center field. "Andres set the tone with the first at-bat," said Meulens, satisfied with the leadoff hitter's approach despite the quick out.

The strategy wasn't necessarily swinging at the first pitch in every at-bat. Halladay threw 22 first-pitch strikes to 29 batters, and the Giants swung at 13 of them. It was more about going after a hittable pitch early enough so that the count wouldn't reach 0-2 or 1-2.

After Halladay retired his first seven batters, he threw a decent 1-1 sinker to Ross, who was hacking. Ross homered to left field for the game's first run and went deep again in the fifth on 2-0. No, he wasn't about to work the count.

"In the past, I've tried everything against him - waiting them out, trying to be aggressive, going in between," Ross said. "Just trying to look for a pitch to drive. Luckily, I got it."

Meulens said the Giants used a similar approach when handing Halladay his first loss of 2010 back on April 26. Eli Whiteside and Mark DeRosa each had two RBIs, and the Giants won 5-1.

Ross wasn't a Giant then. He joined the team in August. But he knew all about Halladay, who on May 29 threw a perfect game against the Marlins, Ross' team at the time. Ross went 0-for-3. Entering Saturday, he was 3-for-16 in his career against Halladay.

"He's got the potential to go out there and do that every night he pitches," Ross said of Halladay and his no-hit stuff.

Rookie Buster Posey faced Halladay for the first time. A few days earlier, he was so uncertain about the legendary right-hander that he didn't know whether he'd study video or simply rely on his instincts.

What was it, Buster?

"I went instincts," he said.

Didn't work his first two at-bats, both strikeouts. But in the sixth, Posey got a huge hit, a two-out single to right that began a decisive rally. Pat Burrell, one pitch after Halladay thought he had an inning-ending strikeout, smacked an RBI double, and pinch-runner Nate Schierholtz scored on Juan Uribe's single.

If the Giants face Halladay again in the NLCS, they'll no doubt try to be just as aggressive. So long as it's smart aggressiveness.

"A lot of his first-pitch strikes are quality pitches, so make sure they're in your area," Meulens said. "It wasn't like he was throwing Strike 1 right down the middle. He was throwing sinkers down and in to righties, cutters down and in to lefties. He was working the corners. So try to hit the ball up the middle and don't try to do too much.

"Please don't try to do too much."

His hitters listened.

"If you see something early, you've got to go for it," Aubrey Huff said. "We're such free-swingers, maybe he plays into our hands a little bit."

There's that, too.

Halladay, who struck out seven and issued no walks, wasn't voluntarily crediting the Giants as much as taking the blame for not making the right pitches. He also had a beef with umpire Derryl Cousins' strike zone, especially with Burrell, and said the fateful pitch to Burrell should have been away. Halladay left it in.

"I guess we find out what we're made of," Halladay said. "We make an adjustment. You take it and move on."

Tell that to the talk-show callers.

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