It took a while for John Lannan to give in Monday night, but he did eventually. Not to the Washington Nationals’ hitters. Lannan was tough on them all night. It took the lefty a while to give in to himself and admit that, yes, this was a pretty special win.
Lannan pitched eight shutout innings in leading the Phillies’ 3-2 victory over the Nationals at Citizens Bank Park (see Instant Replay).
Afterward, the former Nationals’ pitcher played the just-another-game, just-another-team, just-another-win routine for a little while.
Finally, he relented.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll feel good about it when I look back on it, maybe later on tonight,” he said with a sheepish grin.
Lannan was raised in the Nationals’ system. He came to the majors with the team in 2007. He started two opening days for the club. Ultimately, he was exiled to the minors by Washington in 2012 and unceremoniously dumped -- not offered a contract -- by the club after the season. He joined the Phillies as a free agent last winter.
It has been a tough season for Lannan. He spent time on the disabled list and has struggled to find consistency with the Phillies. But it all came together in this game. He kept the ball down in the strike zone and induced 12 ground-ball outs while allowing just four hits.
The Phillies, who have been shut out five times at home this season, were on their way to their first home shutout of the season before Jonathan Papelbon was hit hard in the ninth inning. Papelbon gave up two runs and got a messy save, but the bottom line was the Phillies won for the third time in four games on this crucial homestand that will determine whether management trades players or hangs on for a possible second-half run.
“Keep playing,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Stay with it. We won tonight. Now start thinking about tomorrow.”
The Phillies have won five of their last seven games, four of them against first-place clubs Pittsburgh and Atlanta. They are 44-46. They have six games remaining on the homestand that will take them to the All-Star break. They probably need to win four of them to dissuade management from waving the white flag.
Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee pitch the next two nights. The team needs Hamels to follow up his strong outing in Pittsburgh with another good one and Lee to be, well, Lee.
Lannan (2-3) set a good tone for the series Monday night.
He was able to focus on the catcher’s mitt -- not the significance of the opponent.
“It helped that I’d already faced them once,” he said of the Nationals.
Lannan retired the Nats in order in half of his eight innings. He used his sinker and changeup effectively. He struck out just four but succeeded at getting a lot of weak contact. He walked just two.
“I tried to stay down in the zone, tried to keep them off-balance with my two-seamer and changeup,” he said. “That’s what I have to do because I’m not a big strikeout guy. At this point, I’m just looking for some consistency. It doesn’t matter who I’m facing, I’m just trying to throw up some zeroes.”
The Phillies’ offense was not all that efficient. They were just 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. On a lot of nights, that will burn a team. It might have burned the Phils if Jayson Werth’s drive to center against Papelbon with two men on in the ninth had traveled a few more feet, but Papelbon held on and ended his night with handshakes.
Domonic Brown, manning the cleanup hole with Ryan Howard on the disabled list, drove in his team-high 63rd run with a single off Dan Haren in the first inning. Ben Revere had a two-out single in the sixth and scored on Jimmy Rollins’ hit. Revere had three hits and his average is up to .300 on the season.
The only bit of dispiriting news on the night -- other than the word that Howard needs surgery (see story) -- was that Brown was snubbed from the All-Star Home Run Derby (see story). His 23 homers are second-most in the NL, but they weren’t enough to impress Mets third baseman/derby captain David Wright, who picked childhood pal Michael Cuddyer (15 homers) over Brown.
Brown took the snub in stride. He said he was not disappointed.
“I’m still going to the All-Star Game,” he said. “That’s the big thing. I’m not really worried about the derby. I’ll be out there supporting and taking a lot of pictures.”