Not only did the Phillies beat the Nationals 5-0 Saturday night, it also showed that Roy Oswalt hadn’t lost the ability to shut out a team, throw 115 pitches, and work a 94-mph fastball.  For a guy who has struggled this season with back issues, last night’s game was huge for him.

“The way he threw the ball,” Jimmy Rollins said, “vintage Roy. He had that little fastball that he shoots from his chest and by the time the batter swings it’s shoulder height. I was excited, man. His velocity was super. I was looking up and he was hitting 93 still late in the game. I was like, ‘Wow.’ And he was letting it go. You could tell he was confident in his back and in his arm.” – Phillies.com

Hunter Pence & Wilson Valdez - Photo Credit: Steve Trapani

The Phillies bounced back nicely after their deflating loss to the Nats on Friday night.  With a Wilson Valdez 2-RBI triple in the fourth to make it 2-0, then Hunter Pence‘s 15th homer of the season in the sixth, followed by a 2-RBI single by Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies were up 5-0.

Oswalt pitched eight innings, allowing eight hits, no runs, and struckout nine.  Rookie Michael Stutes finished the game by striking out one and allowing no hits.

Phillies are the first team in the majors to reach 81 wins.

Complete Box Score Phillies/Nationals – 8/20/11 Game

Check out Sunday afternoon’s game preview after the jump…

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ROY OSWALT - Photo credit: Steve Trapani

Last night, the Phillies’ offense helped their veteran righty Roy Oswalt get his fifth win of the season. And yes I admit it, I had zero faith in him doing well, so Roy made me eat my words.  Which trust me, I am fine with that.  If a Phillie proves me wrong (in a positive) way, then I say go for it!

Oswalt went seven innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs, and struck out five.  His counterpart, Washington’s John Lannan didn’t fare as well, pitching only three innings, allowing four hits, seven runs, and walked five.

“He’s not the same as he used to be, where he’s all fastball, fastball, fastball,” Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said about Oswalt, who improved to 5-7 on the year. “Obviously, he still throws hard, but he mixes it up a little better now. The more you pitch, the more you learn how to pitch. He mixes it up more than he has in the past. He’s their third or fourth starter, so that’s a pretty good third or fourth starter.” – Phillies.com

As decent as Oswalt was, the big star of the game was Ryan Howard.  He delivered a 2-run shot in the first inning, setting the tone and rattling Lannan from the get go. That was Howard’s 26th homer of the season and the big guy went 2-for-4 with four RBI’s total.

The third inning proved fatal for the Nats as the Phillies batted around and scored five runs on three hits.  A costly error and walks contributed as well. The Phillies were up 7-2 and the Nationals who won Friday night, were nowhere to be found on Saturday.

The Phillies added three more runs in the eighth. Both Hunter Pence and Carlos Ruiz had an RBI-single each while Raul Ibanez hit a sac-fly allowing Shane Victorino to score.

Rookie reliever Michael Stutes pitched the eighth and ninth innings, only giving up one hit.

Phillies beat the Nats by a score of 11-3!

Complete Box Score Phillies/Nationals – 8/13/11 Game

The third and final game of the series is scheduled for this afternoon but heavy rains and storms here in the Philly area might put a crimp in it.  There’s a strong possibility the game might not happen.  But if it does, it might not start on time and/or plan on delays.  All depends on what Mother Nature has in store.

*UPDATE:  (Sunday, August 14th)

As expected the Phillies/Nationals game has been postponed due to bad weather.  The make-up will be apart of a split doubleheader on September 20, 2011 at 1:05 pm EDT.

The Harry Kalas statue unveiling that was scheduled to take place this afternoon will now happen on Tuesday, August 17th at 6:40pm EDT.  To which I say “yeah” as I will be attending that game. 

Check out today’s game preview after the jump…

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