TORONTO - One of manager Charlie Manuel's complaints, which eventually led to a team meeting Friday night, was that the Phillies could not seem to pitch and hit well in the same game.

"When you get good pitching, what happens is, somewhere along the line you're going to put a crooked number up there," Manuel said after his team dominated Toronto, 10-0, at the Rogers Centre yesterday. "Pitching plays a big role in it."

After Jayson Werth became the 15th player in Skydome/Rogers Centre history to send a ball into the fifth deck with his first-inning home run to left, J.A. Happ gave the Phils more than good pitching. He gave them a complete-game, five-hit shutout in just his 11th major-league start, the first shutout of his professional career.

The dominant effort came in an American League ballpark generally friendly to hitters, against an American League lineup with a designated hitter.

After the Phillies lost their 11th of 13 games Friday night, a frustrated Manuel addressed his team for the first time since spring training.

"When you know you have to say something or do something, that's what a meeting is for," Manuel said. "You don't want it to slide any further, and actually I don't want it to get there. . . . Did it help? I don't know."

Whatever the reason, the team looked immediately different. Werth and Pedro Feliz homered in the first inning off Toronto starter Brad Mills, handing Happ a larger lead than he would require.

"I think today is a good indication of what he can do, and what he's capable of," Manuel said.

In his previous three starts, Happ walked four, six and four batters, respectively. Before yesterday's game, he met with catcher Carlos Ruiz, and both resolved to work on his control.

"We were trying to focus on getting first-pitch strikes," Happ said.

"It was something we wanted to do better," Ruiz said. "We worked at it together today. Before, we were trying to be too fine."

Ruiz had noticed that Happ had become overly concerned with pitch location, an awareness that was counterproductive.

"I had to be more aggressive," Happ said.

The 26-year-old lefthander also was conscious of trying to halt the Phillies' losing ways, and the bad energy that resulted. Cole Hamels failed to last five innings Friday, the latest of many abbreviated starts by the Phils. Happ wanted to spare a tired bullpen.

"I definitively wanted to go deep in the game," he said.

Happ told his catcher the same thing in their pregame meeting. Of course, pitchers always want to throw strikes and go nine innings, but Ruiz and Happ devised a specific plan before the game to do those things: Ruiz would move his glove closer to the plate, and Happ would trust his stuff and throw more aggressively.

"He had the same great presence, and he pounded the strike zone," pitching coach Rich Dubee said.

After the final out, Happ pointed at Ruiz in a gesture of gratitude, and the two embraced between the mound and home plate. The pitcher was relieved to have addressed his issues, and the team was glad to achieve what lately has become a rarity - a win.

Andy Martino blogs about the Phillies all day at http://go.philly.com/pzone

Contact staff writer Andy Martino at 215-854-4874 or amartino@phillynews.com.