Jesse Biddle's 16-strikeout outing dazzles his manager at Reading

HARRISBURG - Dusty Wathan played 14 minor-league seasons, and this is his sixth year managing in the Phillies system. But the Reading Fightin Phils manager is having a difficult time recalling a more impressive performance than the one that lefthander Jesse Biddle delivered Monday.

The Phillies prospect pitched seven shutout innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out 16 in a 3-2 win over the Harrisburg Senators, the double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

Biddle had a perfect game before he walked a batter with one out in the seventh inning. He threw 104 pitches, 74 for strikes.

"I don't think I have seen many better - if any better - in my career, not only as coach but as a player," Wathan said before Tuesday's game with Harrisburg. "I got to catch Cole [Hamels] and he was pretty good, but [Monday] was pretty special."

A 21-year-old lefthander out of Germantown Friends, Biddle is 2-1 with a 2.16 ERA.

"I think I was really aggressive and my motto was I was going to throw the fastball until two strikes and throw my curveball and see what happened," Biddle said. "That was working out really well for me, but it is not going to work that way every night."

Biddle said the perfect game was in the back of his mind until his final inning.

"But it didn't really occur to me until I walked that guy in the seventh and I said, 'Man that's the first guy who got on base, I probably shouldn't have walked him.' "

He said he has heard from many friends since the game.

"Hopefully this will build momentum," Biddle said.