Scorer's late call helps Halladay

A report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch yesterday said that the Cardinals were upset with a scoring decision that was changed after the Phillies' 7-2 win Thursday afternoon that turned a David Freese triple into a three-base error on Jayson Werth.

Not only did the decision, made well after the play occurred in the second inning, remove an earned run from Roy Halladay's ERA, it stopped Freese's hitting streak at nine games. The original decision by official scorer Jay Dunn was subject to plenty of scrutiny throughout the game - several Phillies officials were spotted talking with Dunn - and Werth himself placed a call to the press box to claim culpability. On the play, Werth lost a fly ball in the sun; it bounced off his glove.

An official for Major League Baseball said the league did field a call from the Cardinals, but not a formal complaint. A Phillies spokesman said he has been told that St. Louis has not officially appealed the ruling, although such appeals occur often throughout the course of a season.

The Post-Dispatch quoted Cardinals media relations director Brian Bartow as calling the ruling, and the lobbying by the Phillies, "unprofessional." *

THE NUMBERS

Roy Halladay's season stats if . . .

IP H ER ERA

Play was ruled an error . . . 56 46 9 1.45

Play was ruled a triple . . . 56 47 10 1.61