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The Phils take two of three from the Blue Jays thanks to a win yesterday, which came with a big assist from Jamie Moyer. Moyer’s ratio for the season is at 1.05 and the Phillies are 9-6 in the games he’s started. That’s a better mark than they have in the games started by Halladay (9-7) or Hamels (8-7) or any other pitcher who has started more than one game (they’re 1-0 when Figueroa starts, but that might not be a formula for long-term success).

On June 11 in Boston, Moyer allowed nine runs in an inning against the Red Sox. It’s the only start in his last six in which he’s allowed more than two runs. In his other 14 starts he has thrown to a 3.49 ERA with an 0.95 ratio. In eight of 15 starts he’s allowed two runs or fewer. Overall for the season his ERA sits at 4.30, coming off of a year where he threw to a 5.34 ERA in his 25 starts and a whole lot of people thought he was done.

So what’s he doing differently this year? He allowed a ton of home runs last year, but it’s not just about home runs. Moyer has allowed 15 home runs in 96 1/3 innings, which means he would allow about 31 over 200 innings. Only five NL pitchers have allowed more home runs than Moyer on the year and 24 have pitched more innings. He’s allowing about 1.40 home runs per nine innings, which is worse is worse than his career rate of 1.14 per nine innings if improved over his ’09 rate of 1.50 per nine innings (1.63 per nine as a starter).

Overall, the hits that he’s allowing haven’t done less damage in 2010 than they did in 2008 and 2009 or over his career. He’s actually allowing more bases per hit this year than he has over his career and in 2008 and 2009 combined:

So the hits that he’s allowing are just as bad if not worse and he’s still allowing a lot of home runs.

What he is doing is allowing a whole lot fewer hits and walks.

Opponents are hitting just .230 against Moyer on the season. Righties are hitting .241 and lefties are hitting .177. Moyer had a couple of years where he held righties under .241, but the .230 mark overall and .177 for lefties are his best in, well, forever. When it comes to Jamie Moyer, forever is a long time. Here’s what righties and lefties have hit against him over his career:

In 2003, opponents also hit .230 overall against. Moyer. But it’s a better .230 this year (.23013) than it was in ’03 (.23023).

Lefties are 11-for-62 against Moyer this year. The .177 average he has held them to is nearly a hundred points better than their .272 over his career.

Moyer’s batting average for balls in play is at a career-low .230 overall and a microscopic .119 for left-handed hitters. So maybe he’s been a little bit (or a lot) fortunate. It’s also true, though, that Moyer’s walks are down significantly from his career levels. The percentage of batters he faces who walks is down for the third season in a row and this year it’s down a lot:

Moyer has walked 17 batters in 96 1/3 innings this season, which is about 1.59 per nine innings. That’s the best mark he’s had for any year of his career. He’s only had one other season where he walked fewer than 1.89 men per nine inning. For the Mariners in 1998 he issued 42 walks in 234 1/3 innings (1.61 walks per nine).

Madson threw an inning for Single-A Clearwater yesterday and allowed a run.

Sounds like we shouldn’t be expecting to see Polanco tonight and maybe not for a couple of days.