In my humble estimation, Roy Halladay is the best starting pitcher in the game, and has been since 2002.
All you had to see were the headlines on Monday morning's ESPN Sportscenter. Tiger Woods coming from four shots back to win his 67th career PGA tournament, Roger Federer completing the career tennis Grand Slam by finally winning the French Open, Kobe Bryant leading the Lakers to an overtime win and a 2-0 advantage over the Magic in the NBA finals, and Roy Halladay going the distance, yet again, to become the first pitcher to win 10 games.
Five days after he set a career-high with 14 strikeouts on 133 pitches, 'Doc' was more economical, throwing just 97 pitches this time around for his second-straight complete game and his 12th career shutout. As impressive as the 14 K performance against the Angels was to start his week, he was even better on Sunday. By my calculations, 'Doc' threw a first pitch strike to 28 of the 33 batters he faced and was never in trouble. Even when the Royals loaded the bases on three choppers, flares and gorks to bring the tying run to the plate in the 7th, Halladay got out of it by striking out Miguel Olivo on three pitches and getting Mitch Maier to feebly ground out to first on the fourth pitch. Absolutely dominant and proving once again why, in my humble estimation, Roy Halladay is the best starting pitcher in the game, and has been since he became a mainstay at the top of the Jays in 2002.
The numbers don't lie, folks. Since 2002, Halladay is first in the Majors in wins (123), third in E.R.A. (3.14), first in complete games (40) and winning percentage (.711) and second in shutouts (10).
I've been blessed to watch just about every one of Halladay's starts in the Majors since he first arrived in Toronto as a 21-year old in 1998, coming within one out of a no-hitter in his second career start on the final day of that season. Drafted 17th overall in the 1995 draft, Halladay rocketed through the minors (just 114 starts) and looked like the first sure thing to come out of the Jays' farm system in over a decade.
But a funny thing happened on his way to superstardom: he lost his arm slot and his stuff. In 1999, he split time between the rotation and bullpen, and then in 2000 Halladay hit rock bottom. His 10.64 ERA that season is the highest in Major League history for a pitcher who logged 50+ innings. During spring training of 2001, the decision was made to send Halladay all the way back to A-ball. Under the watch of Mel Queen, the legendary roving pitching instructor, Roy Halladay's delivery was recreated and the rest, as they say, history. Just two years after toiling in Dunedin, Knoxville and Syracuse, Halladay was the 2003 American League Cy Young award winner after winning a club record 22 games. His next two seasons where interrupted by injuries, but since then he's been on top of his game and won 20 games for the second time last season while finishing second in the Cy Young voting to Cleveland's Cliff Lee.
This season, only the Royals' Zack Greinke has come close to challenging Halladay for early Cy Young consideration, but after watching the Jays knock the Royals ace around for seven runs (five earned after the official scorer was badgered into changing a hit to an error) on Friday and Halladay dominating Kansas City on Sunday, it says here that, for the time being, the award is Halladay's to lose.
One thing that I find curious is why the attendance at the Rogers Centre doesn't spike on days that Halladay starts. After all, 'Doc' is now 79-29 in his career at the concrete convertible so if you are going to pick a game to go and see, with a win almost guaranteed, you would think a Halladay start would be a given.
On any given Sunday, the superstars are usually at their best. On this crowded seventh day where the spotlight shined on others, no one was better than Roy Halladay.
CONSPIRACY THEORY
Speaking of R0yals' ace Zack Greinke, I wasn't privy to the conversations, but on Saturday morning, the day after he was boxed around by the Blue Jays, there was KC manager Trey Hillman and another coach going around quizzing Rogers Centre cameramen, especially those that shoot pitches from the batter's eye in centre field, about what they are shooting. Apparently there's a theory that the Jays are getting a look at what pitches are being called thanks to those cameras. That's a load of bunk. First of all, Cito Gaston managed teams have been legendary for stealing signs and relaying to info to the hitters. That's nothing new. In fact, Cito himself, as Pat Tabler has often said, is a master at picking up tipped pitches. But here's my theory: Greinke didn't have it on Friday, was missing his spots and the Jays made him pay for it. Something tells me that former Jays manager John Gibbons, now the bench coach with the Royals, may have been behind this and planted the idea in his manager's mind. I guess when you are in the grips of an 8-game losing streak, you start grasping at straws. Funny how when the Jays were on their nine-game losing streak a couple of weeks we didn't see Cito or any of his coaches climbing up the grassy knoll.
