Over the last few years, Roy Halladay has become one of my favorite players on the Phillies.  (Ok, so I’m not nearly in the same league as Zoo With Roy, but, well, he’s special.)

Earlier this week, Doc announced that he was on his way to having surgery to get bone spurs out of his shoulder.  There is a chance that we will see him pitch again this year.

I was at last Sunday’s game when he looked off from the first pitch and proved it with the way that the Marlins were able to square him up.

The Phillies are playing a series down in Arizona when he walked out and gathered the beat writers for a quick press conference.

Unprompted, Roy Halladay just spoke for eight minutes because he wanted to “apologize” to fans upset that he kept pitching. Very heartfelt.

— Matt Gelb (@magelb) May 10, 2013

Roy Halladay just came out and issued an apology to the fans for his injury, performance etc. Was not expecting that.

— Chris Branch (@ChrisBranchTNJ) May 10, 2013

Called an impromptu press conference. Said if he paid $60 for that last game and Phils were down 9-0 in the 2nd, he’d be angry.

— Chris Branch (@ChrisBranchTNJ) May 10, 2013

I could be wrong, but I don’t know if that has ever happened before.  The man has class.

Hey Doc, I know you will never read this, but I appreciate the apology and I accept.  Please come back, but only if you are healthy!

On Sunday, much to the excitement of Philadelphia, Carlos Ruiz was reinstated from the restricted list.  He was suspended for 25 games for taking an amphetamine.  (Adderall, seriously Chooch, ADDERALL!)

I do not believe that anyone is more excited about Chooch’s suspension is up then Roy Halladay.  Not because he didn’t like Quintero (Kratz may be a different story,) but because he LOVES Carlos Ruiz.  These two have a huge bro-mance going on.

Halladay trusts Ruiz above any other battery mate that the Phillies have brought in.  It was Chooch behind the plate when Doc threw his perfect game.  And then again when he threw the second Post-season no-hitter in baseball history.

» Continue reading “Doc and Chooch: Together At Last”

It seems that Roy Halladay is at the center of every conversation that involves the Philadelphia Phillies, and with good  reason.  No one is quite sure what to expect from him this year, and the future Hall-of-Famer showed just why he will be a first rounder.

Photo Credit: BJ Wilson

Doc will get credit for a complete game, though he only pitched 7 innings.  He made two mistakes all night, and those two mistakes landed into the stands.  That’s ok, I’ll take those mistakes to get the rest of his pitching performance any day of the week.

It helped that he had 5 runs to work with after the first inning.  Those 5 runs started with Chase Utley drawing a 2-out walk, 4 games after their Phillies last walk.   Incidentally, the was after Ruben Amaro Jr went off about how he doesn’t care about walks, but about production.  Clearly he doesn’t understand how walks can be beneficial.

Ty Wigginton really helped the Phillies tonight.  It took for him to be on another team to do that.  On what should have been an easy grounder to third and ending the inning, turned into 2 runs for the Phillies as he overthrew first base.  Ben Revere followed with an RBI triple, his first multi-base hit of the year, and I would love to see more of it.

Domonic Brown is still sitting after straining a muscle, so of course Freddy Galvis is playing Left Field.  I mean, of course he is.  I have to hand it to the kid, he can flat out play defense, but, well, his offense…  Also, so one should probably teach him how to make sliding catches in the outfield.  I’m kind of surprised that he didn’t break his wrist here:

The Phillies would win the game 8-2 and it was a beautiful victory.  I want a lot more of them.  Now, let’s hope that they saved some runs for Cliff Lee tomorrow…

This season has not been kind to Roy Halladay.  Today, however, was a day to celebrate.  The future Hall of Famer added to his resume today with a beautiful victory in South Florida.  Today’s victory was #200 of his career.

I just really love this picture.

For the first time, since Halladay’s first start of the season, Doc looked like Doc.  He absolutely dominated the lowly Miami Marlins.  He was pounding the edges of the strike zone and the ball was moving up-down and left-right.  He was in control the entire game.  His ERA dropped from 14.80 to 7.63 as he pitched more innings this game, than he did in his first two games combined.

Congratulations Doc!

For the last few seasons, starting pitching has been a strong point for the Phillies.  The same idea will continue this year.  On a staff that is lead by Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, for the most part, pitching is shaping up nicely.

Well, at least some of it is.

Roy Halladay has had an interesting spring, an interesting 12 months really.  There were days when he has looked like the machine that he is rumored to be.  And days when he is a pitcher with an injury.  It has not been a good time in Halladay’s career and he has worked hard to keep pushing forward.

Unfortunately, the concerns seem to be back after Halladay’s latest outing.

Spring Training started on such a high note for Doc.  He said he felt good and, by all accounts, he looked good.  Torii Hunter couldn’t stop shaking his head after Doc’s first start of the spring.  Is it possible that that was the highlight of his year?  It better not be.

Last week, when Halladay faced the Yankees, his fastball was sitting around 89 mph.  The start before that, 90.  Today, it sat around 88 mph.  It should not be going down this early in the season.  Heck, it’s not even the season yet.  Halladay will be closely monitored as we get closer to opening day.

Both Doc and the Phillies promise everyone that he is not injured, just “lethargic” (whatever that means.)

Cliff Lee, has been, well, Cliff Lee and if the offense decides to schore runs for him, and the bullpen doesn’t blow his leads, then he will be fine.

Cole Hamels has been stellar.  His spring ERA sits at 0.90.  He has given up 1 run all spring.  (Yes, I am ignoring the start against the DR, they don’t count towards Spring Training stats.)  It has truly been a thing of beauty.

The Phillies have also taken note of their highest paid players’ spring and have officially name Cole Hamels Opening Day Starter.  He deserves it.

Kyle Kendrick and John Lannan have both been decent, but I still don’t like either of them.

The really sad part is that unless plans change, then Kyle Kendrick will be the starter for the Home Opener.  Yeah, please let Cliff Lee pitch that day.