Halladay endorses Hamels for Opening Day nod

Roy Halladay has won two Cy Young awards. He's one win shy of 200 career wins and he's arguably been the best pitcher in baseball in the last decade.

He's also started 10 straight Opening Days. But he's ready to hand the ball to the longest-tenured Phillies pitcher this year.

After throwing to hitters for the second time this spring in a live batting practice session, Halladay fully endorsed Cole Hamels as this year's Opening Day starter.

Here's all of what Halladay had to say:

Q: Do you expect Hamels to start Opening Day?

Halladay: "Yeah absolutely, I think the commitment they made to him last year… you know, it's his time. He's been here for a long time, he's had a lot of success here. There aren't many teams where you have a World Series MVP and then you bring in 4-5 guys to pitch in front of him. It should have been his spot a long time ago. I think it's something he's going to embrace. And really after Opening Day, we're all five days apart anyway.

"But I talked to him about it when we're going out and doing drills, stuff like that, it's time for him now to kind of step up and take charge in those situations and establish himself as the head of the staff."

Q: So you expect that's the way they'll go, with Hamels on Opening Day?

Halladay: "Yeah, after the year he had last year and everything else. I think you earn it year-to-year. There is no… I don't care what you've done in baseball, what you've done in the game. I've always believe you come in every year to earn your spot in spring training and he earned his spot last year as the Opening Day starter. He deserves that and I think that's they way it should be."