When Halladay Jumped the Shark
A look at the turning point in Roy Halladay's Phillies career.
When the Phillies entered their May 2, 2012 game in Atlanta, they were playing .500 baseball (12-12) despite missing Chase Utley and Ryan Howard.
They had won eight straight against the Braves dating to the previous season.
And on the mound, they had one Roy Halladay, whom to that point had started 75 games since coming to Philadelphia and had on his City of Brotherly Love resume such things as a Cy Young Award, a regular season perfect game and only the second postseason no-hitter in the game's long history.
So staking him to a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning that day had Phillies Nation racing to pencil another "W" onto Doc's slate. But, as we all know, the Fickle Finger of Sports Fate can strike our fair city anytime ... anywhere ... and to anyone.
Eight of the next 16 Braves he faced scored (a Brian McCann grand slam doing most of the damage), and a hobbled Chipper Jones (of course), blasted an 11th-inning, two-run walk-off home run ... and just like that, Halladay's best days as a Phillie were behind him.
Here are Doc's career Phillies numbers entering that start and since (regular season and postseason combined):