Roy Halladay does not look like Roy Halladay
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Roy Halladay does not look like Roy Halladay
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
In 2011, when Roy Halladay last looked like Roy Halladay, the veteran right-hander faced 933 batters and went to a three-ball count against 138 of them, an average of one every 6.76 batters. On Wednesday night against the Braves, he faced 19 batters and went to three balls against eight of them. That, in a nutshell, is the challenge the Phillies face when it comes to predicting what they are going to get out of their one-time ace this season. This wasn't about velocity, although that was down (88 to 89 MPH on both his fastball and his cutter over his final two innings). It wasn't even about the runs he allowed, although those were up (five runs in 3 1/3 innings). It was about a pitcher who simply could not pitch the way he is accustomed to. Instead of pounding the strike zone with his fastball and cutter, Halladay relied heavily on his curveball and change up. Of the 95 pitches that he threw, 47 were off speed. During one 15 pitch stretch in the third inning, he threw 13 off speed pitches. When Halladay got ahead of hitters, he was able to put them away with his change up and curve: he became the first pitcher in history to record nine strikeouts in as few as 3 1/3 innings. The Phillies recorded just one out on a ball in play against six hits, two of them home runs.
Of the 33 cutters that Halladay threw, only two prompted a swing-and-miss, compared with one home run, three singles and four foul balls. He threw just 14 sinkers, seven of them for strikes, one of which was a Justin Upton home run on a 1-2 count. Of the six other strikes, three were foul balls, and none were whiffs.
By the end of the night, Halladay had thrown 95 pitches, 55 of them strikes. The usual caveats apply: it was his first outing of the season; the cool, wet weather could not have helped his grip. But what we saw against the Braves looked similar to what we saw throughout spring training, which was a pitcher attempting to reinvent himself, and struggling to do so.
Let's start by getting rid of Dubee or doesn't he have any control over roster moves, scouting reports and pitch selection?— rich62- Dubee is calling the pitches from the dugout so far this season. Maybe they should give that responsibility back to the catchers. It seems to have worked in the past. Why change? Even Kratz did a good job last year calling the pitches.— Russ
- Russ, you make an interesting point. I assume Dubee will give that responsibility back to the catcher once Chooch returns. Certainly Halladay would be struggling even with Chooch behind the plate, but it will be interesting to see whether getting his regular catcher back helps Doc's confidence and leads to better pitch selection.
- I was at the game. It was a mixed bag for Doc. He didn't really "get shelled". His velocity was OK - hit 92 mph a couple times. There were a couple hard hit balls by some of the Braves hottest hitters, but there were some flares and a ground balls that found holes. He did look like he was having trouble with location, particularly in the first inning. All in all, I'd say this just puts another question mark behind the enigma. We'll have to continue to wait and see...
Phils hit the ball pretty well, but with worse luck. Kratz was a rally killer... Valdes was awful.— oltmannd - Doc has been having trouble with location for just about a year now. Trouble with velocity too. Trouble w/ the umpires' strike zones. Trouble with the heat, the cold, the flu ... Trouble ... Oh trouble, trouble, trouble ...— Copper34
- I saw a pitcher who looked like he hasn't had a full spring training...struggling with his arm slot, and missing fat with his fastball in the first inning. Then, I saw a pitcher who made a very potent offense look silly at times with what I would describe as "filthy stuff." Then, I saw a pitcher who clearly ran out of gas when he hit the 80/85 pitch mark.
I'm not deluding myself into thinking that he's the dominant, CY Young force he was when he first arrived, but I'm not going to rush to write him off for the season, because he was inconsistent in what amounts to a spring training game for him.— sfactor - More whining from the little boo boo birdies.— BEMiller
- Do I have to say it again? It's much more about location than velocity!
GOOD GRIEF!— BEMiller - Do I have to say it again? It's much more about location than velocity!GOOD GRIEF! (HTML deleted)— BEMiller
