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.
Do I have to say it again? It's much more about location than velocity!GOOD GRIEF! (HTML deleted)— BEMiller- Do I have to say it again? It's much more about location than velocity!
GOOD GRIEF!— BEMiller - More whining from the little boo boo birdies.— BEMiller
- 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 - 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 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 - 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.
- Let's start by getting rid of Dubee or doesn't he have any control over roster moves, scouting reports and pitch selection?— rich62
jtj06: I have to agree with you, unfortunately. Doc did strike out 9, but he also got shelled. If you strike out 9 in 3 innings, that should be indicative of a near shut out, and would have been a couple of years ago. I'm afraid Doc is now our #3 pitcher, behind the Hamels and Lee tandem. You can take your pick, at this point, who's #1 between those two.- He struck out 9 in 3.3 innings because the league hasn't seen the new arm slot, flat, junkball throwing Halladay and the Braves were swinging early at all of those 81 mph cutters. Once he makes a few starts and they get a book on him, look out! He'll really start to get hit around.— jtj06
- Time to look to the future. It takes courage to recognize that no matter what the performance, this team will not contend. The new generation of Phillies, Ryne Sandberg, and some careful trades will make the Phillies a contender again by 2015.— T.Paine
- The BIGGEST moves to be made are finally getting rid of Amaro (who wouldn't know REAL talent if it slapped him in that smug face of his) and Manuel. The sooner, the better.
- Didn't he also strike out 9? In 3 1/3 innings?
/— Ed3 - Like I told Jtj06, 9 strike outs in 3 innings should be indicative of a near shut out. The fact that he got shelled instead is what we can expect from the "new" Doc and, like jtj06 said, once the hitters make the adjustments, it's only going to get worse.
- Halladay isn't the issue with this team as you would have to be crazy to think he was going to "reinvent" himself. When power pitchers start to die out, it's over. Please let me know when you can think of one power pitcher , or any right handed pitcher who reinvented himself after his arm started failing. Don't hold your breath friends. No, the problem with this team is what appears to be another dead offense. Hopefully that will improve and the other starters can perform at above expectations, but face reality people, Roy Halladay is done. That doesn't mean the Phils are done, but the focus needs to be on the offense and bullpen which aren't exactly lighting things up.— xxCabins99xx
- The weather didn't affect the Braves whatsoever.— scootch
- wow!— phoenix phlash
- Halladay is going the way of Roy Oswalt, who had a similar career step-for-step except Halladay lasted a year and a half or two longer. Athletes don't last for ever and everyone knew, or should have known, that the back end of his contract would be a sketchy proposition.
Oswalt 163-96, 3.28 ERA 1818 Ks
Halladay 199-100, 3.31 ERA 2066 Ks
Both guys were born in 1977. Roy H in May and Roy O in August.— jtj06 - The thing about Doc is that he has tons more mileage on his arm than Oswalt. I think Doc will shortly go the way of his hunting and fishing buddy, Carpenter.
- 4 1/2 years ago, an incompetent 'company man' was promoted to be g.m. of a team that had just won the World Series. He went on to make dozens of idiotic signings, contract extensions and trades that resulted in the team becoming an overpriced mediocre pile of trash with little talent on its roster or in its farm system, thus destroying its present and future.— warbiscuit
- I said at the time that Montgomery screwed the pooch by not replacing Gillick with Arbuckle. Amaro's head must firmly planted up Montgomery's anus. Just because his Dad played for the Phillies is NOT a reason to put this Wade protégé in charge. Only ONE of Montgomery's stupid moves, but a d*mn big one.
- morons can't believe that getting Revere and Durbin didn't transform a bad team into a good one.... Clueless Rube is shocked, shocked... but look at the bright side, you get to see me say told you so as I will be repeating for next 6 months... oh, and I'll still be here long after the clueless imbecile g.m. is long gone.... and where are the usual morons defending this trash team put together by the most incompetent g.m. in spports - AND NOTE that 24 of the 25 players on this trash roser were acquired or re-signed by the current imbecile g.m. (all except Utley)
oh and I told you all to stop wasting ink and hype on a washed-up pitcher with a 4.49 era last year and even more washed up this year --even if the imbecile g.m. threw away $80 million and 3 prospects and traded away another ace and filled the rest of the roster with useless trash all to get him, thinking that a handful of big names and a roster made up of bargain basement trash was supposed to be sucessful ... and that's why other team try to hire g.m's with something called brains— warbiscuit - Time to get officially worried on Halladay, partially because there are signs that Halladay is worried and doesn't have answers. Tonight's subtext will be working in this kind of weather but when you're outpitched by Paul Maholm and there are indications that might not change, the rotation and in fact this entire season starts to take on a different look. Also, the Phils other than Utley have no clu5tfh hitting with runners on base. Erik Kratz looks to be buying a ticket back to the bush. They're going to put his 'missing game' on milk cartons.— Claudio Vernight
