On Roy Halladay
CLEARWATER, Fla. — It's been remarked on several occasions that no one knows his right arm better than Roy Halladay. The man literally tracks every single ball that comes from his hand — whether it be during a postseason game, a bullpen session in January or a Grapefruit League game in March. He keeps those numbers in a journal, along with his tedious notes on opposing hitters.
On Roy Halladay
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. — It's been remarked on several occasions that no one knows his right arm better than Roy Halladay. The man literally tracks every single ball that comes from his hand — whether it be during a postseason game, a bullpen session in January or a Grapefruit League game in March. He keeps those numbers in a journal, along with his tedious notes on opposing hitters.
So when Rich Dubee walked to the mound Wednesday to inform Halladay he had thrown 66 pitches and Halladay told him he wanted one more batter, it was probably the best sign that Halladay's right arm isn't hurting.
A FOXSports.com report, citing two anonymous scouts, implied Halladay could be injured because his velocity has dipped this spring and he was throwing from a lower arm slot. That, of course, prompted panic.
Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was quoted in that report, downplaying Halladay's bad outing. On Thursday morning, when asked again about the report, the GM claimed he had not read it. Then he issued a strong denial.
"There's nothing wrong with him," Amaro said. "He's fine. There's no basis for the alarm."
Amaro then walked away laughing haughtily.
Halladay told reporters Thursday morning that any speculation of arm trouble based off the velocity numbers is false.
"That's poor reporting at the extreme end of poor reporting," Halladay said. "It couldn't be further from the truth."
The scouts quoted in the report claimed Halladay topped at 89 m.p.h. Wednesday. During his last start in Lakeland, Fla., Halladay hovered between 88-92 m.p.h. Both times, Halladay left the field after full inning in the dugout.
But after his outing Wednesday, Halladay said he threw more change-ups than usual. Why? He wanted to work on it. Typically, that's what pitchers like Halladay do in the spring; they work on the little things they want to improve without paying attention to the results — or velocity.
"I don't pay attention to that," Halladay told reporters Thursday morning. "You know, the older you get, the more you throw, the longer it takes to get yourself going," Halladay said. "When I came up, I threw 98. Last year, I was throwing 92-93. So, you know, it's not unusual. But when you get older, it takes longer. The more innings you throw, the more time it takes to get yourself going again."
In fact, even as Halladay realized Wednesday he didn't have a feel for the change-up, he told Carlos Ruiz he wanted more chances with it.
"I told Chooch, 'Keep calling it as much as you can,'" Halladay said. "See if we can figure out how it feels when it's off. We have some ideas and things I can play with in my next bullpen."
So that could be one reason for Halladay's velocity being lower; he simply was throwing more off-speed pitches. Or, the simple fact that Halladay has thrown 7,032 pitches over the last two regular seasons might be a reason for him coming into camp not "like gangbusters" as one anonymous scout said in the FOXSports report.
Halladay charts every pitch he throws. Maybe he's deemed his fastball velocity not as important during Grapefruit League play as his change-up and cutter location. He was already scheduled for an extra day of rest before his next appearance, Tuesday in Sarasota, Fla., against Baltimore.
Dubee, perhaps anticipating some questions given Halladay's 10.57 ERA in three outings, laughed about the results.
"Do you think we’re going to jump off a bridge because Doc had a bad outing?" Dubee said. "Doc’s got three more times."
Some will jump away. Others, with proper context, will withhold judgment.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
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ruben being too cheap to keep Davey Lopes is major reason for dramatic decrease in Phils stolen bases -- amazing how the clueless rube squanders $170 million and then is penny-wise pound-foolish on coaches, bench players, bullpen, minor league budget, etc -- that's why his assistant g.m. resigned last yr rather than work for just a doofus— warbiscuit- Actually, not getting on base with the same frequency as previous seasons and injuries to Rollins and Utley are the reason the stolen bases are down. — mwcnabb
- like the Eagles woes last year (lack of linebackers, safeties, new offensive linemen, etc), all the Phils' problems are eminently predictable and management did little or nothing to address them, except apparently with unwarranted "optimism"...1. it was a fact that Howard would not be back until late in the yr,if at all, and they do not have a viable cleanup hitter (Nix and Wigginton are barely seviceable major leaguers), 2. it is clear that Polanco has not been worthy of being a starting major league player the past 2 years and yet Phils did not get a third baseman who can hit a lick and still have Polanco batting 2nd, 3. Phils have had no decent lefty out of bullpen other than Bastardo for awhile, yet they got nobody to get lefties other than a failed player who had an era between 5.0 and 9.5 for each of the past 5 straight seasons (Donrelle), etc etc ..... since Amaro took over 3 1/2 yrs ago, his moves never make any logical sense, they just happen .. sometimes they end with a couple of quality players (Halladay, Lee) that has fans think that Amaro is some kind of genius but for the most part they just get a lot of "whatever happens to be out there for the price they feel like paying" and so Phils end up with mixed bags or bad bags like Ibanez, Polanco, Schneider, Gload, Baez, Contreras, Bowker, Francisco, Herndon, Martinez, Nix, Willis, Pierre, Qualls, etc -- no depth, no balance -team makeup never makes any sense -- just hodgepodge of some good starting pitchers, some overpaid position players and whatever else clueless rube finds to fill 25 man roster -- with that budget and those starting pithers and a half-competent g.m., they could have won the past few years, but not only did they fail to do so but clueless rube squandered all their best prospects and future as well— warbiscuit
- @dwp...I appreciate your kind words.....the reason I posted the way I did today is because the last couple of times I posted on another players health (either Howard or Utley last week), I was accused of not knowing what I was talking about or pretending to be someone who had no clue, just spouting off stuff I didn't know anything about. I am not trying to show off, I am not a big ego look at me kinda guy, I am merely trying to give some context to the post so people who don't know me or you and who don't often read these pages can understand where I am coming from. I'm just trying to inform fans about medical issues affecting their fav players, that's all. I know long time posters have heard my story but every time I don't preface a post with my background I get called a clueless idiot by some 12 yo because I just messed up their Fantasy Draft! Sorry....but I get tired of either defending myself or explaining myself afterwards. I know it's redundant (for me AND you) and I really hate having to type it in so much. btw, I am not a Dr....I am a physical therapist who specializes in sports med and orthopedics.— Mark1npt
- I think both of Mark1npt's main points are good ones and because of the first one (Doc working on what Doc wants to work on) we have no way of knowing anything until the regular season starts. At that point we know one thing: Doc wants to win. So if he's having trouble a few starts into the season, then we can all join hands and jump off the Ben Franklin (allowing Mark1npt time to drive up from Florida of course). Remember too there was another game last year where Doc just got winded and seemed to have no stamina and it had nothing to do with his arm (it was partly the heat I think). He is a man and not a machine so he'll have his off days. If he can have them all in spring training that would be ideal.— s
- Thanks s.....I think the game you are referring to was the one where it was about a 120 degree heat index and Doc pooped out about the 6-7th inning because of the humidity....he may have been laboring/winded the other day because there is a near record pollen problem down here right now, oak and pine....a nice yellow dusting covering all the cars and the pools....btw, it'll take me 2-3 days driving time, I'm almost down at the southern tip of the state..... — Mark1npt
- ITS F**KING SPRING TRAINING— AlexSp
- I wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with Halladay, but if Amaro says he's fine, that probably means he'll miss a month or two.— jtj06
- Ain't seen much on Savery's spring, or missed reports on it....You seen him at all Mark1? he's the real double threat i'd like to see make the team, then we may have 3 lefties by the postseason, cause i think we will see Diekman at some point, hopefully late.— UnaBlogger
