Paul Hagen: Facing Blue Jays just another game for Halladay? Yeah, right

HE WILL PRETEND. He will play mind games with himself. He will deny the obvious, attempt to block out the screaming reality. He will construct his personal Land of Make Believe.

Roy Halladay wants to convince himself that this start, the 303rd of his illustrious major league career, is no different than any of the ones that preceded it.

This is a bunch of baloney.

The Phillies righthander will square off against the Toronto Blue Jays, his former team, for the first time tonight at Citizens Bank Park. That's a big deal. He was that rare professional athlete who embedded himself into the community he worked in. His stellar performance on the field coupled with his good deeds away from the pitcher's mound made him a sporting icon in Canada's vibrant metropolis.

And then, in the prime of his career, after months of rumors, he was gone. Traded away from the only organization he had ever known because of the business side of the game.

This evening, then, will be just like if . . . well, no real parallel in Philadelphia pro athletics comes easily to mind.

The Jays had planned to honor him at the Rogers Centre this weekend, plans that were scuttled when the interleague series against the Phillies had to be moved south of the border because of logistical complications involving the G-20 Summit.

His former team still felt so strongly about having a ceremony that it has petitioned Major League Baseball to be certain that the 2011 schedule includes a visit from the Phillies.

All of which is swell. Except that it doesn't help Halladay do what he does best, which is record outs and win games. Much has been made of his focus, concentration and rigorous routine going into every start. Which is where the genial con, the necessary self-deception comes in. And the process began last Sunday, not long after the last time he pitched.

"It will be a regular start," he said.

No, it won't.

"Fortunately I got that out of the way in spring training," he said.

Nice try. Doesn't count.

"It's a little different being an American League team, obviously guys I've seen a lot but haven't really faced a lot. So do your homework and just go out and pitch like it was any other team," he said.

It's not the Mariners or the White Sox or the Rangers. It's the Blue Jays. And that makes all the difference.

But dwelling on the emotions that surround this game can only be a distraction. So he has buried himself in his workouts and his scouting reports and tried to ignore that his opponents tonight were his teammates not too long ago.

He briefly allowed himself to think about what it would have been like had these games been played in Canada as originally scheduled. "It would have been fun to go back, [but] in terms of from a media standpoint, it's probably just as well the games are here," he told the Toronto Sun on Wednesday.

He went on to concede that this will not be quite the same as that game in Clearwater when he gave up a two-run homer to Aaron Hill, doubles to Jose Bautista, Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion and a single to Alex Gonzalez.

"Obviously, this is going to be different. We'll go with our game plan," he said.

That's as far as he's willing to go, though. A slight concession and then a quick retreat to the comfort zone of poring over the data, trying to ensure that no detail is overlooked.

Including the detail of overlooking how special this start really will be.

* Cox knocks Fish firing: Braves manager Bobby Cox was openly critical of Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria after hearing that Florida had dismissed manager Fredi Gonzalez. "I was shocked," he told reporters. "I know that guy [Loria] is unpredictable, but I was still [surprised] . . . Are you [kidding] me? That guy doesn't appreciate anything. He's one of those guys who thinks you change [for the sake of change]. He's always wanting to fire the coaches. Always. That's his history."

Gonzalez, a former Braves coach, might have jumped to the top of the list of candidates to replace Cox when he retires at the end of the season. He had been under contract with Florida through 2011.

* Unfinished business: Interleague play ends this weekend and, after 14 years, you would think every possible matchup had been played at least once. Not quite. According to Bill Arnold, there are actually 18 combinations that have never occurred: Braves at Royals, White Sox at Mets, Cubs at Red Sox, Cubs at A's, Reds at Orioles, Astros at Blue Jays, Dodgers at Yankees, Twins at Braves, Twins at Nationals, Brewers at Yankees, Brewers at Mariners, A's at Brewers, Padres at Blue Jays, Cardinals at Angels, Cardinals at Orioles, Rays at Dodgers, Rays at Brewers and Rangers at Cardinals.

* You never know (or maybe you do): Add the Lake Erie Crushers, of the independent Frontier League, to the list of team's planning to make a bid for NBA free-agent superstar LeBron James. The team has even made its offer public: the league maximum salary of $1,600 per month, a host family so he won't have to worry about finding a place to stay and the use of a luxury suite at All Pro Freight Stadium.

* Obligatory Strasburg note of the week: The Washington Post reports that Chief Justice John Roberts attended Stephen Strasburg's start Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Stadium and was asked by a fan, "Hey, judge, can you overturn that last umpire call?" Replied the justice: "Nothing I can do." The paper also said pundit Mark Shields was at the game and admitted he probably should have been working. "But there are priorities in life," he explained. "I haven't seen Strasburg. It's kind of like Lourdes."

The rookie has created such a buzz that it seems likely that at the end of the next homestand the Nats will have jumped from 24th to 19th in big-league attendance.

* Robin's 'hood: When Jamie Moyer allowed his 505th career home run Tuesday, tying the major league record held by Robin Roberts, it reminded Larry Shenk, the Phillies vice president for alumni relations, of Roberts' Hall of Fame induction speech. In his Phillies Insider column, he quoted the righthander as saying:

"The Hall of Fame people, I'd like to say, were very nice. I only had one request that they turned down: I asked if it would be appropriate if I would invite everyone that ever hit a home run off me to be here today, but Cooperstown wasn't big enough. I am going to have little cards made up that say, 'I hit a home run off Robbie' and mail them to all those gentlemen, because I'm sure they'd like to have it in their wallets. There were a lot of them, by the way."

* He loves the nightlife: Joe Blanton's career earned run average in day games coming into this season was 4.52, almost a half-run higher than his ERA at night (4.08), according to baseball-reference.com.

Which is only interesting because seven of Blanton's 10 starts this season, including yesterday afternoon against the Indians, have been under the sun.

* The coaching corner: Phillies manager Charlie Manuel is a big fan of Indians first-base and catching coach Sandy Alomar Jr., who played for him when Manuel managed the Tribe.

"I tried to get Sandy over here as a player, but he didn't pass his physical because of his knee," he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer this week "Then he signed with the White Sox. I wanted him as a coach as well, but he always seemed to be tied up."

Since current first-base coach Davey Lopes has reportedly considered retiring at the end of the season, and because the Phillies don't have a Latin American coach, that's worth keeping in mind for somewhere down the road.

* Welcome back! Mike Zagurski's relief appearance Wednesday was his first in the majors in almost 3 years, since Aug. 18, 2007. He has had to overcome elbow and groin surgeries.