Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

John Smallwood: This is what Halladay dreamed about when he came to Phillies

THIS WAS IT. This was why Roy Halladay came to the Phillies. A game like this, in late September when the stakes were high, was what he never pitched in during his decade as the ace for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Roy Halladay won his 20th game of the season on Tuesday. (AP Photo)
Roy Halladay won his 20th game of the season on Tuesday. (AP Photo)Read more

THIS WAS IT.

This was why Roy Halladay came to the Phillies.

A game like this, in late September when the stakes were high, was what he never pitched in during his decade as the ace for the Toronto Blue Jays.

A night like this night, when the air was changing from summer to fall, when the baseball maniacs filling the stadium were on the edge of their seats, was the thing Halladay had never experienced.

Individually, Halladay has won a Cy Young Award, been a 20-game-winner.

He's acknowledged as one of the top two pitchers in baseball.

Even at this level, players primarily want to know what it's like to win, to be in a pennant race, to fight for a championship.

Until last night, a cool September night in South Philadelphia, Halladay knew little of that.

He found out things are a little different in September, when it counts.

"It was definitely electric out there," Halladay said of the atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park during the Phillies' 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves. "It was fun to see. I wouldn't mind riding that to the end of the regular season and beyond.

"It was definitely fun. It's something you look forward to getting into at this point of the season."

Halladay wasn't perfect against the Braves.

It's funny to think that going seven innings with three earned runs on seven hits is an OK outing, but that's how high Halladay has raised the bar.

But it's not about being perfect.

With the Phillies locked in both offensively and defensively, starting pitching right now is as much about not letting a game get out of hand as dominating one.

With the Phillies in their "September Serious" mode, Halladay was able to become the franchise's first 20-game winner since Steve Carlton in 1982 and the first righthanded 20-game winner since Robin Roberts in 1955, despite not being as sharp as we've grown accustomed to.

"It's special," Halladay said of winning 20 for the third time in his career, "but the best part is that it's the secondary item to the team winning."

So there was Halladay.

A comfortable, 3-1 lead was suddenly in jeopardy when the Atlanta Braves had runners on second and third with no outs in the sixth inning.

This was a huge moment - the kind that can ultimately decide the fate of a pennant race.

Win and the Phillies put a stranglehold on the East by going up by five games with 10 to play and reducing their magic number to six.

Let the Braves come back and the lead drops back to three going into tonight's deciding game of this series.

These were the September moments the Phillies acquired Halladay to manage.

There was no question the fly ball Atlanta first baseman Derrek Lee hit off Halladay would score Martin Prado from third base.

Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino was not concerned with that. Instead, he threw a perfect strike to Placido Polanco, who tagged out Brian McCann, who had tried to advance to third base. That completed the doubleplay.

Halladay took care of the rest that inning by getting Nate McLouth to ground out.

"It's big," Halladay said of Victorino completing the doubleplay. "It keeps the lead for you.

"If not, you've got a runner on third with one out, and you've still got work to do. Nobody on with two out is a big difference."

It was pretty much over right there.

The Phillies added two runs in the sixth and closed it out.

Now, Atlanta faces a big deficit with a little bit of time against a team that has won a season-high nine games.

It's uncommon that a player of Halladay's stature must wait until he's 33 to pitch in the biggest game of his career.

And, frankly, each start from here on out likely will be even bigger than the previous one.

But this is the setting Halladay has dreamed about.

This is why he desperately wanted to join the Phillies and did the things necessary to make the trade from the Toronto Blue Jays possible.

Halladay is in his first pennant race and enjoying the heck out of it.

"Once the game starts, it feels the same," Halladay said, "but there is definitely a priority at this point of the season for all the games.

"It was fun, and they only get more fun from here on out." *

Send e-mail to

smallwj@phillynews.com.

For recent columns, go to

http://go.philly.com/smallwood.