Phillies Notebook: For Halladay, stats not acceptable

ATLANTA - In the wake of his abbreviated first start of the 2013 season, a frustrated Roy Halladay said he had to stop being so fine with his pitches and attack hitters earlier in the count.

But what he said didn't jibe with that he did: Halladay went to his off-speed stuff almost exclusively after a three-run first inning. So are his continuing struggles partly a result of Halladay not trusting his stuff?

"I don't know if it's an issue of trusting his stuff as much as trying to get to where he understands what his stuff is and how it's going to play and how he can work off that," pitching coach Rich Dubee said before Thursday night's 2-0 win over the Braves at Turner Field. "It's still a phase where he's trying to find out what he's going to have and what he's going to be able to do."

Halladay, who turns 36 next month, has struggled for the better part of the last month, and lacked consistency when he returned from the disabled list last summer. In his first start of the season on Wednesday in Atlanta, Halladay struck out nine in 3 1/3 innings but also walked three batters and got just one ground ball out.

The latter two stats are somewhat jarring since the sinker-happy Halladay has been known throughout his career for his propensity for getting grounders and limiting walks. Although the warning signs that the aging pitcher is in decline seem to mount with each start, his pitching coach remains confident that Halladay is simply relearning his mechanics following a lost 2012 season.

While dealing with lower-back and shoulder pain, Halladay, according to Dubee, developed bad habits in his attempt to pitch through the pain.

"This was a guy who did something as consistently as you could possibly do it for years," Dubee said. "He developed bad habits to get the ball to the plate last year, trying to work through some health issues. I'm a big believer that the more you do something wrong, the more it becomes ingrained. If you do it wrong, and you do it wrong, and you do it wrong, it takes time to get that feeling out of your body and get the right feeling back in it."

So if Halladay regains his mechanics, he'll regain his delivery and effectiveness?

"Absolutely," Dubee said. "Over the last three outings I've been encouraged each time out. I think he's building and he continues to build."

Dubee has seen progressions, but now that the games matter, the results are more important. Halladay realizes this, too, and even though he isn't keeping tabs on the stories reporting his demise, he can't completely ignore the chatter, either.

"Honestly, I don't care what you guys write," Halladay said after Wednesday's game. "You're welcome to write whatever you want. I feel like the progression has been there. The results haven't and that's frustrating. I feel like they are going to come. I wanted them to come sooner than they have and I'm pushing for them to come sooner than they have and sometimes that's part of the problem."

For Halladay to get right again, clearing the mental hurdle may be just as important as reconnecting with his mechanics.

"I think what's taxing to him is this guy has tremendous pride and wants to be part of a winner," Dubee said. "And he is. He's probably the most accountable guy I've ever been around. And he feels very, very accountable that he has to go out there and pitch well for us to win. And that could be taxing at times, sure. I think it was taxing with Cliff [Lee] last year when he didn't win for how long. Those things start to wear on you."

Halladay will make his second start of the season on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park against the New York Mets.

The two most productive Phillies hitters this spring have gone in opposite directions since the regular season began on Monday.

Domonic Brown, in a big-league lineup for the first time to begin a season, was 3-for-7 with a walk and no strikeouts in the first two games. Ryan Howard was 0-for-8 with three strikeouts and one walk entering play on Thursday.

Manager Charlie Manuel was asked about both hitters and, more specifically about Brown, whether he'd consider moving the young, disciplined hitter up in the lineup.

"If he hits good enough, of course you can always move him up in the lineup," Manuel said. "But at the same time where am I supposed to hit him? Really. Look, there's nobody in the world that pulls for Dom more than I do. But leave him alone, let him play and see where he can go."

And the hitless Howard?

"We've played two games," Manuel said. "I saw [Albert] Pujols [of the Angels] come into today's game without a hit . . . He got a hit today. They got beat again today. But we've played two ballgames. I'm not going to panic and go up there and jump off top of that thing there. Off that stadium. It would be my luck to live."

Howard singled through the shift in his first at-bat on Thursday night.

Jimmy Rollins has played the second most games in franchise history. He entered Thursday's game tied with Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn (1,794 games). Only Mike Schmidt (2,404) has played more games.