Halladay A True Ace…

Roy Halladay already has a plaque in the Paul Molitor HOF of “Players if they played in NY, LA or Boston would be superstars,” but if he continues to pitch like he did last night, he will get his own wing. In probably the most important game Halladay has ever pitched in as a Blue Jay, Halladay toyed with the Yankees and pitched a complete game 5-hitter in the 5-1 Blue Jays victory. 

A true Ace

I watched that whole Blue Jay game last night and Halladay put on a pitching clinic. In all honesty, the game was over before it even started. It was truely amazing to watch. Cutter in – strike 1. Curveball away – strike 2. Cutter in – weak groundball to second. That pitching sequence happened the entire game. The best part of watching Halladay pitch is that he doesn’t throw 95 mph. Everything is about location, movement, throwing strike 1 and getting out the 1st batter of the inning. It’s all about the basic fundamentals of pitching which is lost on so many of today’s pitchers. Halladay threw just 103 pitches in 9 innings, threw 72 of those pitches for strikes and only faced 30 batters (3 over the minimum). That is video game good.

In my opinion there are only 2 true aces in baseball right now. Halladay and Santana. I don’t want to hear about Sabathia, Beckett, Lincecum or even Oswalt. Either they are too inconsistent or haven’t done it long enough. Halladay and Santana do it day in and day out and year in and year out. Every time Santana or Halladay take the mound, I have the utmost confidence that the team they pitch for will win the game. I don’t have that same confidence when any of those other guys take the mound. They are great but, Santana and Halladay are pitching at another level and have done so for years.

As I wrote yesterday, the Blue Jays’ season started last night and Halladay got them off to a great start. He showed last night why he is a true ace of the game.