Ricky Romero Picking Up Where Halladay and Marcum Left off for Toronto Blue Jays

Roy Halladay is a legend in Toronto—unfortunately a legend that is now pitching and building a new fan base in Philadelphia.  But this Canada Day weekend will see Halladay returning to pitch in Toronto at the Rogers Centre, but this time against the Blue Jays.  Toronto is playing Philadelphia for a three-game series starting Friday, and right now Halladay is scheduled to pitch on Saturday.

Most, if not all Blue Jays fans were sad to to see the Halladay, the ace of the Blue Jays staff at the time, get traded, even if it was necessary and the return was good.  He was the silent leader of the pitching staff, one that led through his professionalism and work ethic.  

Halladay expected nothing less than the best from himself and devoted much of his time to working on achieving those results.  He was usually the first one to the park and the last to leave, and his focus on game day was fierce.

When Halladay left, the veteran arm Shaun Marcum became the de facto leader of the remaining young pitching staff.  His leadership was far more relaxed, based much more on camaraderie and practical joking.  But Marcum still lead the team through example, having one of his best years in 2010, with the lowest ERA and WHIP among Jays' starters, and second in games started and innings pitched.

The pitching staff formed a strong bond in 2010; Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Brett Cecil, a young group just trying to find themselves after losing the discipline of Halladay.

But then Marcum was traded to Milwaukee this past offseason and Cecil struggled to start this year so he was sent down to Las Vegas to work on his command.  That left only Romero and Morrow of that tight knit group, with a combination of rookies, converted relievers, and starters struggling with injuries and success to fill in the rest of the games.

Rookie Kyle Drabek was sent down, Jesse Litsch was placed on the DL, Carlos Villanueva had to increase his stamina from the bullpen and Jo-Jo Reyes just recently broke a multi-year losing streak.  The Blue Jays needed a starter to step up and lead, someone to go deep into ballgames and establish consistently strong starts.

Romero has been that man, he has not only stepped up to lead on the mound, but has become a vocal leader in the clubhouse as well.  Romero leads the starters in wins with seven, ERA with 2.74, strikeouts with 96, and innings with 111, which is 25 more than the next pitcher.  He has also managed to throw three complete games already this year, the most recent one being a four-hit shutout effort against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Romero would likely have more wins, but being the ace of the club, he is often matched against one of the other teams best pitchers and has suffered in run support this year.  He spoke up to the press and his teammates lately to encourage a team effort, that the offense shouldn't have to rely on Adam Lind and Jose Bautista day in and day out. 

Starting with the three game series against Boston earlier in the month, and then continuing at times on the interleague road trip, the Blue Jays have struggled to score runs.  They managed to only win two games out of nine against Boston, Cincinnatti and Atlanta, and scored only nine runs in those seven losses.

The pitching was terrible against Boston, but since then, the starters and bullpen have stepped up to keep all the games close.  Romero was commenting on a need for the pitching and batting to work together to get those outs or knock in the runs when it counts, that if they are going to compete, they will need a little more consistency.

The comments that Romero made at the time might have been made out of frustration, but he met with the team later to convey his message clearly, and that leadership is something the team needs.

Romero will pitch the opening of the three game series against Philadelphia this Friday, the new leader just barely missing his chance to face the older leader of the Jays pitching staff.