We know Roy Halladay has been amazing so far during his time with Phillies but there remains a question about his ability to dominate in big games since he pitched in very few during his time with the hapless Toronto Blue Jays.  We got a chance to see him in that situation yesterday against the New York Yankees.
The Phillies needed a strong performance from the ace of the staff in the worst way on Tuesday night. With Kyle Kendrick and Jamie Moyer scheduled to start the other two games of the series, Halladay’s start against the Yankees was all the more important.
With a win, the pressure would be off in games 2 & 3. With a loss, the Phils would be facing a potential sweep.
Halladay came up very small. He put the Phillies in a 5-0 hole early in the game, and only lasted 6 innings. Let me be clear, I don’t mean to bury Halladay. It was only one game, and he has been terrific so far this year. But this game was why we traded for him. This game was supposed to be when Halladay would be at his best. His poor performance makes me wonder if he will pitch his best in big games.
There is no dispute that Halladay has great stuff, and that his career accomplishments and numbers speak for themselves. But honestly, when was the last time the Toronto Blue Jays were in any kind of big game? One of the few questions about Halladay coming into the season was that he had never been tested by post season play.
With each passing day, the Phillies are slipping farther and farther away in the division. The Phillies need every bit of momentum they can pick up. After tonight’s loss to the Yankees, and with the 4th and 5th starters going up against the potent Yankees lineup, the Phillies are staring at grim odds of salvaging just 1 game in the series.
Again, I don’t mean to bury Halladay here, but I was very disappointed with his performance in a big spot last night. His poor outing will add additional fire to the never ending Cliff Lee controversy who, by the way, had no trouble stepping up in big games for the Phillies.
It’s hard to say G,
This entire Phils team has slipped down to a medicore .500 type of team…
They were 24-13 in Mid-May and Halliday had a fast start and now they have gone 8-17 since, obviously injuries to Rollins,Madson,Lidge and Happ have caught up with them as a team and with prolonged slumps to the usually reliable Utley/Victorino, they have become just a ho-hum, middle of the road type of team… Halliday has struggled overall his last 5-6 starts (outside the perfect game of course) but bottom line here is that the Phillies have failed to score more that 3 runs in game
17 out of their last 21 games… I don’t care if you have Walter Johnson pitching for you every night,
you need to score more runs than this to consitently win ballgames.. Most of the team is mired in
a funk right now and if they don’t starting wining some series (like 2 out 3 games) they will be too far behind with too many teams to leapfrog to make postseason for 2010..