Ace of Aces

There have been many players in sports history that are flat out amazing and worth watching anytime they go to perform.  Babe Ruth, Wilt Chamberlain, Jim Brown, and Michael Jordan are just a few players on the list that I believe Roy Halladay belongs on.  Halladay won the NL Cy Young Award last year during the “Year of the Pitcher 2.0” throwing a perfect game during the regular season and an amazing no-hitter in the first round of the playoffs.  He outperformed every pitcher in the majors during what was considered one of the best years for pitchers since the original “Year of the Pitcher” in the summer of 1968. 

Tonight I watched Halladay pitch against the Washington Nationals.  The Nats, while not a huge contender for the NL East title, have some good bats in their dugout and I was expecting them to give Halladay some trouble at some point throughout the night.  Then for eight innings he shut down the entire Nationals offense down giving up only two hits, both to Adam Laroche.  In all the baseball I have watched in my 28 years I can never remember a pitcher looking like he had the opportunity to throw a perfect game every time he took the mound.  Tonight though, I saw Halladay having that potential.  Finally the ninth inning came with Halladay on the mound and the Philly bullpen silent.  As he gave up a couple of hits to start the inning the bullpen became active.  Then when he gave up an RBI base hit to Laynce Nix I figured his night was over.  I expected Charlie Manuel to pull Halladay and hand the ball over to the bullpen, however Manuel stayed in the dugout and let his ace keep working.  The next batter, Danny Espinosa, singled and knocked in the second run.  At this point with a one run lead Manuel trots out to the mound and the crowd begins to give Halladay his walk off applause (there might have been more Philly fans in DC tonight then Nats fans).  Manuel though turned back around after giving Halladay some words of encouragement and came back to the dugout trusting that the best pitcher in the Majors could get the job done.  All I could think of was Grady Little leaving Pedro in during the 2003 playoffs, and how this was going to be second guessed by all the Philly talk radio hosts tomorrow morning.  Apparently Charlie Manuel knows a little more about Roy Halladay though then I do because he struck out the next two batters to finish yet another complete game. 

Halladay is the top pitcher in a staff of amazing pitchers.  The Phillies first four starters could be the #1 guy on most teams in the big leagues (two of them were #1 starters for parts of last season for the two teams I root for) but Halladay leads them all.  Not only is he the reigning Cy Young Award winner but he has been regarded as one of the best pitchers over the past decade.  It is easy to be slightly overlooked in Toronto for many years, but everyone knew who Halladay was and what he could do to opposing lineups.  Now pitching for a World Series contender he gets more exposure, but he is bringing the same dominance that he has been for his entire career.  As much as I don’t want to see him pitch against my team, I know that the next time he is pitching anywhere near me I will pay whatever it takes to go watch this ace of aces. 

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Posted in: Not Your Usual Sports Guy,Phillies,Roy Halladay,Sports