Tough Luck

What pitchers can really compare to Roy Halladay? Honestly, I don't think many can. Even though he got the loss last night, he pitched a complete game allowing two runs and throwing just over 130 pitches. Most guys are lucky to throw 100 pitches in one game much less exceed that count by more than most relief pitchers throw in one outing. His stamina harkens back to another era when bullpen pitchers were not as integral to the success of the team as they are today. Out of his 9 starts this year, 4 of them have been complete games with 2 of those being shutouts. What was also remarkable about last night's start was the fact that the Phillies committed three errors behind him and he still managed to finish the complete game even though he had to throw all those extra pitches

He only needs two more wins to have exactly double his career wins total to his career losses, but if you look back at his career stats, he wasn't always this amazing. 2002 was a breakout year for Roy as he went 19-7 with a 2.93 ERA. This year would be remarkable in and of itself, but it is even more remarkable because that was his fifth year in the major leagues and he more than doubled his previous career win total with only 18 career wins previously. From there, he never looked back with a career ERA of 3.37 which was mostly pitched in the American League where ERA is about a run higher on average. Therefore, if he had been pitching in the National League his whole career, that ERA would roughly translate down to almost 2.37 which is phenomenal.

Tough luck last night kept him from the win, but we all know that many more wins will come as Roy wears the Phillies uniform.
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