Last week when Roy Halladay topped out in the high-80s during his start some people brushed it off because he threw four scoreless innings despite the low velocity.
Today he continued to throw in the 80s and the results weren’t very pretty either. Halladay walked four batters in 2.2 innings, served up two homers--including a grand slam--and worked in the mid-80s with his fastball.
He failed to make it out of the third inning and allowed seven runs overall, hitting a batter and uncorking a wild pitch in addition to the four free passes. (Halladay has walked four or more batters in just three of his 90 regular season starts for the Phillies.)
Todd Zolecki, who has covered the Phillies for MLB.com throughout Halladay’s time in Philadelphia, summed it up: “Never seen him struggle like this before.”
I called our new resident Phillies fan Bill Baer for his thoughts, but I guess he couldn’t hear the phone ringing over his sobbing*.
* Note: Just kidding. I haven’t willingly called someone on the phone in like 10 years. What am I, some kind of monster?