Phillies starter Roy Halladay tossed two and one-third innings against the New York Yankees this afternoon, allowing one run on a walk and three hits. Although his command was not as pinpoint as the baseball world is used to, Halladay looked very sharp at times and his fastball stayed in the high-80’s, low-90’s area. During an injury-plagued season last year, in which he finished with a 4.49 ERA, Halladay lost about two miles per hour on his fastball (down to 90 from 92) which he is hoping to recover by the time the regular season rolls around.
Halladay said, aside from the injuries, the thing that bothered him most last year was pitching after sitting in the dugout when the Phillies -- who finished eighth in the National League with 684 runs scored -- put together a long offensive rally.
The Phillies scored five or more runs in 11 of his 25 starts last year, averaging 4.87 runs of support in total according to Baseball Reference. That matched the run support given to Cole Hamels (4.86) and vastly outpaced that given to Cliff Lee (3.53) and Kyle Kendrick (3.83).
