Summer Halladays

Just a mere hours after I posted that Halladay is still one of the front-runners for the American League Cy Young Award, he tops his worst outing of the season on August 19th by giving up seven runs on 12 hits against the Rays. Following the 12-7 loss, Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star writes that Halladay is all but out of the Cy Young race. While I agree last night’s debacle really hurt his chances, I don’t think Doc is going to give up without a fight.

Griffin’s argument is that 10 out of 13 of the last AL Cy Young winners have posted 20+ games. I honestly find it hard to believe that any of those candidates will reach 20 wins regardless. If C.C. Sabathia can somehow win his next five starts or Josh Beckett can buckle down and win his next six straight, there will not be a 20 game winner in the American League.

If that’s the case, then the voters will look next at ERA and strikeouts, which Zack Greinke and Felix Hernandez have a pretty good handle on at the moment. Halladay’s ERA has risen to 3.03, but it will certainly drop below 3.00 before the end of the season.


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Three of Halladay’s seven losses this season have come at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, and for some strange reason Doc has difficulty handling the Rays. Back to back rough starts from Halladay has not sunk his Cy Young chances yet, but he’s on very thin ice with the Baseball Writers of America.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.

4 thoughts on “Summer Halladays

  • August 25, 2009 at 6:31 pm
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    Am I the only one beginning to feel Cy Young fatigue? Jays pitchers have won many over the years, and I'm beginning to just grow a little tired of our guys winning Cy Young awards, and only Cy Young awards. I want this team to win meaningful games; not individual awards.

    That's not to say that it's not a big deal, and that the last post you wrote wasn't great, because it is a big deal, and that post was NAILS. I guess I'm just beginning to grow apathetic, that's all.

    Trying times.

  • August 25, 2009 at 10:37 pm
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    eyeB, the possibility of some of the Blue Jays winning an individual award is one of the positive things we have to cling to this season (and many previous seasons). Baseball is a sport that's very heavily focused on individual efforts, but I agree that it would be great to be playing meaningful games in September rather than rooting for Doc to win a Cy Young.

  • August 26, 2009 at 11:23 am
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    If Halladay had at least another Cy Young to his name, I wouldn't really care that much. But I feel like he needs another one to rectify all the wrongs of his career with the Blue Jays so far. Halladay doesn't care I'm sure, but Cy Young is justice for me as a fan.

  • August 26, 2009 at 5:40 pm
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    If Doc had a choice, I think he'd prefer a World Series ring over another Cy Young award. Been there, done that – he wants to hoist the trophy now.

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