Doc's El-Perfecto

"If you're not first, you're last." I recently read that quote somewhere on the blogosphere. I hadn't heard it before, but let me quote it for truth.

I've barely been blogging at all because of working an extra job this year (yes, to support my baseball habit.) Even though I rarely miss a game either on TV, the radio, or at the ball park; I'm always way behind by the time I get some computer time. I won't post unless I really feel like venting or I come up with an amusing story or photo to share.

Anyhoo: like our globetrotting friend Eyebleaf from Sports and the City, it took me a good two days to let Roy Halladay's perfect game sink in. Navin's latest edition of "Stealing Home" over at the Globe sums up my feelings nicely.

I was hung over after being in my best friend's wedding the day before. (I might add, we walked into the venue, just about to walk down the aisle, and I saw the high-fives of the end of the Jays game on the bar television. The timing was nice.) I was hung over, and I had gone to bed with eye makeup on. Yes, THAT'S what made me shed a tear when I saw the highlight videos of Halladay's performance.

I guess I can put that charade to bed - I'm not the only one who felt both elated and bereft.

When my associate and I headed down to spring training back in March, we hoped we'd get a chance to see Halladay pitch... and we did, against the Yankees in Clearwater. We said our goodbyes. It sunk in... or so I thought. Sunday morning, I felt like an ex that dumped me six months ago just married someone else.

How nice would it have been now, for Doc to return to Toronto for a welcome back love-in?

...

What I Was Thinking

...but lacked the words.

"Herman" in response to Stoeten's post on The700level.com:

This week, you got three 90-94MPH fastballs with distinct and abrupt motions that can be thrown in any count anywhere he damn well wants, a true ace who demands and expects to excel every single pitch, a workhorse, and a consummate professional, teammate, and neighbor.

By the end of 2013, you will have a couple more titles, Halladay will have two more Cy's, and there will be a new treatment wing at the local kid's hospital, and then you can say Roy Halladay is exactly who Jays fans told you he would be.

That.

Must-Read

The purpose of my little corner of the blogosphere is to toss out a few Jays-related screen caps and photos here and there for entertainment purposes. I don't like replicating content. It's rare that I'll make a blog post simply to say, "wow! Check this out!"

...but really, check this out:

FOR THE THRILL OF IT: JAYS LOSE A CLASS ACT IN HALLADAY

Will Hill gives us a perspective on Roy Halladay which is new, yet not at all surprising. Doc made prospects barf during pre-dawn spring training workouts? He silently sat and read "The Mental ABCs of Pitching" while surrounded by rowdy teammates tossing balls of tape like a bunch of 15-year-olds?

I bet that's exactly how most of us imagined him behind the scenes.

Doc, I'm In Pain.

Buddy Doc.




This might be it, kids.

I should have known something ominous was in the air when I noticed that someone left a dirty sawed-off plastic Piglet head on my porch.



Roy Halladay appears to have been traded to the Phillies. (Mike Wilner's take, just because it's the most recent on my RSS feed...) No confirmation on the deal at this time.

Dirk Hayhurst perhaps picked the wrong day to launch his site. No worries, we all have his book pre-ordered already, right?

My Sentiment Exactly, Boys.

Mike Wilner postulates that yesterday's loss marked rock bottom for this team. I have to concur. I don't know what was more painful: not having that all-but-guaranteed gift-wrapped opportunity to win from Roy Halladay, or the offense getting shut down by Paul Byrd.

On Friday morning, I wanted to reply to Ian's Obligatory Scott Richmond Update. Bleary-eyed and insufficiently caffeinated to form complete sentences, I had to dash out the door to work. Now I forget what I was going to say, and too grumpy to give a f*ck.

(What was I going to say? Oh yeah.)

In speculating on reasons for his decline:

• It's more like just coming down to Earth, now that he's being seen for the second and third time. I'm too grumpy and lazy to go through the game-by-game stats, but off the top of my head, he did well against the Halos on the 22nd. They hadn't seen him before.
• If pitchers like Roy Halladay depend on their routines for their success, it should stand to reason that a lack of routine isn't going to do many guys many favours. Being shipped off to the 'pen (as recently as the 7th of this month), skipping his starts on off-days, plus weeks on the DL doesn't exactly sound like the path to throwing well consistently.
• On Friday night, the Sportsnet crew said that Roy Halladay and Kevin Millar caught him tipping during a previous start. I wonder how long that had been happening. (Kevin Yousuck Millar is useful for something, haters!)

If you aren't yet completely fed up of watching this team, don't forget, Sportsnet will be carrying four games in three days from Texas! Load up on the beer and nachos, baseball fans!

This evening, you may see Roy Halladay pitch for the Jays for the last time for the third time.

Oh Hai.

I had my 'net connection cut off this week, and I almost appreciated it.

I think the All-Star Break needs to be longer, because I've got baseball burnout. Not the game, but all the crap around it.

I am sick of indoor baseball 7/10 times I've ventured out to the Rogers Centre so far.

I am sick of trade speculation. Let's at least wait until it happens before we crap ourselves, okay? You bunch of girls.

Anyway, it was cool to finally see one of these:



And very cool to see all those dingers, especially two in one game from Marco Scoo-two-ro for the first time in his career.

Yeah, give that bat some lovin'.



Korean Heritage Night fail: Shin-Soo Choo got the night off.

Goddammit.

Well, that was almost like watching two different ball games, wasn't it?

I mean, if I were to tell you ahead of time that you would see:

- Halladay starting,
- Halladay starting after being sent home a day early from Texas for some extra ZZZs, no less,
- They're playing the Marlins, and
- Immediately following Doc, the bullpen would throw three shutout innings,

...you'd probably just think it was strange that the bullpen would need to throw three innings for Doc, period. And, of course, the Jays won, right?

Nope.

Doc got broken. Early.

Scott Richmond is rumored to have done nicely afterward, but gee, it was hard to tell, with the game audio suddenly consisting of interviews and all.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Flashback Fridays and Comfort Zone guests are great. I love hearing from the old-timers. But do they really have to do it in the middle of the game? If you're enough of a fan that you appreciate those interviews, you're probably enough of a fan that you're probably trying to, y'know, PAY ATTENTION TO THE GAME.

Top of the fifth: Balor Moore. Top of the sixth: the scouting guy. Fed up, I decide to cash in on the Gameday Audio subscription I almost forgot about. Now Balor Moore is being interviewed by Jerry and Alan. FFS.

I digress. Close ballgame up until that point. I was having fun. Voodoo Joe singled and RBIed to tie the game, stole a bag, and proceeded to get RBIed.

Not long after that, it morphed into some shitty ballgame that requires no summary on my part. RSS is your friend. I'm going to bed.

Music: Prodigy, Take Me To The Hospital

..And The Angels Wept.

"...and that one (#14, career high) ends the ballgame..."

Faster than the next frame could capture it, that ball was caught at the knees.

Barajas on Doc, via Jordan Bastian's twitter: "For me, it's fun, because I know I'm going to go out there and see one of the best pitchers of my generation."

Ouch

If you need a cheer-up after last night's spanking of young Mr Cecil, head over to Mop Up Duty for some background on Roy Halladay that you probably didn't know. A Story Forgotten: Halladay’s Reinvention

So I hear that the commentary on NESN (which they actually pronounce "Nessen"? *groan*) leaves a bit to be desired? I guess I'm not missing much by not having TSN2. ("Tissen two"?) I'll be more than satisfied just listening to the Fan 590 to catch Robert Bobby Ray taking the mound tonight for The Good Guys.

That bird in the photo, incidentally, did not die in its embarrassing fall from a fence. It shook itself off and flew on.

Doc's Reaction to Being Given a 4-2 Lead...

...whilst the party ensues around him:

I Printed Off This Quote And Hung It Next To My Chin-Up Bar.

From ESPN's Jayson Stark:

" 'What (Doc) does in between starts is even harder than what he does on the mound,' says longtime teammate Vernon Wells. 'The other day, he came in early. Then he went on a 30-, 40-minute run. Then he came back in and did the Tour de France on the stationary bike. Then he went out for our workout. Then he came back in and did another 30-minute run.' "

On the health/fitness forums I belong to, the know-it-alls would probably call this overtraining. Harry Leroy Halladay calls it Tuesday.

So far, I just hang off that chin-up bar like a dead fish.

:(

♥ ♥ ♥

Goodbye, AJ.