After Roy Halladay's thoroughly satisfying whitewash of the Yankees
last week, I got to wondering where that game stood on the All-Time
Pantheon of Doc's Masterpieces.
Pretty close to the top, you might
well expect.
You might well indeed. Your expectation would be more or less spot on. The Game Score for Doc's 2-hit shutout of the Bombers was 90; it was one of the best games pitched in the majors this season. There have been just five games in the AL that scored at 90 or better: Jon Lester's no-hitter (94) and James Shields' one-hitter (93) are the only games that score better than Doc's game (Cliff Lee and Matt Garza are the other guys who've posted a 90 this season. The National has had three, a 91 from Tim Hudson and Hiroki Kuroda; Kuroda also has a 90 game.)
Anyway, I loaded all of Doc's starts into the spreadsheet, stirred the ingredients, and can now tell you that this was the fourth 90+ game of Doc's career. His 10 inning shutout of the Tigers in September 2003 also checks in at 90 - and does anyone actually remember Bobby Kielty, pinch-hitting for Reed Johnson and driving in Hinske to win the game in the bottom of the tenth?
Doc has had a couple of games that score slightly better. He didn't truly become Doc Halladay until mid 2001 when he returned, like Odysseus, from wanderings that had taken him through the lowest depths of the underworld (Hades, or A-ball if you prefer). He finished off that season by blanking Cleveland on a two-hitter - Travis Fryman broke up the no-hitter with an eighth inning single, and Wil Cordero singled to lead off the ninth. The only other base runner reached on a Chris Woodward error, and was instantly erased on a double play. That one checks in at 91.
And the best of them all came in his should-have-been-a-second Cy Young if-not-for-Kevin-Mench campaign of 2005. Like his other three 90+ games, it came at the Dome by the Lake, and the Minnesota Twins provided the opposition. I was at that game, I was enormously impressed, and I posted somewhat enthusiastically about how astonishingly great Doc was when it was over. I wasn't the only one. Okay, it was just another two hit shutout. It checks in with a Game Score of 93. He struck out 10, he hit a guy, he didn't walk anyone. His left fielder didn't touch the baseball all night long; his right fielder didn't touch the ball until the ninth inning (Rios, replacing Gross handled a flyball). In centre, two balls came to Vernon Wells, and he caught them both. That's right - three balls out of the infield, all night long. He allowed two infield hits, neither of which even made it as far as the infield dirt - a bunt by Punto, and a slow roller from Shannon Stewart that Shea Hillenbrand couldn't dig out of his own glove. If Corey Koskie had been playing third base that night instead, it's probably a no-hitter. (And if it's Scott Rolen, forget about it!)
Anyway, I now have this cool spreadsheet with all of Roy Halladay's starts in them. So I can find out interesting things - like what's the highest number of pitches he's ever thrown in a game (126, three times.) How many times has he gone over 120 pitches? Seven times, once this year (the Cincinnati game) and four times last year. The Jays have lost 6 of those 7 games, and Doc himself is 1-3 in them. What's his most economical complete game? The Cleveland game in 2001, mentioned above - he needed just 83 pitches that night.
So, if anyone has any questions... did you know Doc once walked 6 guys in a start? Well, of course you knew that , he did it last year. He did it three times before, once in less than four innings. Most batters he's faced in a game? Why 36, on five different occasions. The fewest would be 4, which has happened twice - once in a 2006 start when a Garret Anderson liner caught him on the pitching elbow. The other was a disastrous relief outing during his personal Season From Hell.
And then I got to wondering... where do Doc's four masterpieces stand on the All-Time Blue Jays pantheon?
At this point... well, we're gonna need a bigger boat. Stay tuned, maybe I won't forget about this one.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20080728004124520