@Philabaseball
In one of the more bizarre outings in baseball history, Roy Halladay left Wednesday's contest in Atlanta with more questions than answers.
The 35-year-old notched nine strikeouts, but surrendered five runs on four hits, two of which were home runs both on fastballs.
This was a different Halladay. Rather than relying heavily on his fastball and cutter he worked with more breaking balls and off-speed pitches.
All told, he faced 19 batters and went to three balls against eight of them. Of the 95 pitches he threw, 45 were off-speed. Fifty-five pitches were strikes. His velocity hoovered around 89-mph, but location was his primary issue and he needed 40 pitches to get through the first inning.
Halladay's line actually was historic. No other starting pitcher in baseball history has ever recorded nine strikeouts and lasted less than 3 1/3 innings.
Nothing truly was gained from tonight's effort. The weather was cold and Halladay had to deal with rain, but neither of those obstacles attributed significantly to the strangest start in a certain Hall of Fame career.
- Patrick Gordon is the Managing Editor for the Philadelphia Baseball Review. Follow him on Twitter @Philabaseball or contact him at pgordon@philadelphiabaseballreview.com.
