DUNEDIN — Doc is gone, but forgotten? Never.
And neither will Roy Halladay be replaced.
“Nobody can be Doc,” said Dustin McGowan on the first day of spring training. “He’s just a different pitcher, a different breed of person. He left his mark on us by being a leader, seeing how hard he worked, keeping himself in good shape.”
Down the road a piece, in Clearwater, Halladay held court on Friday at the Phillies complex and, typically, expressed some regret to be leaving the American League East and all those trips into Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.
Regret? Not relief?
“There’s a part of me that really enjoyed that competition of facing that calibre of lineup,” said Halladay. “Obviously there are good lineups all over baseball, but when you take the pitcher out, it makes a big difference. More than being relieved I think I’ll miss a little bit of going into Yankee Stadium and Boston, where you’re expected to lose every time you go in there and being able to walk out with wins.”
Which prompts a question: How will Halladay fare in the NL East?
We submit (courtesy of ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark) the records of three AL Cy Young winners who have pitched in the NL in 2008-09.
Between them, the NL records of Johan Santana (Mets), C.C. Sabathia (Brewers) and Cliff Lee (Phils) was 34-13, with a 2.43 ERA.
Stark takes it further. In the last 12 years, eight former Cy Young winners have left the AL for the NL. Santana, Sabathia, Lee, Barry Zito, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Pat Hentgen and Randy Johnson combined to go 103-47 with a 3.14 ERA.
We like Roy’s chances.
