In the first inning, he caught Angel Sanchez looking at a 1-2 curveball and then twice got Hunter Pence to swing and miss at the pitch for another strikeout. Halladay later recorded three more outs with the pitch: a well-hit fly ball chased down by Raul Ibanez, a routine fly ball to leftfield, and a weak popout by Carlos Lee. He gave up a couple of hits on curveballs, but one was a weak infield single by Sanchez and another was a single to Brett Myers that Halladay ruefully referred to as a "pitcher's curveball."
"Even later, we were able to use it and make some good pitches," Halladay said. "I felt like it was pretty good. We were able to use it effectively most of the game."
In 2010, Halladay threw his curveball with less frequency than in any other season in his career: roughly 17 percent of the time, compared with his career average of 23 percent. Part of that was due to increased confidence in his changeup. But Halladay also felt the curveball was not as effective a weapon as it had been in the past.
"It's ahead of where it was last year," Halladay said. "To be able to go into the first game of the year and be confident throwing it as an out pitch or get-ahead pitch is important."
Halladay's only problem in his 2011 debut was his number of pitches. By the end of the sixth inning, he had logged 101, despite allowing one run on five hits, with six strikeouts and no walks. With his spot in the order due up in the bottom of the frame, manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee elected to use pinch-hitter Pete Orr, since they did not feel as if their ace was completely stretched out yet.
