Halladay

THE LAST time the Phillies went to a World Series, they had a pitcher on the staff who was 0-8 with a 7.21 ERA. The year was 2009 and the pitcher was Brad Lidge. A year removed from a perfect season that netted him team MVP honors and the Phillies a World Series championship, Lidge was a liability in the bullpen. But Charlie Manuel and management stuck with the veteran closer. Four years later, Manuel brought up Lidge's name when asked how long he could let Roy Halladay work through his ongoing struggles.

Bruce Springsteen blared on the sound system at the end of the sixth inning Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. I had a friend who was a big baseball player . . . He could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool, boy . . . Glory days, well, they'll pass you by . . . Roy Halladay wasn't around to hear it. His latest ominous outing had ended after three consecutive batters reached base in the top of the fifth inning....

Warriors do not always win. But they reveal their identity to their opponents as pitchers who, if they do not stand as winners of a particular game, have "gone down fighting" - while still standing as "winners" in the competitive arena of baseball. Those pitchers are mentally unconquerable. " - H.A. Dorfman, "The Mental ABC's of Pitching" THE FIRST THING you notice when you watch Roy Halladay pitch these days is how hard everything seems for him. It isn't that he ever seemed to do things effortlessly in the past, because he didn't.

ROY HALLADAY was at Citizens Bank Park on Monday when he saw his phone buzz. He picked it up and read the incoming message. "You're my hero," the text message read. It was from one of his two sons and Roy Halladay was so impressed and inspired by it that he relayed the very personal, encouraging message to the press corps following the latest discouraging effort on the mound. Following a 7-2 defeat to the New York Mets, a game that saw Halladay out before recording an out in the fifth inning, the 35-year-old pitcher said the 14.73 ERA he is sporting after two starts has nothing to do with his mechanics or his shoulder or his legs or his back.

A text message awaited Roy Halladay on Monday night. Again, he had failed when 99 pitches from his right arm yielded seven runs over four innings in a 7-2 Phillies loss to the New York Mets. He slammed the ball in his glove before surrendering it and kicked at the mound dirt with both feet. "You are my hero," the text message said. It was sent by Braden, his 12-year-old son. For a moment, Halladay cracked a smile. He craves perspective during his most trying days as a professional athlete.

The cameras first surrounded Erik Kratz, who said he was "disappointed" when he arrived Monday at Citizens Bank Park and did not see his name in the lineup. Then the pack shuffled to the other side of the Phillies clubhouse to question Humberto Quintero. All the while, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels stared as the two catchers were interviewed. Halladay, immersed in preparation for his start, raised his head from his notes and sneered. The players may have viewed it as a media concoction, but the melodrama Monday was set in motion by Halladay's words five days earlier.

ATLANTA - As Rich Dubee preached his optimism Thursday afternoon about Roy Halladay, the pitcher ran. Halladay donned a red beanie and black sweatpants. He paced the warning track at Turner Field in the 40-degree weather while a steady mist fell. Halladay was the only player on the field at 4 p.m. "I'm starting to see some results," Dubee said. "You think I'm going to take the ball away from this guy?" No one is saying the Phillies pitching coach should do that. Dubee reiterated his encouragement for Halladay despite a baffling, 95-pitch outing in which the erstwhile ace recorded 10 outs.

ATLANTA - In the wake of his abbreviated first start of the 2013 season, a frustrated Roy Halladay said he had to stop being so fine with his pitches and attack hitters earlier in the count. But what he said didn't jibe with that he did: Halladay went to his off-speed stuff almost exclusively after a three-run first inning. So are his continuing struggles partly a result of Halladay not trusting his stuff? "I don't know if it's an issue of trusting his stuff as much as trying to get to where he understands what his stuff is and how it's going to play and how he can work off that," pitching coach Rich Dubee said before Thursday night's 2-0 win over the Braves at Turner Field.