Roy Halladay

Roy Halladay hasn't been as dominating a pitcher in his third year with the Phillies as the previous two, when he won the Cy Young award in 2010 and was runner-up for the award last season. Halladay is now 4-4 with a 3.58 ERA after allowing five earned runs in six innings and taking the loss in Tuesday's 5-2 defeat to the visiting Washington Nationals. Pitching coach Rich Dubee says that there could be a number of factors for Halladay's less-than-imposing start, but he said Halladay still has the stuff that could make him a big winner.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - Ryan Howard had the ball in his glove Saturday night. His teammates formed a mob around Roy Halladay to celebrate his perfect game, a 1-0 masterpiece over the Florida Marlins. Howard couldn't catch Halladay's attention. He needed to hand the ball off. He tapped Halladay on the chest three times without response. Halladay, so robotic whenever he's on the field, was entrenched in jubilation - imagine that - and Howard couldn't get his attention. "I just made sure I held on to it and didn't lose it," Howard said.

When Roy Halladay was named the winner of the National League Cy Young Award on Tuesday, he was golfing in Mexico with Mike Sweeney, Chris Carpenter, and Chris Young. Yes, even Halladay knows how to take a vacation and find a foursome somewhere. In a few weeks, Halladay will once again beat just about everyone to the Phillies' spring training complex in Clearwater, Fla. (After realizing this could be a problem, they gave the man his own key.) He has already begun an arm-strengthening program.

DENVER - When Charlie Manuel came with the hook, there was no protesting this time from Roy Halladay. He had finished 61/3 innings, his shortest outing as a Phillie, and needed 121 pitches to do it. For the first 120 pitches of Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Rockies, Halladay had found a way to survive his homecoming to Colorado without his best stuff. But he was gassed. "There are different games," Halladay said. "Today was a grind. Pitching out of jams, I had to work. " When he left the game, unable to complete seven innings for the first time in 2010, it was tied, 3-3. In the 10th, Rockies catcher Miguel Olivo ended it with a solo home run off a hanging curveball from Chad Durbin.

It was raining outside on a recent weekday, so the Phillies pitchers played with their new toys. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Chad Qualls flew tiny remote-controlled airplanes through the clubhouse. Jonathan Papelbon sat at his locker and quietly watched. Then he opened a massive box that contained something called the AR.Drone, a flying quadricopter that retails for $299.99. Everyone stopped looking at the smaller toys. Papelbon, the man who stipulated his contract include an extra $58 in addition to the guaranteed $50 million, directed the copter with his iPhone as the joystick.

A positive pendulum swing is what the Phillies need more than anything right now, and for most of his career Roy Halladay was the man you'd want on the mound to gain some momentum. Now, the righthander with two Cy Young Awards and the nickname Doc cannot even cure the last-place Phillies' ills. Not that the latest loss, a lackluster 2-1 setback against the lowly San Diego Padres on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, was Halladay's fault. But it did send the soon-to-be-35-year-old righthander into some 21st-century uncharted territory.

She was 12 years old and he was 9 when they first met, so Brandy and Roy Halladay have known each other for a long time. So she has a fairly good idea what her husband was going through for the last six months as the hottest commodity on the baseball market. Plus, she said, there was never a time when her husband kept her or their 9-year-old son, Braden, out of the loop. This was a family decision, Roy Halladay told her. He wanted to go to a franchise where he could win, but his family remained a strong factor in the decision, too. "This, as hard as it was, made our family stronger," Brandy Halladay said.

1. Miguel Cabrera 2. Andre Ethier 3. Roy Halladay 4. Ubaldo Jimenez

CLEARWATER, Fla. - This just in: The winner of the 2010 National League Cy Young Award is . . . Carlos Ruiz, of the Phillies. So, let's give a nice round of applause to the only catcher ever to win the award presented annually to the best pitcher in each league. Oh, all right. You already know Roy Halladay was the unanimous winner in balloting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America and announced last November, well-deserved recognition for his 21 wins and perfect game against the Marlins.

Roy Halladay hasn't been as dominating a pitcher in his third year with the Phillies as the previous two, when he won the Cy Young award in 2010 and was runner-up for the award last season. Halladay is now 4-4 with a 3.58 ERA after allowing five earned runs in six innings and taking the loss in Tuesday's 5-2 defeat to the visiting Washington Nationals. Pitching coach Rich Dubee says that there could be a number of factors for Halladay's less-than-imposing start, but he said Halladay still has the stuff that could make him a big winner.

It was raining outside on a recent weekday, so the Phillies pitchers played with their new toys. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Chad Qualls flew tiny remote-controlled airplanes through the clubhouse. Jonathan Papelbon sat at his locker and quietly watched. Then he opened a massive box that contained something called the AR.Drone, a flying quadricopter that retails for $299.99. Everyone stopped looking at the smaller toys. Papelbon, the man who stipulated his contract include an extra $58 in addition to the guaranteed $50 million, directed the copter with his iPhone as the joystick.

A positive pendulum swing is what the Phillies need more than anything right now, and for most of his career Roy Halladay was the man you'd want on the mound to gain some momentum. Now, the righthander with two Cy Young Awards and the nickname Doc cannot even cure the last-place Phillies' ills. Not that the latest loss, a lackluster 2-1 setback against the lowly San Diego Padres on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, was Halladay's fault. But it did send the soon-to-be-35-year-old righthander into some 21st-century uncharted territory.

A positive pendulum swing is what the Phillies need more than anything right now, and for most of his career Roy Halladay was the man you'd want on the mound to gain some momentum. Now, the righthander with two Cy Young Awards and the nickname Doc cannot even cure the last-place Phillies' ills. Not that the latest loss, a lackluster 2-1 setback against the lowly San Diego Padres on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, was Halladay's fault. But it did send the soon-to-be-35-year-old righthander into some 21st-century uncharted territory.

WASHINGTON - Charlie Manuel's 22d different lineup in 27 games was posted in the Phillies clubhouse and some players stared at it longer than others. Placido Polanco was around the corner and down the stairs in the batting cage with hitting coach Greg Gross. Polanco was Manuel's new No. 3 hitter in a never-ending quest to find production from the spot, which is traditionally reserved for a team's best hitter. "What's interesting about that?" Manuel said. "I hit him third before quite a bit. " The manager had, for 28 games in 2011 - mostly in May. That experiment was abandoned once Chase Utley returned for good last June.

ATLANTA - My only hope is that all of the people who will never read this column spent their final hours cradled in the arms of somebody they loved, thinking back on all of the good times, dwelling on the fulfillment that this world offered them and the rest of mankind during its brief but wondrous existence. I am tempted to leave it at that in order to maximize whatever time left I have to drink beer, but on the off chance that the sun does rise Thursday, and these words do appear in print, and life as we know it does not soon end in a fiery blaze precipitated by the events that unfolded in the fifth inning of Wednesday night's game between the Phillies and the Braves, I suppose a thorough recounting is in order.

ATLANTA - After blowing a six-run lead Wednesday night, Roy Halladay left the Phillies to tend to a personal family matter. The absence was planned before his outing. He is expected to rejoin the team Friday in Washington. Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said Halladay told both manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee on Tuesday he would need to leave. After addressing reporters late Wednesday night after the 15-13 loss, Halladay departed Turner Field with a small rolling suitcase.

SAN DIEGO - These are the nights that breed the most frustration. An otherworldly pitcher was human for the span of three batters and it was the difference between winning and losing. Without any semblance of a consistent offense, the Phillies straddle such a precarious line nightly. Roy Halladay did not possess his typical pristine command of his pitches in a 5-1 loss. He had half as many hits as the players paid millions to actually hit the baseball. So the Phillies lost to the worst team in baseball and there was nothing surprising about it - save the uncharacteristic spell of Halladay walks.

The new stereo system to the right of Shane Victorino's locker blasted LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" more than three hours before the Phillies thumped Miami, 7-1. Jonathan Papelbon shimmied. Hunter Pence smiled. "It's hitting season," he said. In the far corner, Roy Halladay sat with his back to the rest of the room. He crossed his right leg over his left and put on headphones so he could listen to his own music. He stared intently at his iPad. It's unusual for loud music to play in the Phillies clubhouse before games.

YOU GET HOME from a game like Wednesday night's, and you might talk about the two-run double by the 22-year-old rookie. You might talk about the heads-up baserunning by the new leadoff hitter. You might talk about the two runs scored by the new three-hole hitter. But you will not talk about Roy Halladay. At least not at first. And that's OK with him. When Halladay pitches, nights like Wednesday night, 7-1 victories that snap three-game losing streaks, are the expectation. At some point, though, some member of a future generation will ask you what it was like to watch Roy Halladay pitch.