Not what the Doc ordered

For over a decade now Roy Halladay has been one of the most dominant starting pitchers in all of baseball so it's come to the surprise of many that the 2-time Cy Young Award winner has struggled as of late. After logging four consecutive seasons with an ERA under 3.00 from 2008-2011, Doc saw his ERA climb up to 4.49 in 2012, his worst season in the Majors logging more than 15 starts. Hoping to put last season behind him, Halladay's struggles have followed him into 2013. After a difficult spring training Halladay was hit hard in each of his first two outings to start the new year as he had a hard time finding the strike zone and failed to go more than 4 innings while being tagged with an 'L' in both games. However, the biggest concern regarding the 36 year old hurler is his velocity which has seen a significant dip.

Halladay's decrease in velocity has been well documented over the last couple of seasons but he's still managed to produce a high rate of strikeouts including career-highs in consecutive seasons in 2010 and 2011 with 219 and 220 K's despite losing up to 4 mph on most of his pitches. While some are pointing towards simple mechanical issues as the reason behind the recent drop in velocity, others can point towards his lengthy track record. Since 2006, Halladay has logged the most innings in the Majors during the regular season with 1,571.0. Though he would finish 2012 with a record above .500 (11-8), it would be Halladay's worst year in the big leagues in many ways. Despite throwing fewer than 200 innings in a season for the first time since 2005, Halladay allowed more earned runs last year than he did in each of the past four years. He also walked nearly the same amount of batters as he did the previous year while throwing close to 80 innings fewer. Having been known for his ability to go the distance and throw a complete game quite often, 2012 was the first year in which Halladay failed to log a single complete game after recording at least seven in each of the last five seasons. The year would also see Doc serve a stint on the disabled-list for the first time since 2009.

The 8-time All-Star did manage to redeem himself a bit, however, with a strong performance on Saturday in his most recent outing. Facing the Miami Marlins, Doc tossed 8-innings allowing 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk while punching out a pair to get his first win of the year. Though the match-up was by far the easiest he's seen yet granted the Marlins were without their best hitter in slugger Giancarlo Stanton, an outing like the one on Saturday was much needed for Halladay who nearly split his ERA in half from 14.73 in his first two starts to 7.63. The victory was also career win no. 200 for the right-handed Halladay who's main goal isn't to accomplish milestones but to win a World Series. Three years removed from a Cy Young campaign in which he hurled a perfect game and a postseason no-hitter in the same year, Halladay is one of the key players the Phillies will be counting on in order to help them keep pace in the division with the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals. How Halladay can adjust on the mound while trying to return to form pre-2012 will be one of the main stories worth keeping an eye on as the season unfolds. Do you think Halladay can find a solution that will help him return to his dominant self or will this year be 2012 all over again? (Leave your thoughts in the comment box below)

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