Roy Halladay, 2003 American League Cy Young Award winner, appears to have regained his form of two years ago. This is good news for Blue Jay fans (all six of them) because it seems to suggest that last year was the aberration rather than his Cy Young campaign.
I became quite a fan of the 28 year-old ace when he went ten innings in 2003 while throwing only 99 pitches. 9.9 pitches per inning is the kind of pace I like out of a ball game (bring back the soft ball and the high mound!). At any rate, I was disappointed to see him fall back to earth last year, but this season he has been fantastic. Real quickly, here's the stats:
| Roy Halladay | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| ERA | 3.25 | 4.20 | 2.45 |
| DERA | 3.28 | 3.81 | 2.57 |
| K/BB | 6.38 | 2.44 | 4.33 |
| K/9 | 6.90 | 6.43 | 6.36 |
| K/PA | .109 | .169 | .183 |
| BB/9 | 1.08 | 2.64 | 1.47 |
| HR/9 | 1.00 | 2.64 | 0.68 |
| H/9 | 8.56 | 9.47 | 7.24 |
| BABIP | .286 | .313 | .254 |
As you can see, "regained his form," doesn't do his performance justice. He's been better. Considerably better. K/PA are way up and although he's walking almost half a batter more per nine innings, he's eliminated more than a hit per nine. Part of the latter rate stat can be attributed to his lower BABIP, which I acknowledge he has relatively little control over. Of the stats that he does have a full say in, his reduced home run rate is perhaps the biggest difference between this season and last and also likely the biggest improvement he's made over his Cy Young-winning year.
I don't have a great deal more to say on the matter; it's too early for talk of another Cy Young. I was merely surprised by the lack of attention Halladay is garnering (maybe it has something to do with that guy in Texas).