Splitting Allegiances

Some of you may remember a column I wrote a few weeks back, stating that it was time to change the channel after Jose Bautista tied and subsequently broke the Blue Jays all time home run record. While the Jays season is over, it may be time to tune in again.

Roy Halladay takes to the mound tonight in his first-ever playoff appearance as the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds square off in game one of their NLDS playoff match up. While the Jays and Phillies haven’t always been on the best of terms (John Kruk anyone?), Halladay provides more than enough to shift allegiances to the Phightin’ Phillies for this year’s playoffs.

After posting one of his most dominant seasons to date, in which he recorded his first ever perfect game on his way to a 21-10 record, Halladay will get his first taste of playoff baseball. He led the majors with 9 complete games and 4 shutouts, posted a 2.44 ERA and was a major factor in the Phillies posting the best record in baseball this season, at 97-65.

Halladay spent his first 12 years in the majors with the Blue Jays organization, displaying unmatchable work ethic and class year in, year out, while the managerial system and supporting cast floundered around him. He was regularly among the best in the majors, and won a Cy Young award in 2003. He earned the nickname “Doc”, in what is both an homage to the cowboy “Doc” Holliday and an allusion to the surgical precision Halladay exhibits when dismantling opposition batters.

Many attempts were made to build around him, as the club continually brought in high priced vets like A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan and Frank Thomas, but they could never combine to be more than the sum of their parts in the years when the Yankees and Red Sox loaded up with talent and engaged in heated battles for AL East supremacy.

At 32 years of age Roy knew his window of opportunity at a championship was closing; and with the club not showing many signs of forward progress, he approached management, expressing his desire to win, in a scenario that one could liken to the Raymond Bourque saga in Boston. Bourque was loyal to the Boston Bruins for most of his 22 year career before they granted his wish and dealt him to the Colorado Avalanche, where he won his first and only Stanley Cup in 2001.

The Jays were able to grant this wish, and dealt Halladay to the Phillies for pitching prospect Kyle Drabek, outfielder Michael Taylor and Catcher Travis D’Arnaud. They also agreed to pay part of Doc’s salary for the 2010 season, helping alleviate some concerns on Philadelphia’s side. This proved to be the catalyst in a major rebuild for the Jays, who dumped the underperforming GM J.P. Ricciardi, giving Alex Anthopolous the reigns and putting the team on its current, more promising track. The prospects we received and the wake up call given to the organization were the final gifts that Roy Halladay gave to this club.

A 6 time All-Star, he is a tireless workhorse that can carry a rotation on his back, as evidenced by the league leading 250 innings he pitched this year. A consummate professional every step of the way,  Halladay will one day be inducted into the baseball hall of fame, and will go down as one of the greatest players ever to have played for the Blue Jays. While no one outside of Roy knows for certain, it is my hope that the cap that accompanies him into Cooperstown will be blue and white, with a Capital T on it, and that the loyal legion of Jays fans that have followed him throughout his storied career will be able to proudly visit and fondly remember when he was ours.

While the name on the front may different, the name on the back is still the same, the same as it is on the backs of countless Jays fans at Rogers Center. He may be gone, but he will not be forgotten, and as a Jays fan, you owe to yourself to throw on some Phillie Red and cheer them on to the World Series. I certainly can’t think of anyone more deserving than Doc.

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