Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Roy Halladay delivers a pitch to the Cincinnati Reds during the first inning in Game 1 of the MLB National League Division Series baseball playoffs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 6, 2010. Halladay threw a no-hitter in his playoff debut to beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 on Wednesday in the opening game of their best-of-five National League Division Series.TIM SHAFFER
Major League Baseball's playoffs will give us a teachable moment for the next week, with a sprinkling of what might have been and a dash of what could be, and in both instances, Toronto Blue Jays fans can be forgiven their slight discomfort.
Keep in mind when CC Sabathia pitches for the New York Yankees in Friday's first game of the American League Championship Series that he could be joined in the Yankees' rotation in 2011 by the guy scheduled to go in Game 3 for the Texas Rangers - free-agent-to-be Cliff Lee.
Bad news for the rest of the AL East.
And when Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies and Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants go head-to-head Saturday night in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, keep in mind what might have been had the Blue Jays landed Lincecum at the 2007 winter meetings in Nashville in a stillborn deal involving Alex Rios - just before Lincecum won his first of back-to-back Cy Young Awards.
Halladay v. Lincecum, "The Greatest Pitching Showdown in NLCS History," according to the Fox promos, and that ain't hyperbole.
It is fitting that pitching will dominate, because the seeds of all this were planted during the regular season, when offensive barometers fell to levels not seen since before the 1994 players' strike, after which the game's culture of performance enhancement settled in. According to Stats, Inc., an average of 1.90 home runs a game were hit this season, the lowest since 1.78 in 1993 and well off the peak of 2.34 in 2000. Runs a game were down to 8.23, the lowest since 8.77 in 1992, and the major-league earned run average (4.07) was lowest since 3.74 in 1992.
Halladay was 21-10 this season, Sabathia 21-7 and Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals was 20-11. There were no 20-game winners last season along with 2006, the only non-strike seasons since 1900 in which there wasn't at least one 20-game winner.
Blue Jays pitching coach Bruce Walton, who winters in Calgary, will be watching Halladay's game closely. His best guess is that his young starters - Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil - as well as ace Shaun Marcum will also be watching. You tell pitchers to work fast, change speeds and throw strikes. Always - always - pay homage to the changeup. You can't tell them to be Halladay or Lincecum or Lee, but you can tell them to watch. You can point out, in particular, how even at 33, Halladay's changeup is better than it was when he was with Toronto.
"Before it was okay," Walton said Thursday about Halladay's changeup, "but now it's got bigger depth, and that just goes to show you that the great ones never stop learning. What you hope they take home from watching Doc and Cliff Lee, especially, is how consistent their command is. You see our guys, guys like Ricky and Cec, and you realize they're pretty close in some ways. But they're not as consistent."
On the other hand …
"When you think about it, there's not a whole lot of pitchers out there you could put in this particular postseason group," Walton said. "Maybe Felix Hernandez. But then you'd be talking about guys who aren't quite there yet. Not like these guys are there."
Sabathia pitches Friday against the Rangers' C.J. Wilson. If these series do go the distance, Sabathia and Halladay could make a couple of starts on three days rest, something Lincecum has never done.
Lee - 6-0 in the postseason with a 1.44 ERA in seven postseason starts and a WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched) of 0.781 - would be available for Game 6, and if the ALCS goes to a seventh game, well, remember Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling tag-teaming the Yankees in the 2001 World Series?
So sit back and enjoy, and if you want, take notes. You'll be in good company.