There are two things that should be remembered when thinking about the Phillies’ big three pitchers this season.
One, they are all entitled to a bad start every now and then.
Two, they are only human.
Roy Halladay has been held under a microscope this spring. All attention when it comes to pitching is on him.
Halladay struggled mightily in a start on Tuesday, March 12, allowing seven runs on six hits with four walks and two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings to the Detroit Tigers.
In his next scheduled start on Sunday, March 17, Halladay was ill with a stomach virus. He pitched just one scoreless inning against the Baltimore Orioles before being pulled from the game early.
In both cases, extreme panic has come from Phillies fans. It is perfectly fine to worry about a player, especially like Halladay. He is, after all, coming off an injury-plagued season.
But remember this is only spring training. Every pitcher at one point or another during the spring has one start where everything appears to go wrong. And every member of the team is entitled to become ill at any point. It happens.
It is more concerning that this comes just two weeks away from the Phillies’ season opener. But if people don’t acknowledge that Halladay is not a superhuman and that he is just as subject as anyone else to illness or a bad start, then the panic level will never subside.
By all accounts, it has been a positive spring for the Phillies. This is a blemish on the spring but it shouldn’t be as big a deal as people are making it out to be.
The first thought whenever something doesn’t go right for Halladay is that he’s injured. It’s an instant reaction and it spreads rapidly.
There is far too much concern for something that is happening in the spring. At the very least, fans should wait until problems occur during the regular season before panicking so much.
