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After last nights 7 hour 18 inning affair that saw both John McDonald and Casper Wells pitch in the 18th inning, Roy Halladay will make his return to Philadelphia to start todays afternoon rubber match against the Diamondbacks. Tyler Cloyd, today's scheduled starter, threw five shutout innings, and 90 pitches in the marathon outing, that saw the Phillies come from behind a 6-0 deficit in the 5th inning to score 7 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning, turning this into the LONGEST GAME IN TEAM HISTORY. (Full recap forthcoming.)
After Ethan Martin lasted just 2/3 of an inning, the Phillies used 6 relief pitchers over 10 1/3 innings. With the game tied in the 12th, and just BJ Rosenberg left on the bench, the team called Halladay, or Halladay called them, and someone got this okay-ed with Ruben Amaro. Tyler Cloyd, todays scheduled starter, then went 5 innings and threw 90 pitches.
So it sounds as if they may have put the chance to WIN A GAME, over Doc's readiness here, in the 12th inning of a meaningless game.
Or maybe they think he's ready now.
Or maybe this was something that's been argued with for a week. Let's be real here. They didn't know Cloyd was going 5 innings before they put him in, and they could have called any spot starter up here in a lost season today. Halladay's finished in the minors, in his mind, he wants to get back on a major league mound. Ruben would like to have him back before the waiver deadline (though that's not a likely possibility based on the recent reports) and I'm sure there might be a few late walk up tickets today...
Halladay was scheduled to start in Reading. He had been less than sharp in his first two outings, but here we go.
Two roster moves will be made today. likely Tyler Cloyd (hey thanks kid, here's a bus ticket to Lehigh) and a relief pitcher. However only one move is necessary, and that's you, taking whatever you had previously scheduled for around 1 pm today and rescheduling it. Must see TV today folks.